Report 11, on the RTC meeting of September 4, 2008:
(You may post comments on this report on our blog page.)
Highway 1 updates; reports on the State Budget and SB 375; RTC votes to contract with rail freight consultants
Highway 1 projects update:
RTC staff (Kim Shultz) and Nolte Associates (Chris Metzger and Parag Mehta) told the Commissioners that the Draft Environmental documents for the Soquel/Morrissey Auxiliary Lanes Project are now anticipated for release to the public by the first or second week of October, with a public hearing at the County Government Center during the week of October 20th. Here's the RTC staff report, and here is a document containing the Nolte slide show.
This project would add a lane on each side of the highway as well as provide space for the yet-to-be-built additional pair of lanes in the center median. The La Fonda bridge would be demolished and rebuilt. Here's a map showing the extent of the project, as provided by Chris Metzger in his slide show:
Caltrans map showing the proposed Aux Lanes Project in context
We suspect that the environmental analysis for this project may not comply with CEQA guidelines, and we are investigating this issue.
State Budget and SB 375:
RTC staff member Rachel Moriconi reported that the continued delay in the adoption of the State Budget is causing ongoing uncertainty for transportation funding. For example, budgetary diversion of Proposition 42 transportation funds to the State General Fund remains a possibility and could result in reprogramming other State transportation funds, affecting local projects. A list of possibly threatened projects may be found here.
State Senator Steinberg's Senate Bill 375 on greenhouse gas reduction (reported on previously in our Report 10 for August 21) has now been passed by the California legislature. Governor Schwarzenegger has yet to say whether he will sign this bill into law.
RTC votes unanimously to hire two railroad consulting firms:
RTC Deputy Director Luis Mendez reported on followup steps involved in the rail corridor purchase (see our Report 10 for August 7 for good news on a purchase agreement). Mendez, in his report, recommended the hiring of two rail consulting firms (Renaissance Rail and Egan Consulting) to provide guidance to the selection of a shortline freight operator to provide the necessary freight service on the Santa Cruz Branch Line. Mendez's recommendations were adopted unanimously by the Commissioners.
CFST member Jack Nelson provides news items:
Try clicking on this link and scrolling to the 5th page, where you will find seven recent news clippings relating to climate change and changes in the nation's driving habits. These articles, whose headlines range from “Researchers: Global warming to have big local impact” to “Americans and autos: the romance wanes” were submitted to the Commission by Jack Nelson. (Let's hope they get read by the Commissioners!)
The next RTC meeting:
The next RTC meeting will be on Thursday October 2, in the Board of Supervisors chambers at the County Government Center, 701 Ocean Street in Santa Cruz (not in Watsonville as previously announced). The meeting will start at 9:00 am. An agenda should be posted on the RTC's website before too long.