Saturday, September 10, 2016

NIMBY delays deliver more traffic, potentially no highway fix


Anyone have the timeline of when the grant money runs out to fund the Calera Parkway Highway 1 project?

Delays, obstruction, nothing to solve real human issues-- and so it goes with NIMBIES.

The Daily Journal/Bay City News/Julia Cheever, 9/7/16.  "Judge says new study needed for Highway 1 widening plan: rare species in Pacifica prompts call by Federal Judge."

Image result for BS picture
City future crippled by ongoing
NIMBY delays and obstruction.
Don't vote for any of them!
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Hear you have a solution
that needs a problem.
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What BS can ruin
your life today?
"A federal judge in San Francisco (U.S. District Judge Vincent Chhabria) has ruled that Caltrans must obtain a further study of two imperiled species and consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service before it can go ahead with a project to widen Highway 1 in Pacifica. The Caltrans project would expand a 1.3-mile stretch of the highway in the southern part of Pacifica from four lanes to six, to reduce traffic congestion.  ....  He said Caltrans must obtain a new biological opinion from the Fish and Wildlife Service and consult with the service about the impact on the two species before proceeding with the road widening.

 ....  Caltrans spokesman Myeast McCauley said, “Caltrans will be working with its project partners to discuss and determine options and next steps.”  He said agency officials are pleased that the judge rejected additional environmental claims in the conservation groups’ lawsuit.

Center for Biological Diversity spokesman Jeff Miller said... .... ... 'We’re hoping the agency gets the message that the community doesn’t want or need this wasteful and damaging highway-widening project,' Miller said."  Read article.

Related, NIMBY Press Release.  Center for Biological Diversity/Jeff Miller, Aruna Prabhala, 9/6/16. ....  "Pacificans for a Scenic Coast, Pacificans for Highway 1 Alternatives and the Center for Biological Diversity filed their challenge to the project in May 2015. ....  The court ruled that the environmental approval of the project by Caltrans is invalid because it violated the Endangered Species Act and the Administrative Procedure Act. The court noted that Caltrans’ reliance on a 5.14-acre parcel for mitigation that was already preserved “resulted in a faulty Biological Opinion, which in turn resulted in an invalid approval of the project.” The court also rejected Caltrans’ proposal to “enhance” endangered species habitat off-site of the project as a “vague and speculative mitigation.” The court ruled that the Fish and Wildlife Service also violated the Endangered Species Act and that Caltrans must reinitiate a formal consultation and obtain a new “biological opinion” from the federal wildlife agency."

Reference, NIMBY.  Anti-Highway 1 widening, and anti-fix Highway NIMBY organizations.  PH1A (Pacifica),  Facebook.  And of course, Center for Biological Diversity.

Reference, Caltrans.  California Department of Transportation/Caltrans District 4/Highway 1, "Calera Parkway Widening." "The Project Report was approved on August 2, 2013.  Project Funding: The project will be funded from San Mateo County Transportation Measure A and STIP funds. In addition, potential Federal funding would be used if it becomes available. The total estimated cost of the project is $52 Million dollars, which includes construction capital, Right of Way capital, and support cost."

Note photo/graphics.  Button from Ask the headhunter/Nick Corcodilos, "Meet Charles Phillips."... Bear from Wikia/Battle Bears/Buzzsaw.  Bull from  No BS Day Trading/Education, You Tube, 18:25 minutes,"Understanding context..."

Posted by Kathy Meeh

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

Caltrans does everything cookie cutter and it does not always work! Caltrans wanted freeway through Hayward and concern citizens stopped it.A much better alternative for Hayward is presently in existence.

Anonymous said...

Golly Gee. Thanks Peter Loeb you are the hero for thousands of Pacificans.
Now that you've completely crippled our town, will you be selling your hovel in Rockaway Beach any time soon?
Please go and take your friends with you. Your work here is done.

Anonymous said...

Are you nuts. I grew up in Hayward and it is now a confusing, traffic congested mess. what are you smoking?

Larry said...

Funny thing 1:48, I grew up in Hayward as well. It was a Del Monte canning factory on A St. and a nothing downtown. I still drive through 15=20 times a year. Foothill moves traffic through downtown pretty efficiently and if you don't want to drive Foothill you can always go Watkins to C St, jog over to B St. and shoot right up to the Hwy entrance at Crow Canyon. Lot's of ways through Hayward and they have a rejuvenated downtown and are building a new Library. If it's confusing you're not paying attention.
oh
I quit smoking in 1981.

Anonymous said...

Mission Blvd is incomprehensibly one way for 3 blocks. You can't turn right on E st. by Bret Harte off of Mission and what's left of downtown is all carved up with parking lots and fast food outlets. No thanks. Hayward's downtown looks like something the NOBY geniuses in Pacifica would come up with.

Anonymous said...

Driving through Hayward to 580 connection is very smooth with computer controlled signals ;no freeway needed.The loop has to have one way directions to handle traffic.Caltrans paid for downtown rejuvenations!

CWR said...

Excuse my confusion yet expanding Hwy one isn't that going to take out the Tea Shoppe the New Japanese Restaurant in Rockaway? I thought the Old Kentucky Fried Chicken was going to be torn down after Mr. Peebles (Mr.Miami Vice) was putting up Measure L on the ballot back in 2006. More or less construct, take the money then run just like this Canadian Firm that is building homes on top of Rockaway/Linda Mar.I feel it may be easier if the Laguna Salada School District would revamp their assigned schools for students, fix the timing of the signal lights in Vallemar/Rockaway Beach. Afterwards elect a whole new city council that isn't scratching their scalps on ''no-so-complex issues.''

Anonymous said...

Mr, Roark,
Even if the Pacifica School District (it hasn't been the Laguna Salada School District for about 10 years!) restricted school assignment choices, that wouldn't fix the evening commute - which is often worse than the morning one. And "fixing" light timing wouldn't solve it either, because between Sharp Park Road and Fassler during commute hours, there are three-plus lanes of traffic trying to fit into two lanes of highway, which is exactly why CalTrans proposes to widen just that section to solve the problem. You're right about it being not so complex!

Anonymous said...

4:22. I'm in that evening rush hour most days of the week. What I repeatedly observe is that the backup is caused by the traffic from Sharp Park Road merging with the traffic on Highway 1. When the traffic gets through the Vallemar light, it moves much more freely. Adding a lane AFTER the Vallemar light won't do a damn thing to fix the evening commute.

The Ghost oif Tattoo said...

Da Plane! Da Plane! No, it's not airplane noise that causes the H1 backups, Mr. Roarke. Neither is it the signal timings. Sorry, but you need to get off Fantasy Island if you don't think that school daze are the major culprit here. Add to that the ill conceived school lottery scheme - a guaranteed delivery system for traffic congestion. Anyone with any sense of integrity will acknowledge the major difference in traffic the day school lets out for vacation and the day it starts back up again. Why is it that those who so adamantly insist that any development project whatsoever will cause irreparable traffic problems so reluctant to concede the impact of our school system? No need to answer. The question was purely rhetorical.

Anonymous said...

Peter Loeb is my hero. Thanks to him, the traffic will remain choked on Highway One for years to come. It's a huge relief to people like me who appreciate the opportunity it provide to fire up a bowl and headbang to the Dead in one mile an hour traffic. What a wonderful world.

Anonymous said...

In unreported News: Mary Ann looks like she will drop out of the race for city council. Major scandal.

Steve Sinai said...

"Anyone with any sense of integrity will acknowledge the major difference in traffic the day school lets out for vacation and the day it starts back up again."

Can you explain why traffic backs up southbound during the evening commute whether school is in session or not?

Anonymous said...

"Can you explain why traffic backs up southbound during the evening commute whether school is in session or not?" Yes. See 8:58.

Anonymous said...

@1:47 - Nah! If you do what 8:58 implies and just widen it from Sharp Park to Vallemar, you'd just push the bottleneck a couple of hundred yards south. Need to extend the three lanes to where one third of the traffic turns to go up Fassler, then two lanes is enough again. Then, when about half that traffic turns into Linda Mar, one lane south from there is all you need. It really is quite simple.

Kathy Meeh (traffic boggled-neck solutions) said...

147, 858, your comment "...Sharp Park Road merging with the traffic on Highway 1...".

How about ALL "southbound evening commute" merging traffic within and through Calera Parkway (the 1.3 mile area): 1) highway 1 south, 2) Sharp Park Road south, 3) other transient City traffic.
Similar traffic overload issues occur in that area during the day (school, other); and during the morning northbound commute.
This information is confirmed not just by empirical observation, but also from decades of government studies by San Mateo County (SMCTA), and the State of CA (Caltrans).
That's the reason to widen the obvious highway 1 major bottleneck through Calera Parkway (1.3 miles); and to find a suitable dirt home for the red-legged frogs, (so that the SF Garter snakes may eat them).

Anonymous said...

Widening between Vallemar and Fassler will not reduce congestion in either the morning or evening commute. The only thing that will reduce congestion and permanently eliminate the backup is eliminating the Vallemar light. Overpass, roundabout, anything that removes that light will solve the problem. Keeping the light and widening a short stretch only moves the bottlenecks at either end. Empirical observation confirms that wherever 3 lanes go down to 2, it creates a backup.

Kathy Meeh (Memo to traffic engineer) said...

335, not really. Reason: there are lots of highway 1 entry and exit areas onto City roads in that area.
But gosh, if you had supported the 2006 Quarry development, your plan might have been supported by Peebles Corporation, (hence, some people foiled that opportunity.)

Anonymous said...

3:35 wrote "Empirical observation confirms that wherever 3 lanes go down to 2, it creates a backup." You mean like when Hwy 1 goes from three lanes (actually four lanes) down to two at the top of the hill coming south? I don't remember backups there - maybe because half the traffic has left to go to Skyline Blvd.? See what 2:07 wrote to explain this phenomenon.

Anonymous said...

Preventing any widening project on Highway One is the right thing to do. Eliminating the congested traffic along that corridor will only encourage more development in the Quarry. We don't want any more people in our town. If you don't like it, then move away.

Steve Sinai said...

Southbound Highway 1 goes from two lanes to one south of Linda Mar. That's a 50% reduction in capacity. I don't empirically recall seeing traffic jams there, unless the Pumpkin Festival or something like that is going on.

The Ghost of Hervé Villechaize said...

"Can you explain why traffic backs up southbound during the evening commute whether school is in session or not?"

Yes, but you would need to understand queuing theory.

Steve Sinai said...

I do understand queuing theory. Back in the 80s I worked at two aerospace companies where part of my work was writing computer programs to simulate air traffic control operations.

So go ahead and explain why traffic backs up southbound during the evening commute whether school is in session or not.

Anonymous said...

Traffic heading south at Linda Mar tends not to back up when 2 lanes go down to 1 because much of the traffic turns at the intersection and does not continue on Highway 1.

Traffic backs up southbound during the evening commute, as someone said, because heavier evening commute traffic from Sharp Park Road is merging with the increased commute traffic on Highway 1.

The Ghost of HV said...

6:44- I didn't ask for your resume. If you truly understood queuing theory, you wouldn't have to keep asking the same question.

Steve Sinai said...

Ghost, you said you could explain Highway 1 traffic in terms of queuing theory. Go for it.

Sharon said...

Wonder if anyone has actually measured the amount of toxic fumes being spewed out at Vallemar Cut during the evening commute by the idling and slowly crawling vehicles during both the summer and other times of the year. Fairway Park is getting the worst of that crap! The Pittsburgh, CA School District has just issued an edict that all parents picking up students must turnoff their cars, no more idling while waiting around because of the harmful fumes spewed out by their vehicles. But I guess it's OK everyone in Fairway Park East and West can just move if we don't like it, right?