Governor Brown signs Senator Kehoe's SB 468 bill

[Steve Goetsch]

To Citizens Against Freeway Expansion:

 

Governor Brown has cleared his desk of the hundreds of bills left by the legislature for him to sign. 

 

Senate Bill 468, not as sweeping as when it was introduced, (signed last Friday) does place some controls on Caltrans and SANDAG's expansion plans

for I-5.  It limits expansion to no more than 2 additional lanes in each direction (which Caltrans agreed to when they withdrew

3 of their 4 options from consideration earlier this fall).  It DOES NOT MANDATE OR APPROVE construction of anything.

Caltrans will still have to release a new Draft Environmental impact report for public debate on the reduced expansion plan.

 

The bill also divides the project up into three segments, with mass transit and mitigation requirements built into each 10 year segment.
The California Coastal Commission will oversee compliance with each segment.   All of this will be in a "Coastal Development Plan" for

which Caltrans and SANDAG must hold at least two public hearings.  It ain't over yet!

 

 

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/oct/07/governor-signs-kehoes-bill-i-5-expansion/

Governor signs Kehoe's bill on I-5 expansion

by Bob Hawkins, Transportation Editor

 

EXCERPT:  (MY EMPHASIS ADDED)

 

Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a bill that maps out how transit improvements that must be made hand-in-hand with the expansion of Interstate 5 through North County.

Kehoe’s original bill, touted as a “transit first” bill, would have required public transportation options to be built out along the state’s entire coastal corridor before coastal highway expansion could begin.

The bill eventually limited its scope to the 27-mile North Coastal Corridor and requires transit improvements to be made as part of the construction project, in 10 year increments over the 40-year life of the highway construction project.

The bill limits the expansion of I-5 to two lanes in each direction, which is the option chosen in July by Caltrans. The $3.4 billion construction project now will require the taking of fewer than 10 properties, rather than the 421 projected in the worst-case scenario.

Another key element in the legislation requires railroad and highway bridge construction to occur concurrently over each of the six coastal lagoons, to minimize the environmental impact.

 

 

Steve Goetsch

Solana Beach, California