Sac Bee article - interchange improvements at CA-99 and Grant Line Rd.
Joe Rouse
Grant Line Road-Highway 99 project will cost $25 million
By Larry Irby
A proposal to update the Grant Line Road/Highway 99 interchange is
either a potential lifesaver or a scheme driven by the proposed development
of the 300-acre, $500 million Lent Ranch Marketplace, depending on who is
talking.
Elk Grove's Planning Commission listened to public comment on the
environmental impact report for the $25 million project in a crowded Elk
Grove Community Services District board room Jan. 25.
Construction could begin in the fall with a new, safer interchange
coming on line in 2003.
The hook-shaped, outdated interchange -- built in 1958 -- could be
reconstructed as a partial cloverleaf with new ramps, a new overcrossing,
plus reconstruction and widening of Grant Line Road to the intersection of
West Stockton Boulevard.
Highway 99 is the state freeway running up the Central Valley from
Mexico to Oregon. It may be widened from four lanes to six lanes at Grant
Line Road.
Thousands of commuters going to and from their jobs clog Grant Line
Road in the Elk Grove neighborhood of Sheldon. Grant Line is a two-lane
road -- a shortcut to U.S. Highway 50 -- running from Highway 99 in Elk
Grove into the foothills.
The idea of expanding Grant Line Road to six lanes has been discussed,
but there are no such plans on the city of Elk Grove's list of $67.1
million in transportation improvement projects.
Plans calls for installing traffic lights on Grant Line Road at
Calvine Road, at a cost of $364,000, by 2003.
Signal lights may be installed at Grant Line and Wilton roads by
September. The cost of the project is expected to be $436,000.
According to the environmental impact report for the interchange, the
hook off-ramps have substandard deceleration and acceleration lengths. The
movement of 18-wheel trucks through tight turns on and off the Highway 99
ramps also is an issue.
Many of the problems are due to the confusion and congestion caused by
off-ramps that merge without stop signs, and stop signs that bring traffic
to a standstill.
The northbound off-ramp at Grant Line Road and East Stockton
Boulevard, for example, is near a four-way stop that ties up traffic during
the morning and evening commutes.
There is a two-way stop at the northbound on-ramp. Vehicles coming off
the freeway are not required to stop. Those who turn right are required to
stop at the four-way stop sign at Grant Line and East Stockton Boulevard.
The southbound exit isn't any better.
Southbound motorists exiting Highway 99 aren't required to stop as
they turn right onto West Stockton Boulevard and right again onto Grant
Line Road. Southbound motorists also can make a left onto southbound West
Stockton Boulevard.
Motorists traveling north and south on West Stockton Boulevard must
stop for the traffic coming off the freeway. After stopping, they can make
a left or right onto Highway 99.
Patrick Hicks, Suburban Propane manager, said a new interchange is
needed at Highway 99 and Grant Line Road. The facility stores 24 million
gallons of propane at Grant Line Road and East Stockton Boulevard, off
Highway 99.
"I stayed at the facility for about 18 hours one night with three
cameras and three monitors, counting trucks," Hicks said. "After 3,000, I
gave up and went home. We're talking 80,000-pound vehicles. We need to make
arrangements on Grant Line for this type of traffic."
Jan. 29 was the deadline for submitting comments on the EIR.
Lent Ranch Marketplace, proposed for construction on the west side of
Highway 99 at Grant Line and Kammerer roads, was the flash point during the
commission meeting. The retail development would include a fashion mall on
100 acres, plus 200 acres of additional shops, a hotel and an apartment
complex.
Sacramento County's Policy Planning Commission rejected the Lent Ranch
Marketplace in October 1999. George Lotz, chairman of the Elk Grove
Planning Commission, and Jack LaRue voted for the Lent Ranch Marketplace.
Elk Grove resident Bob Lent, for whom the proposed retail development
is named, spoke on behalf of his company, Elk Grove Milling, and his
employees, who he said commute from Galt to Elk Grove via Highway 99 and
Grant Line Road.
"They have reported a number of times that it's getting very dangerous
because cars back up into the ongoing traffic, that the deceleration lane
is filled and they are sitting ducks in there," Lent said.
Customers have telephoned Elk Grove Milling to say they were unable to
arrive on time for appointments because they were stuck in traffic, he
said.
"It's wrong to suggest an interchange is not needed today. There is
danger there. The last accident I saw was Saturday afternoon," Lent said.
"I'm a big proponent of infrastructure first," said resident Joey
Tomko. "But the reason we're here at this time, putting the cart before the
horse, is because of that mall they want put in.
"This interchange is not going to help Grant Line and Waterman and
Wilton (roads)."
The city of Elk Grove assumed jurisdiction over the mall project when
it incorporated July 1, 2000.
"There is gridlock," Tomko said. "The overpass doesn't solve it
because it's like pouring a pitcher of water into an eyedropper. This is
the wrong time for this infrastructure."
"(Highway) 99 is overloaded," resident Dannetta Garcia said. "We need
an interchange. Forget about Lent Ranch. Throw Lent Ranch out of the
picture. We need an interchange. Period. With or without the mall, we need
to move traffic."
Clay Castleberry, Elk Grove public works director, said the proposed
interchange is an important project for Elk Grove and the Sacramento County
region.
Franklin Souza and Irene Hicks of the SES Hall said the proposed
interchange will force a number of major changes on the Portugese Hall on
East Stockton Boulevard, including the moving of utilities, trees and
driveways.
Sociadade de Espirit Santo -- the Society of the Holy Spirit -- could
lose its income, Hicks said, because the hall could be closed for 18 months
during interchange construction.
Genelle Treaster of the South County Citizens for Responsible Growth
said the group believes "city officials have already decided to approve the
Lent Ranch Marketplace proposal, thereby creating an immediate need for the
Grant Line Road/SR 99 interchange reconstruction improvements -- a project
otherwise not necessary for 10 years or more."
In other business, Elk Grove planning commissioners decided they would
try to determine Feb. 15 whether Raley's/Bel Air and Safeway grocery stores
can be constructed at Elk Grove Boulevard and Waterman Road in the limited
commercial zone as part of the East Elk Grove Specific Plan.
Supermarkets are permitted in limited-commercial zones, but some
people are saying the specific plan bans grocery stores at Waterman Road
and Elk Grove Boulevard.
sadness or euphoria
>Mexico to Oregon.
So they're going to recomission US 99? ;)
BTW, does anyone have a diagram of this interchange? Is it a 4 Ramp Parclo
Diamond hybrid (kinda like a much larger version of the CA 1/Palmetto Avenue
"interchange" in SF)?
Chris Sampang
In The SF Bay Area
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Joe Rouse
sadness or euphoria <calv...@aol.commylife> wrote in message
news:20010203172402...@ng-mk1.aol.com...
> > Highway 99 is the state freeway running up the Central Valley from
> >Mexico to Oregon.
>
> So they're going to recomission US 99? ;)
>
> BTW, does anyone have a diagram of this interchange? Is it a 4 Ramp
Parclo
> Diamond hybrid (kinda like a much larger version of the CA 1/Palmetto
Avenue
> "interchange" in SF)?
This interchange has buttonhook on and off ramps that terminate at frontage
roads. As you go northbound or southbound, you pass underneath Grant Line,
and then there are the ramps. So to get to Grant Line, you have to turn
right onto the frontage road. Grant Line ends at the frontage road on the
west side of 99. There has been talk of extending it westward.