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North / South Route Choice Controversy

Rio Linda Union School District
627 L Street
Rio Linda
California 95673

March 13, 2006

Supervisor Roger Dickinson
Sacramento County Supervisor
700 H Street, Suite 2450
Sacramento CA 95814

Re: Traffic Impacts of Elverta Specific Plan and Placer Vineyards Developments to Schools Located Along Dry Creek Road

Dear Roger:

As you know, the Elverta Specific Plan (ESP) development intends to add 4,950 dwelling units to the Rio Linda/Elverta community.  The published projections are that this development will result in an average of two vehicles per residence, that's nearly 10,000 vehicles.  In addition, the Placer Vineyards development in Placer County will connect to the extension of 16th Street north of Elverta Road, adding even more vehicles.

Three of the four alternative proposals, to accommodate the southbound automobile traffic, funnel all those vehicles into Rio Linda and Sacramento via Dry Creek Road.  Given that four schools, namely Rio Linda Senior High, Rio Linda Junior High, Dry Creek Elementary and Dry Creek West Special Education are accessed from Dry Creek Road between Elkhorn Boulevard and G Street, this will have significant impacts on the traffic and access for the students who attend these schools.  It will clearly increase the risk of accidents involving the youth attending these schools and increase the need for local school districts to implement traffic mitigation efforts.
 
Alternative 2, however, previously endorsed by the Rio Linda/Elverta Community Planning Advisory Council (CPAC), would extend 16th Street across both channels of Dry Creek, connecting with 16th Street at Elkhorn Boulevard and becoming Raley Boulevard when it reaches the City of Sacramento. Raley Boulevard's interchange with Interstate 80 would then provide freeway access to the expected thousands of Elverta Specific Plan and Placer Vineyards residents.

The Rio Linda Board of Trustees and I urge the Board of Supervisors to consider the significant traffic impacts of the Elverta Villages and Placer Vineyards developments to local schools along Dry Creek Road.  Further, we request that Alternatives 1, 3 and 4 be eliminated from consideration and the Sixteenth Street Alternative 2 be adopted.  Adopting Alternative 2 will keep Dry Creek Road as a local transportation corridor and reduce the amount of increased traffic past these four local schools.

Thank you for your consideration of this request.

Sincerely,
Frank Porter
Superintendent

c: Rio Linda Union School District Board of Trustees
   Rio Linda/Elverta Community Council

Previous article on this subject:
Rio Linda News March 16, 2006 - Dry Creek Road Gridlock? Another Viewpoint
http://rlenews.com/06/060316.html

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