RES 91023 - Laserfiche WebLink

Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Councilz BACKGROUND Foothill Road has long anchored.the CitY~s western edge. Once the State highway running north-south from Sunol to Walnut Creek, Foothill Road has captivated its travelers with its twisting, undulating path, its corridor of mature oak trees, the rolling grasslands giving way to the steeply wooded Pleasanton Ridge to the west, and the dairy, orchard, rangeland spreading out below broad vistas across the valley to the east. Foothill Road is now home to Sunday drivers, bicyclists of all types, homeowners along its route, students coming to and from Foothill High School, and commuters "passing through." Improved to full urban standards in some areas, in others it has not been touched since its rural highway days. Originally planned to be the major thoroughfare serving the west side of Pleasanton, Foothill Road has gone through several iterations of change in design. This report describes the history of the road, the traffic circulation functions it must serve, and alternatives for its design. Foothill Road engenders strong opinions concerning its final design. No single alternative can meet all the criteria desired by its neighbors, its travelers, and the City's traffic engineers. This report attempts to describe the strengths and weaknesses of each alternative. Historical Development The early improvements to Foothill Road followed the then standard City practice of widening along major streets equally from each side of existing right-of-way. The early subdivisions along Foothill Road~s eastern side (Highland Oaks, Stoneridge, Foothill Farms, Oak Hill) were designed in this fashion, leaving a roadway for a wide, four-lane Foothill Road'with median, on-street parking, and landscaped edge. The road in these sections has been widened to the "ultimate" eastern border, typically leaving a 43 ft. wide street with 18 ft. from curb face to property line on the eastern side. In 1972, a joint City-County alignment study was done for Foothill Road. This study established a, four lane roadway with median which was designed tourban standards for Foothill Road throughout the present study's length. This plan did little to recognize existing trees, topography, or native character. The 1972 alignment has since been abandoned by the City. in granting several project approvals, as it has been felt to be Inappropriate to the goal of maintaining the Foothill Road area as a highquality, rural character area. This alignment plan is also now out of conformance with the General Plan. SR91:52 3