CCMIN071602 - Laserfiche WebLink

funds appropriated for Highway 84 widening. He wanted to make certain those funds stay allocated to that project and are not diverted to other improvements like a carpool lane on eastbound 580. He did not think carpool lanes worked. His final comment was that as a Pleasant Hills resident he worked closely with city staff on traffic calming projects and he said it is working very effectively. He felt like it was a safer neighborhood now. Mayor Pico said what the City is considering for the test is similar to the freeway metering and that some freeway onrarnp meters will be turned on in the near future. The objective is to keep traffic flowing on the freeway. Pleasanton's test is to see how it can keep traffic flowing within the city. He was certain he would hear from the citizens about the test. Regarding Highway 84, the issues are still being studied. The solution is to control our own destiny as much as possible locally. However, it is necessary to work regionally because other cities impact each other. With the passage of Proposition 42, there is $55 million that will flow into the Th-Valley area in addition to the monies already allocated. That will be received in about 2008 and will continue for a period of eighteen years, so the money will not be received all at once. There is a project to straighten Highway 84, build some truck passing lanes from Vallecitos to Isabel, and make it more safe (not add additional lanes). That project is short about $55 million. When the long-term funding plan and projected expenditures for the Tri-Valley area improvements were formulated, it was uncertain whether Proposition 42 would pass. Rather than allocate $55 million to numerous projects, it was temporarily designated for the Highway 84 project, since that was the amount of money needed to make the safety improvements, but not the expansion. The leaders of the Th-Valley area are meeting in August or September to review how to reallocate the Proposition 42 funds. A consultant has been hired to review all the proposed projects in the area from HOV lanes to BART to express buses, etc.; to review the funding sources available; to determine how soon projects would be ready to start; and to develop a matrix of options to help the leaders find the best solutions to relieve congestion and to get the most for the available funds. It may be that the funding will stay with Highway 84, but it will not provide some of the congestion relief that Pleasanton would like to see. On the other hand, if Highway 84 is widened at the expense of HOV lanes or widening 580, there would then be a situation where there is more capacity coming from 84 to 580 than 580 can possibly handle. In that case, traffic would then cut through Livermore and create a problem for them. We are trying to look at all the options, to make recommendations for review by all the Councils in the Th-Valley for long range plans. In that process, the other agencies are being encouraged to adopt this traffic model and expand its capabilities to give a better understanding of what is happening regionally. He was excited to have a new tool for this process. The problem is there is just not enough money to make a significant dent. All the money currently planned for improvements will not show a significant improvement in traffic flow because of the increase in congestion that will be coming. It is necessary to think hard about how the money will be spent. Mr. Knowles is working hard to have Highway 84 widened, but it has to work as a complete system. We can't squeeze the balloon on one side, because it will pop out on the other. We have been working almost ten years to get this tool and there are opportunities now to test it and play "what if'. We are going to test metering to see if it works at a local level and will see what the citizen reaction is, both positive and negative. He was certain there would be extreme reactions. At least there is a new tool and we have to figure out how to use it most effectively. Pleasanton City Council 12 07/16/02 Minutes