The major roadways in the study area are State Route 166 and State Route 33, which are shown on Figure 1-1 and described below:

Transcription

1 3.5 TRAFFIC AND CIRCULATION Existing Conditions Street Network DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT The major roadways in the study area are State Route 166 and State Route 33, which are shown on Figure 1-1 and described below: State Route 166. State Route 166 (Cuyama Highway), located 5.3 miles north of the GPS Mine site, is a 2-lane east-west highway within the project vicinity. State Route 166 extends east from U.S. Highway 101 in San Luis Obispo County through Santa Barbara County to Kern County. State Route 166 provides regional access to the project site and is the primary route for eastbound and westbound product deliveries, and other traffic generated by the project. State Route 166 east also connects to Interstate 5. State Route 33. State Route 33, located immediately east of the site, is a major north-south highway within the study area. It extends north from U.S. Highway 101 in Ventura County through Santa Barbara County. State Route 33 provides regional access to the project site and will serve as the primary route for project traffic traveling south and north coming from, and going to the GPS Mine site; and for traffic destined for areas east and west on State Route 166. A 0.2-mile-long driveway connection to State Route 33 provides direct access to the Processing Area Roadway Operations The annual average daily traffic (AADT) volumes and roadway operations in the study area are characterized below. The operational characteristics of the study area roadways are analyzed based on a set of standard roadway design capacities. In rating a roadway s operating condition, Levels of Service (LOS) A through F are used. LOS A and LOS B represent primarily free-flow operations, LOS C represents stable conditions, LOS D nears unstable operations with restrictions on maneuverability within traffic streams, LOS E represents unstable operations with maneuverability very limited, and LOS F represents breakdown or forced flow conditions. LOS D is considered acceptable for County roadways. Most frequently, traffic impact analyses are directed at intersections because they are the points where traffic congestion develops most readily. LOS values are usually computed for intersections based on the volume to capacity ratio for traffic moving through the intersection, or based on delay times when traffic is stopped. For open roadway segments, it is less common to analyze project impacts because roadway segments are usually not the limiting points in traffic flow. There are, however, methods for computing traffic impacts on open highway segments that are based on operational analysis procedures in the Highway S:\07 PROJ\Ventucopa GPS Mine\2009 Final EIR\3.5 Traffic.doc 3.5-1

2 Capacity Manual (Transportation Research Board 2002). The County Circulation Element also provides policy guidance regarding roadway capacities (Santa Barbara County 2001: Section III). Estimates of LOS values were provided on area highways in the Final EIR for the Diamond Rock Mine project (County of Santa Barbara: July 2007: 3.5-2). These estimates and the existing AADT volumes for the highway segments in the vicinity are presented in Table 3.5-1, and Figure shows a schematic representation of the area highways and the current traffic volumes (with truck traffic volumes shown). TABLE EXISTING ROADWAY OPERATIONS Roadway State Route 166 West of State Route 33 to Santa Maria East of State Route 33 (and combined SR 33) to Maricopa State Route 33 South of State Route 33, north of project site South of State Route 166, south of project site Jurisdiction (County) Roadway Type Annual Avg. Daily Traffic LOS San Luis Obispo 2- Lane Highway 3,600 LOS A Santa Barbara Kern 2-Lane Highway 4,500 LOS A San Luis Obispo 2-Lane Highway 1,000 LOS A SB and Ventura 2-Lane Highway LOS A South of State Route Ventura 2-Lane Highway 23,100 LOS E North of U.S. Highway Ventura 4-Lane Freeway 41,000 LOS B 1 State Route 33 LOS based on capacities outlined in the Ventura County General Plan. 2 ADT count collected by ATE (2004) south of the Ventucopa GPS site. Other ADT values are from Caltrans The data presented in Table indicate that the study area highway segments currently operate in the LOS A to E range based on Santa Barbara County and Ventura County roadway design capacities. The segments with the lower levels of service occur in Ventura County. The minimum acceptable standard adopted by Ventura County for State Route 33 in the Ojai/Casitas Springs area is LOS E. All of the highway segments in Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Kern Counties operate at a LOS A Project-generated Traffic The GPS Mine is an existing facility. In recent years, its average production rate (of about 400,000 tons/year) has amounted to 55 truck loads of material or 110 truck trips per day. The project does not anticipate an increase in overall production but if it were to sustain its maximum production for an entire year (500,000 tons/year), the truck traffic would amount to 75 loads or 150 truck trips/day, which is the maximum daily truck traffic anticipated from S:\07 PROJ\Ventucopa GPS Mine\2009 Final EIR\3.5 Traffic.doc 3.5-2

3 the project. An additional small volume of traffic is attributable to employees and service trips or deliveries at the project site. This includes: 1 service delivery or pick-up a day or 2 trips A maximum of 8 employees or 16 employee trips, all from the north Thus, the average daily traffic (ADT) associated with the facility assuming average material production is 128 trips/day and the maximum ADT is 168 trips/day. For most of the discussions that follow, the trip generation under the maximum production scenario will be addressed. This approach will provide a conservative or worst case analysis, while keeping the discussion simple Project Trip Distribution GPS River Rock Products estimates that GPS Mine sand and gravel material is currently delivered to the following areas in the percentages shown: 84 percent or 46 heavy truck loads north on Highway 33 and east on Highway 166 towards Taft and Bakersfield (92 daily truck trips on average, or 126 daily truck trips during maximum production) 8 percent or 4 to 5 heavy truck loads north on Highway 33 and east on Highway 166 towards Santa Maria (9 daily truck trips on average, or 12 daily truck trips during maximum production) 8 percent or 4 to 5 heavy truck loads south on Highway 33 towards Ventura ((9 daily truck trips on average, or 12 daily truck trips during maximum production) Employee and service traffic originates exclusively from the north. For this discussion it is assumed that it splits between areas to the west (Santa Maria) and to the east (Maricopa). Figure illustrates this distribution on the area roadway system Project Impacts Thresholds of Significance The Santa Barbara County Thresholds and Guidelines Manual (Santa Barbara County 2002: 170) state that a significant traffic impact occurs in the following circumstances: If the addition of project traffic to an intersection increases the volume to capacity (V/C) ratio by the values presented below in Table 3.5-2, the impact is considered significant. The project s access to a major road or arterial road would require access that would create an unsafe situation, a new traffic signal or major revisions to an existing traffic signal. S:\07 PROJ\Ventucopa GPS Mine\2009 Final EIR\3.5 Traffic.doc 3.5-3

4 TABLE SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN LEVELS OF SERVICE Intersection Level of Service (Including Project) Increase in V/C or Trips Greater Than LOS A 0.20 LOS B 0.15 LOS C 0.10 LOS D LOS E LOS F 15 Trips 10 Trips 5 Trips The project adds traffic to a roadway that has design features (e.g., narrow width, roadside ditches, sharp curves, poor sight distance, or inadequate pavement structure) that would become a potential safety problem with the addition of project traffic. Project traffic would utilize a substantial portion of an intersection s capacity where the intersection is currently operating at acceptable levels of service ( A to C ) but with cumulative traffic would degrade to or approach LOS D (V/C 0.80) or lower. Substantial is defined as a minimum change of 0.03 for an intersection which would operate from 0.80 to 0.85, a change of 0.02 for an intersection which would operate from 0.86 to 0.90, and a change of 0.01 for an intersection which would operate greater than The above thresholds illustrate the fact that most traffic impact analyses focus on changes in LOS at intersections. While there is no explicit threshold in the County s manual related to assessing impacts on roadway segments, the concept of contributing substantially to a LOS of D or lower provides a guideline. An alternative indication of a traffic impact may be gained from a review of the adopted policy capacities found in the County s Circulation Element (Santa Barbara County 2001:Section III). For a 2-lane rural expressway, similar to the highways in the project vicinity, the adopted policy capacity in the Circulation Element is 11,000 ADT. Additional direction can be found in considering the circumstances when the County will require a Traffic Impact Study (Santa Barbara County 2002:174): A traffic study will generally be required when it appears that the thresholds of significance identified above will be exceeded. In almost all cases where trip generation during the peak hour is expected to exceed 50 vehicles a traffic study will be required. S:\07 PROJ\Ventucopa GPS Mine\2009 Final EIR\3.5 Traffic.doc 3.5-4

5 Since the project-generated traffic already contributes to existing traffic volumes, and since the LOS for all roadways in the project vicinity is A, a traffic study was not required for this project. In addition, its contribution towards peak hour traffic may be estimated at about 10 percent of its daily volume, or about 17 vehicles/hour, well below the limit noted above. Similar guidance is also provided by Caltrans in its Guide of the Preparation of Traffic Impact Studies (Caltrans 2002:2): The following criterion is a starting point in determining when a TIS (Traffic Impact Study) is needed. When a project: 1. Generates over 100 peak hour trips assigned to a State highway facility. 2. Generates 50 to 100 peak hour trips assigned to a State highway facility and, affected State highway facilities are experiencing noticeable delay; approaching unstable traffic flow conditions (LOS C or D ). 3. Generates 1 to 49 peak hour trips assigned to a State highway facility the following are examples that may require a full TIS or some lesser analysis: a. Affected State highway facilities experiencing significant delay; unstable or forced traffic flow conditions (LOS E or F ). b. The potential risk for a traffic incident is significantly increased (i.e., congestion related collisions, non-standard sight distance considerations, increase in traffic conflict points, etc.). c. Change in local circulation networks that impact a State highway facility (i.e., direct access to State highway facility, a non-standard highway geometric design, etc.). Peak hour traffic generation is commonly about 10 percent of a project s daily traffic generation. For the Ventucopa GPS project, the maximum of 168 trips per day would equate to about 17 peak hour trips. Given the fact that all of the highway segments in the project vicinity have a current LOS A, even if the project traffic were considered new it would not ordinarily trigger the need for a Traffic Impact Study under the above guidelines Contribution to Cumulative Traffic in Ventura County The proposed replacement pit area represents only a shift in the mining location. Projectgenerated traffic would remain within the same range as that of the current operations. That is, the project will continue to generate from 128 (average production) to 168 (peak production) trips per day. This current traffic volume from the project contributes to the current traffic counts on the area highways, all of which result in a current LOS A for the nearby highways affected by the project. Current truck trips from the project that serve the southern market area near Ventura contribute to the existing poor level of service on SR 33 S:\07 PROJ\Ventucopa GPS Mine\2009 Final EIR\3.5 Traffic.doc 3.5-5

6 south of SR 150 in Ojai. While this is part of the baseline condition, the LOS is considered unacceptable. Since it is due to traffic from many other sources, as well as the small contribution from the Ventucopa GPS mine, it is a cumulative effect. Any change that would exacerbate the situation would be considered a significant contribution to this cumulative impact. This effect is considered a potentially significant impact, which can be mitigated (Class II), through restrictions on or elimination of truck traffic in that direction as proposed by the applicant Changes in Truck Traffic Distribution In one respect, the proposed CUP and updated project operations will have a slight effect on local traffic volumes. With the agreement by the applicant to end deliveries to the southern market area in the Ventura region, the current project related traffic to and from that direction will be shifted to other highways. Figure shows the modified trip generation and distribution for the project as proposed with the CUP. For the maximum production scenario, the increase in truck traffic on the various highway segments amounts to: 12 truck trips per day on SR 33 south of SR truck trips per day on SR 166 east of SR 33 (towards Maricopa) 3 truck trips per day on SR 166 west of SR 33 (towards Santa Maria) The County s adopted policy capacity for a 2-lane rural highway is 11,000. The current traffic volumes on the nearby highways are all well below 11,000 ADT (ranging from 1,000 to 4,500 as shown in Table 3.5-1), so the changes of a dozen or less ADT represented by the project re-distribution of truck traffic are not significant. Thus, the effect of the proposed CUP in re-directing some traffic from the south to the northwest and northeast is considered less than significant (Class III). Furthermore, even of all of the project generated truck traffic were directed westward towards Santa Maria or eastward towards Kern County its it would still not cause any standards or thresholds to be exceeded and would not cause a significant impact Cumulative Effects The Final EIR for the Diamond Rock Mine project presents estimates of cumulative traffic volumes, including forecast highway traffic volumes for the future, which include the Ventucopa GPS mine traffic, plus the additional trips represented by the Diamond Rock project (Santa Barbara County 2007:3.5-11). These cumulative traffic volumes, and their associated Levels of Service, are summarized below in Table While the forecasted traffic volumes will increase beyond current numbers, and the LOS will change from the current A to B on two highway segments, all of the highways in the project vicinity will continue to operate at acceptable levels. Thus, the cumulative traffic S:\07 PROJ\Ventucopa GPS Mine\2009 Final EIR\3.5 Traffic.doc 3.5-6

7 TABLE CUMULATIVE TRAFFIC VOLUMES, INCLUDING PROJECT + DIAMOND ROCK Roadway Segment Roadway Type Cumulative AADT LOS Impact SR 166 west to Santa Maria 2-lane Highway 6,313 LOS B No SR 166/SR33 east to Maricopa 2-lane Highway 7,938 LOS B No SR 33 south of SR lane Highway 1,764 LOS A No volumes, including the proposed project and other forecast traffic, represents an adverse but less than significant impact (Class III) Mitigation Measures Mitigation Measure TR-1. Heavy truck operations from the project shall be prohibited on SR 33 south into Ojai and the City of Ventura. The Ventucopa GPS mine may supply aggregate materials for roadway and similar improvement projects along the SR 33 corridor north of Ojai. Plan Requirements and Timing Monitoring The Conditional Use Permit shall include this condition. The applicant shall maintain daily records of all delivery loads and destinations. The County shall inspect these records as part of the annual SMARA compliance inspection, or at any other time, to determine compliance. The applicant shall provide a phone number for complaints and maintain these phone records for review by the County. S:\07 PROJ\Ventucopa GPS Mine\2009 Final EIR\3.5 Traffic.doc 3.5-7

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9 3,600 (864 Trucks) 4,500 (1,125 Trucks) SR166 SR166 / SR33 Project Site 1,000 (105 Trucks) SR33 T:\PROJECTS\Ventucopa GPS Mine EIR\Maps\Figure Existing Traffic Volumes.ai Legend Average Annual Daily Traffic (AADT) 804 Trucks - Average Annual Daily Truck Traffic No Scale Figure Existing Traffic Volumes GPS Ventucopa Rock Plant Ventucopa, California County of Santa Barbara

10 8% of Trucks = 50% of Other = 12 Trucks 9 21 Trips/Day 84% of Trucks = 50% of Other = 126 Trucks Trips/Day SR166 SR166 / SR33 92% of Trucks = 100% of Other = 138 Trucks Trips/Day Project Site 8% of Trucks = 0% of Other = 12 Trucks 0 12 Trips/Day SR33 T:\PROJECTS\Ventucopa GPS Mine EIR\Maps\Figure Maximum Daily Traffic.ai Legend No Scale Figure Maximum Project Daily Traffic, Existing Conditions GPS Ventucopa Rock Plant Ventucopa, California County of Santa Barbara

11 10% of Trucks = 50% of Other = 15 Trucks 9 24 Trips/Day 90% of Trucks = 50% of Other = 135 Trucks Trips/Day SR166 SR166 / SR33 100% of Trucks = 100% of Other = 150 Trucks Trips/Day Project Site 0% of Trucks 0% of Other SR33 T:\PROJECTS\Ventucopa GPS Mine EIR\Maps\Figure Maximum Daily TrafficProposed CUP.ai Legend No Scale Figure Maximum Project Daily Traffic, Proposed CUP GPS Ventucopa Rock Plant Ventucopa, California County of Santa Barbara