Placer Parkway moves step closer

Federal, state and Placer County officials are moving a step closer to choosing a final route alignment for the Placer Parkway.

The Federal Highway Administration, Caltrans and the South Placer Regional Transportation Authority have completed the Final Tier 1 Environmental Impact Statement/Program Environmental Impact Report (Final Tier 1 EIS/EIR) for the Placer Parkway Corridor Preservation project.

South Placer RTA directors have scheduled a Dec. 3 meeting to consider the document.

The parkway, which carries an estimated price of nearly $600 million, is proposed as a new east-west roadway linking Highway 70/99 in Sutter County to Highway 65 in Placer County.

Sutter County's share of the project is pegged at about $100 million, according to the Placer County Transportation Agency Web site.

Placer Parkway is intended to reduce anticipated congestion on both the local and regional transportation system and to advance economic development goals in south Sutter County and southwestern Placer County.

The route would be 14 miles to 16 miles along, depending on its path, and would run between Sankey and Riego roads in Sutter County, connecting the huge Sutter Pointe development with the new freeway.

The Final Tier 1 EIS/EIR identifies one alternative with a no-access buffer as the preferred alternative under National Environmental Policy Act and the environmentally superior alternative under the California Environmental Quality Act.

This alternative would have the fewest direct impacts to farmlands, wetlands and Swainson's Hawk and White-Tailed Kite foraging habitat. It would be the least archeologically sensitive alternative.

If the South Placer RTA board approves the preferred alternative, it will work with Placer and Sutter counties to amend their general plans to preserve this corridor for the future Placer Parkway.

South Placer RTA and its member jurisdictions — Placer County, Roseville, Rocklin and Lincoln — would also be able to acquire land for all or part of the selected corridor.

Sutter County supervisors will separately consider approval of the preferred alternative within its jurisdiction, based on the final program environmental impact report.

A second environmental review, known as "Tier 2," can begin after the preferred alternative is approved.

This review will analyze construction and operational impacts of specific roadway alignments within the selected corridor.

Construction cannot begin until the Tier 2 studies have been completed.

Parkway Study

Copies of the Final Tier 1 study for the Placer Parkway are available at Sutter County libraries in Yuba City and Pleasant Grove.

They are also available online at www.pctpa.net/placerparkway/index.htm

Know and Go

• WHO: South Placer Regional Transportation Authority

• WHAT: Placer Parkway environmental report

• WHEN: 10:45 a.m. Dec. 3

• WHERE: Placer County Board of Supervisors chambers, 175 Fulweller Ave., Auburn