This article appeared in the Eureka Reporter on 2 September 2007.

by Wendy Butler

The Corridor Access Project and Green Wheels groups both advocate access and safety along U.S. Highway 101, but the two disagree on the listed alternatives for the corridor between Eureka and Arcata.

The California Department of Transportation’s “Eureka-Arcata Route 101 Corridor Improvement Project” draft environmental impact report is available for public comment through Sept. 28. The project is to make improvements to the highway stretch between Eureka Slough Bridge and the 11th Street overpass in Arcata.

Caltrans was hired by the Humboldt County Association of Governments to prepare project alternatives and environmental studies in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act and National Environmental Policy Act. Three construction alternatives are included in the draft EIR. A fourth option is a “no-build” alternative.

Alternative 1 involves median crossing closures at Airport Road, Mid-City Motor World, Simpson Timber Co.’s sawmill, Indianola Cutoff, Bracut and Bayside Cutoff.

Alternative 2 includes the same median closures as the first alternative, except at Indianola there would be an interchange and an underpass installed.

Alternative 3 has the same closures as the first, except there would be an interchange at Indianola and a traffic signal at the Airport Road intersection.

The CAP group wants Alternative 3, CAP member Tim Shreeve said.

He manages The Farm Store and is assistant manager of Lazy J Mobile Home Park. Both are along Jacobs Avenue, which parallels the highway approximately between Cole Avenue and Airport Road.

Shreeve said it is already dangerous navigating across the Airport Road intersection.

But, he said, his group is against a median closure at Airport Road because of the economic effect it could have on businesses in that area.

Further, the group would like the designation of Eureka’s entrance to include Jacobs Avenue.

Shreeve said he’d like officials to designate Jacobs Avenue as “the gateway” to Eureka.

“The city really does start at Jacobs Avenue,” he said.

Shreeve said the interchange at Indianola is equally important to business and to safety.

During the period of time that Caltrans tracked collisions from June 1, 1992, throughDec. 31, 2006, there were seven fatalities from vehicle collisions at the Indianola intersection, Caltrans District 1 Traffic Safety Office Chief Ralph M. Martinelli said. However, there have been no fatalities from vehicle collisions since the “safety corridor” was installed in May 2002, he said.

The corridor includes flashing lights, signs and a 50 mph speed limit.

Martinelli said there are still issues with the Indianola intersection — the “potential for broadside collisions, people trying to occupy the same place at the same time.”

“If you had to summarize, it’s conflict between people crossing and people wanting to proceed,” he said. “It can be unforgiving to inattentive motorists.”

For “the safety of the community, that interchange at Indianola is a very important part of this project,” Shreeve said.

Green Wheels doesn’t want any stoplights or interchanges along the corridor, Executive Director Chris Rall said.

Green Wheels is a program of the Northcoast Environmental Center.

Rall will give a PowerPoint presentation at Tuesday’s Eureka City Council meeting, which begins at 6:30 p.m. He plans to go over his take on traffic volume and Caltrans’ own language concerning accommodating nonmotorized traffic and light motorcycles and its statements about providing or maintaining alternative transportation routes.

Green Wheels wants to retain the 50 mph speed limit along the safety corridor. Each alternative (with the exception of the “no-build alternative”) returns the allowable speed to 65 mph.

“We’re supporting the ‘no-build’ alternative,” he said. “First of all, we feel the 50 mile-per-hour speed limit has been adequate in providing safety on the corridor.”

He said the corridor is “three times as safe as the average highway in California of similar traffic volume.” That information is in the draft EIR, Rall said.

“We don’t dispute that traffic will increase, but do dispute the amount the DEIR says it will increase,” he said, referring to the draft EIR’s estimate of a 50 percent increase in the next 25 years.

Green Wheels supports alternative transportation means and routes to accommodate them.

The group is recommending not only the “no-build” alternative, but also wants officials to prioritize a multiuse trail and to develop bus rapid transit along the corridor.