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| Transportation Plan |
| How
will the County deal with a rapidly growing population and its ever increasing
need for better transportation? |
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| Why
do we need transportation improvements? |
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People have different impressions
about growth. Some are concerned that it is happening too
fast, and that it should slow down. Others think that growth
provides opportunities for additional and improved jobs, an
enhanced economic base, better services, and an overall healthier
county in the future. The current predictions are that Western
Riverside County's population will grow from 1.2 million to
about 2.0 million over the next 20 years. Making wise choices
in where we locate transportation facilities will support
the land use plans and will channel growth into the most logical
areas.
We can also predict
how bad traffic may be in the future by entering the growth
projections into a computer model that simulates traffic flows.
The results show that major increases in traffic can be expected
on our freeways and other roadways. Here are some examples
of predicted increases between now and 2020:
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| Examples
of predicted increases between now and 2020 |
- SR-91 at the Orange County
Line-a 95% increase over the current daily traffic volume
- SR-60/I-215 in Box Springs-a
60% increase to about 300,000 vehicles per day-this is about 30% more than SR-91
carries today into Orange County
- I-15 in the Murrieta/Temecula
area-a 90% increase
- I-215 in Murrieta-a 130%
increase
- I-215 near March Air Reserve
Base-a 100% increas
- I-10 in the Beaumont area-a
150% increase
- SR-79 in the French Valley
area-a 240% increase
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| Even with the transportation
improvements we have currently funded, the computer models indicate
that a typical trip in Western Riverside County will take about 40
percent longer in 2020 than it takes now. In other words, a 20-minute
trip now could take almost 30 minutes in 20 years, if we take no further
action. We cannot afford to let that occur because it will hurt our
economy and will negatively affect our quality of life |
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| What
has happened so far? |
| Work on CETAP has resulted
in decisions to complete corridor studies in several areas. Four corridors
were identified as priorities for Western Riverside County: |
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| Four
corridors identified as priorities |
- Banning/Beaumont to Temecula
with emphasis on the southern portion from Winchester to south of Temecula-a separate
study is looking at re-routing SR-79 to the west of Hemet and San Jacinto
- Hemet to Corona/Lake Elsinore
to help address east-west mobility in the western part of the County
- Moreno Valley to San Bernardino
County to help address the current and future congestion problems on I-215 and
SR-60
- Riverside County to Orange
County to address the current and future congestion problems on SR-91
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| The Winchester
to Temecula Corridor and the Hemet to Corona/Lake Elsinore Corridor
are being addressed first. The Moreno Valley to San Bernardino County
Corridor and Riverside County to Orange County Corridor require additional
coordination with our neighboring counties, and will be addressed
in the months to come. |
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| What
is CETAP? |
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In an effort to improve the quality
of life for current and future residents, the County of Riverside
and the Riverside County Transportation Commission (RCTC)
have embarked on a comprehensive planning process to determine
future placement of buildings, roads, and open spaces for
Riverside County. This process has been named the Riverside
County Integrated Project (RCIP) and will create three plans
that are interrelated. The plans include a General Plan for
land use and housing; a Multiple Species Habitat Conservation
Plan (MSHCP) to determine what land should be set aside as
open space and maintained for plant and animal conservation;
and the Community and Environmental Transportation Acceptability
Process (CETAP) identifying improvements for highways and
transit systems. For many years, transportation, land use,
and environmental planning have occurred independently. This
combined effort seeks to create plans that are coherent and
consistent.
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| The
main purposes of CETAP are to: |
- Identify and set aside
areas for major transportation facilities (both highway and transit) that will
be necessary to support the future growth in Western Riverside County
- Ensure that the transportation
infrastructure will be in place to foster the economy of Riverside County and
provide access for our citizens to jobs, schools, shopping, and other daily activities
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| Due to the fast pace
of development in Riverside County, opportunities are being lost to
preserve land for regional transportation facilities. Therefore, an
important goal of CETAP is to complete environmental documentation
to allow for the preservation of right-of-way for regional transportation
facilities. By doing this, everyone will know where the major corridors
are going to be and will be able to plan around them. |
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