Everyone knew the Los Patrones on-ramps were 381 feet from Tesoro

Very Interesting Comments in the Original EIR for Chiquita Canyon High School aka Tesoro High School

Caltrans: Robert F. Joseph,

Chief Advance Planning Branch

Department of Transportation District 12

January 26, 1996

Comment:

"Thank you for the opportunity to review and comment on the Draft Environmental Impact Report for Chiquita Canyon High School. The proposed project is for the construction o f Chiquita Canyon High on approximately 40 acres and is located within the unincorporated area o f Orange County. The site is located at the southwest comer of the future intersection of Oso Parkway and the Foothill Transportation Corridor in Rancho Mission Viejo. Caltrans District 12 is a responsible agency and has the following comments."

Section 5.8.2h (page149) the distance of 370 feet between the freeway on ramp and the access road is unacceptable. The minimum distance should be 500 feet and the design shall be coordinated with the design of the Foothill Transportation Corridor. Please submit the detailed engineering/site plans for review and comment."

NOTE: Caltrans is stating that the distance from the freeway on ramp to the access road must be a minimum of 500'

Response:

In consultation with Caltrans, District 12 staff subsequent to the receipt of their comments, it was determined that the reference to 500 feet is cited from the Highway Design Manual (dated February 13, 1995). Page 500-14 of the Highway Design Manual states "for new construction or major reconstruction of interchanges, the minimum distance between ramp intersections and local road intersections shall be 400 feet. The preferred minimum distance should be 500 feet." The standard appears to apply to locational criteria for Caltrans. The actual distance between the project access road and the on-ramp to the Foothill Transportation Corridor (FTC) is approximately 381.11 feet. Therefore, the distance is currently approximately 19 feet short of the minimum requirement as cited in the Highway Design Manual. It is important to recognize that the south segment of the Foothill Transportation Corridor (segment between Oso Parkway to San Clemente) is not yet at the final design stage and the environmental documentation for this segment is not yet available. The District will closely coordinate final design plans for the high school with the Transportation Corridor Agencies (TCA) to coordinate right-of-way issues and design issues such as those raised by the commentor. This is a technical comment as opposed to one raising significant environmental issues, and can be resolved during final design.

More importantly, however, the standard appears to apply to "local roads". The access to the high school is not a local road, but rather a driveway. So far as is known at this time, there is no plan to cause this driveway to act as a local collector or arterial. The principal periods of activity at that driveway intersection will be in the morning and in the mid-afternoon. The mid-afternoon traffic movements are not significant (a total of 170 trips out of 17,000 ADT on the roadway), and even morning trips are similarly only a small part of the background trips on Oso Parkway (900 trips out of 17,000; total trip generation is 3,000 ADT for the project, or 17.6% of total ADT). Since Oso Parkway is built to secondary arterial highway status, and since Exhibit 27 (of the Draft EIR) shows a volume to capacity ratio of .25, or Level of Service, there is no opportunity for adverse effect.

Note: This proves that all parties- Caltrans- TCA- the County of Orange- The Ranch and CUSD knew the onramps were to close to Tesoro's access Road.

Note: It is also important to point out that Tesoro Creek Road is a "Driveway".

Comment:

In addition, we would like to see bike lanes on the Access Road to accommodate non· motorized travel (Exhibit 3). There should be also sidewalks going along Oso Parkway as well as, bicycle parking for students and staff.

Response:

Comment noted. Bicycle parking will be provided on site for students and staff. Additionally, the width of the access road can accommodate striped bicycle lanes and specific details in this regard will be considered during preparation of final design plans for the school site. However, since the access road is only for the high school at this time, specific bike lanes are actually unnecessary to transition students from the Oso Parkway bike trail to the school.

Note: Were their plans to change Tesoro Creek Road from a "driveway" to a road?