MARYSVILLE – The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) has announced its decision to remove one of the four build alternatives for the U.S. Highway 50 Bus/Carpool Lane and Community Enhancements project between Sunrise Blvd and downtown Sacramento from further consideration. Even though the target for circulating a draft environmental document is several months away, Caltrans is concerned about minimizing impacts on neighborhoods near the freeway as much as it is in optimizing freeway operations and using public funds efficiently.

The excluded alternative (5B) would have placed an exclusive High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) on-ramp from eastbound US Highway 50 at 10^th street and a HOV off-ramp from westbound US Highway 50 at 16^th Street. The eastbound on-ramp in alternative 5B would have been constructed about 34 feet above the existing elevated freeway to minimize outside widening. The input received at public meetings in June of 2005 convinced project staff that the relative benefits of this alternative would need to be very large to justify the higher visual and potential noise impacts. After reviewing preliminary construction estimates and operational studies, District 3 Director Jody Jones determined that the benefits from alternative 5B would not be enough to overshadow the neighborhood concerns and higher costs.

"We listened to the city of Sacramento and its residents and took into account the technical problems with the high fly over", said Caltrans District 3 Director Jody Jones, "We are not going to waste time and resources studying an alternative that is clearly undesirable".

The build alternatives still being considered are:

• Alternate 6B -10^th Street eastbound direct drop on-ramp and a westbound drop off-ramp at 21^st Street
• Alternate 7B - A drop on-ramp from 21^st Street to eastbound US Highway 50 and a drop off-ramp to Riverside blvd. from westbound U.S. Highway 50
• Alternative10D - No HOV direct on or off ramps from U.S. Highway 50 with HOV lanes beginning at 9^th Street

A no-build alternative is also still under consideration. For detailed descriptions of these alternatives and maps, visit the U.S. Highway 50 website at www.dot.ca.gov/dist3.

###