SR 49 Safety Assessment Report
Caltrans has released the State Route (SR) 49 Safety Assessment Report highlighting safety findings and proposed improvements to the corridor between Interstate 80 in Auburn and McKnight Way in Grass Valley.
Caltrans invites members of the public to view the SR-49 Safety Assessment Report at www.hwy49safety.com. Public input is essential for project development and enables the Department to account for various perspectives and impacts for equity. The deadline to submit comments and questions to Caltrans District 3 has been extended to Friday, Dec. 11, 2020.
Written comments may be submitted by mail to Caltrans District 3, Program/Project Management, 703 B Street, Marysville, CA 95901, Attn: HWY 49 Safety Assessment, or via email at hwy49safety@dot.ca.gov.
The State Route (SR) 49 Safety Audit Workshop was held on February 18, 19, and 20, 2020 at the Caltrans maintenance office in Rocklin and the Placer County Transportation Planning Agency in Auburn. The project area covers SR 49 from Interstate 80 (I-80) in Auburn to McKnight Way in Grass Valley.
At the beginning of the workshop, Caltrans identified the primary objectives of the study as follows:
1. Identify safety-related improvements that could be installed within the very near term
2. Identify enhancements that could be added to planned projects in the corridor
3. Identify long term projects to improve corridor safety
This effort was a collaboration of several agencies: Caltrans (District 3), Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), California Highway Patrol (CHP), the Nevada County Transportation Commission (NCTC), the Placer County Transportation Planning Agency (PCTPA), Placer County Department of Public Works, the City of Auburn, and the Auburn City Fire Department. The safety audit was the combined effort of 22 individuals representing the entities listed above. A complete list of the individuals is provided in Appendix A. Caltrans retained Fehr & Peers to evaluate crash data and facilitate the efforts of the participants.
The final agenda for the safety audit workshop is provided in Appendix B. The morning of the first day was used to understand the nature of the issues, with a deep dive into the historical collision data. In the afternoon, the team conducted an in-person field review of the corridor with stops at six locations and discussed their observations. In the evening, a smaller group drove the corridor to observe conditions during darkness. On the second day, the team considered improvement ideas from their own experience, resource documents, and innovative efforts from elsewhere in the country. These ideas were discussed freely, with a bias towards including ideas that may potentially enhance safety, even if they may be difficult or expensive to implement. The final day was a review and refinement of the improvement strategies.