BarbaraKennedy
Member since Jan 5, 2011
Recent Comments
Re: “101 Ways to Protest”
Leave it to Ms. Walters to minimize and trivialize what is happening in Willits. Here are some facts: Congestion Relief? . The Bypass will divert only 20-30% of traffic, including trucks. It will not eliminate stop and go traffic for at least 70% of the remaining traffic and will eliminate only a small part of congestion. . An alternative solution could divert almost all truck traffic off of Main St. and virtually eliminate stop and go traffic entirely. . The projected future increase in traffic along the 101 corridor (used by Caltrans to justify the Bypass) has not been realized since predicted. Instead there has even been a slight decline. There are also reasons to believe this trend will continue. . The congestion at the Hwy 20 turn off was introduced ~20 years ago, when Caltrans re-striped the northbound approach to a single lane, eliminating a critical right-turn capability. The backup started the very next day. This has greatly contributed to the perception that we need a Bypass to solve the problem – a problem that was artificially created with poor traffic engineering. . A proposal at the Willits City Council to resolve our traffic problems with an alternative route through town by connecting Railroad Ave. to Baechtel Ave. was discouraged by MCOG Executive Direct, Phil Dow, with the argument that alleviating the backup would reduce local support for a Bypass. . All Hwy 20 traffic (including trucks) will continue to use Main St. since there is no central connectivity with the Bypass (and there are no future plans for it either). . The southern interchange is designed to require Willits traffic coming from the South to exit the freeway on the right, stop at the end of the off-ramp and then turn left to proceed into town. This will inevitably create a new bottleneck and inconvenience for drivers coming into Willits. . The northern interchange will create similar unnecessary inconveniences for vehicles coming in and out of Willits only to go from one 2-lane road right back to another.
Re: “101 Ways to Protest”
Leave it to Ms. Walters to minimize and trivialize what is happening in Willits. Here are some facts: Congestion Relief? . The Bypass will divert only 20-30% of traffic, including trucks. It will not eliminate stop and go traffic for at least 70% of the remaining traffic and will eliminate only a small part of congestion. . An alternative solution could divert almost all truck traffic off of Main St. and virtually eliminate stop and go traffic entirely. . The projected future increase in traffic along the 101 corridor (used by Caltrans to justify the Bypass) has not been realized since predicted. Instead there has even been a slight decline. There are also reasons to believe this trend will continue. . The congestion at the Hwy 20 turn off was introduced ~20 years ago, when Caltrans re-striped the northbound approach to a single lane, eliminating a critical right-turn capability. The backup started the very next day. This has greatly contributed to the perception that we need a Bypass to solve the problem – a problem that was artificially created with poor traffic engineering. . A proposal at the Willits City Council to resolve our traffic problems with an alternative route through town by connecting Railroad Ave. to Baechtel Ave. was discouraged by MCOG Executive Direct, Phil Dow, with the argument that alleviating the backup would reduce local support for a Bypass. . All Hwy 20 traffic (including trucks) will continue to use Main St. since there is no central connectivity with the Bypass (and there are no future plans for it either). . The southern interchange is designed to require Willits traffic coming from the South to exit the freeway on the right, stop at the end of the off-ramp and then turn left to proceed into town. This will inevitably create a new bottleneck and inconvenience for drivers coming into Willits. . The northern interchange will create similar unnecessary inconveniences for vehicles coming in and out of Willits only to go from one 2-lane road right back to another.
Re: “101 Ways to Protest”
Leave it to Ms. Walters to minimize and trivialize what is happening in Willits. Here are some facts: Congestion Relief? . The Bypass will divert only 20-30% of traffic, including trucks. It will not eliminate stop and go traffic for at least 70% of the remaining traffic and will eliminate only a small part of congestion. . An alternative solution could divert almost all truck traffic off of Main St. and virtually eliminate stop and go traffic entirely. . The projected future increase in traffic along the 101 corridor (used by Caltrans to justify the Bypass) has not been realized since predicted. Instead there has even been a slight decline. There are also reasons to believe this trend will continue. . The congestion at the Hwy 20 turn off was introduced ~20 years ago, when Caltrans re-striped the northbound approach to a single lane, eliminating a critical right-turn capability. The backup started the very next day. This has greatly contributed to the perception that we need a Bypass to solve the problem – a problem that was artificially created with poor traffic engineering. . A proposal at the Willits City Council to resolve our traffic problems with an alternative route through town by connecting Railroad Ave. to Baechtel Ave. was discouraged by MCOG Executive Direct, Phil Dow, with the argument that alleviating the backup would reduce local support for a Bypass. . All Hwy 20 traffic (including trucks) will continue to use Main St. since there is no central connectivity with the Bypass (and there are no future plans for it either). . The southern interchange is designed to require Willits traffic coming from the South to exit the freeway on the right, stop at the end of the off-ramp and then turn left to proceed into town. This will inevitably create a new bottleneck and inconvenience for drivers coming into Willits. . The northern interchange will create similar unnecessary inconveniences for vehicles coming in and out of Willits only to go from one 2-lane road right back to another.