HomeMy WebLinkAbout1995-12-12 - AGENDA REPORTS - CIRCULATION ELEMENT OF GP (2)City Manager
Item to be pre
Bahman Janka
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
DATE: December 12, 1995
SUBJECT: AMENDMENTS TO THE CIRCULATION ELEMENT OF THE GENERAL
PLAN
DEPARTMENT: Building and Engineering Services
On November 13, 1995, per City Council request, staff held a community meeting to discuss the
adoption of a new circulation system. Fifteen hundred invitations were sent to citizens who
have been involved in circulation issues in the past. Over one hundred people attended the
meeting.
The purpose of the meeting was to present the City's proposed circulation system amendment
to the General Plan to citizens and to ask their assistance in identifying the most appropriate
way to involve the community in the adoption of a new Citywide circulation system.
While input varied regarding specific roadway system ideas, there appeared to be consensus on
the type of communication and participation that should be integrated into the process of
amending the General Plan Circulation Element. All participants appeared to agree that the
community should be kept informed of and involved in all activities, studies, input opportunities
and recommended actions relating to altering the City's future circulation system.
In response to this consensus and in an effort to implement suggestions from meeting
participants, staff has already done or will be doing the following:
Suggestions Implemented
• Place circulation system reports and data on file at the public library for citizens to review.
• Respond to questions in writing, and provide meeting recap notes to all persons who
attended the meeting.
• Include public comments received at this meeting in the environmental impact assessment
process for response.
• Continue to include traffic system impacts in development -related Planning Commission
staff reports.
Suggestions Scheduled for Implementation
Include a clear explanation of the reasons for the circulation problems in the Valley,
including past and future developments inside and outside of the City in the General Plan
Circulation Element amendment study and process.
Produce and air a public access show that walks citizens through circulation system issues
and possible solutions. It should include an explanation of the technical aspects of the traffic
modeling effort.
r
ARROVED Agenda Item:. /3
AMENDMENTS TO THE CIRCULATION ELEMENT OF THE GENERAL PLAN
December 12, 1995 - Page 2
• Begin review of circulation system options and their relative impact on traffic conditions,
noise, air quality, water resources, development, public services, animal and plant life, land
use, human health and any other areas of potential environmental impact.
• Place information about the circulation system adoption process on the City's INTERNET
Home Page. This information would include dates of meetings for public participation.
Other Suggestions to be Implemented
Develop and issue a regular newsletter to keep citizens informed of issues, progress and
opportunities for involvement. Include up-to-date information about County development
projects and their projected impacts and proposed mitigations.
Consider conducting a survey to obtain data on the actual routes people use to get to and
from work each day.
Establish a primary contact point with citizens groups that will keep their neighbors
informed, educate them and encourage participation. This would also provide an effective
means for familiarizing citizens with available transportation options like the transit and
trail systems.
On December 5, 1995, a follow-up letter (see attached letter and notes) and the notes from the
meeting with suggested follow-up activities were sent to citizens who attended the community
meeting. This letter informed meeting participants that this item would be on tonight's agenda
and that staff would be requesting that the City Council approve implementation of the
suggested activities listed above. This includes approval to hire an engineering firm to design
and carry out a public involvement process including production of an educational public access
show and a report on the causes of the current traffic problems in the Valley, and an assessment
of alternative transportation routes and their respective environmental impacts.
Staff recommends that Council receive public comment, review and discuss the outcomes of the
November 13, 1995 public meeting, and approve the following recommendations:
1. Begin review of circulation system options and their relative impact on traffic conditions,
noise, air quality, water resources, development, public services, animal and plant life, land
use, human health and any other areas of potential environmental impact.
2. To accomplish this, authorize staff to proceed with recruiting an engineering firm qualified
to design and facilitate a public involvement process and to assess transportation
alternatives and their relative environmental impacts.
3. Appropriate $100,000 to Account No. 01-5402-227, Traffic Contractual Services, for the
public participation process and preparation of the legally required environmental impact
report.
4. Authorize the City Manager to execute an agreement with Willdan Associates to oversee the
General Plan Amendment process for an amount not to exceed $30,000.
Letter and meeting notes sent to participants in November 13, 1995 community meeting.
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December 5, 1995
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Subject: Traffic Circulation in the Santa Clarita Valley
Dear #*.rI32':
Thank you for attending the November 13, 1995 meeting regarding traffic
circulation in the Santa Clarita Valley. Your input and participation has
provided the City Council and staff with valuable insight into community
perspectives and priorities where roadways and traffic are concerned. Enclosed
please find notes from the meeting, including suggested follow-up activities.
While input varied regarding specific roadway system ideas, there appeared to
be consensus on the type of communication and participation that should be
integrated into the process of amending the General Plan Circulation Element.
All participants appeared to agree that the community should be kept informed
of and involved in all activities, studies, input opportunities and recommended
actions relating to altering the City's future circulation system.
In response to this consensus and in an effort to implement suggestions from you,
the City has already done or will be doing the following:
Suggestions Implemented
• Place circulation system reports and data on file at the public library for
citizens to review.
• Respond to questions in writing, and provide meeting recap notes to all
persons who attended the meeting.
• Include public comments received at this meeting in the environmental impact
assessment process for response.
• Continue to include traffic system impacts in development -related Planning
Commission staff reports.
Suggestions Scheduled for Implementation
• Include a clear explanation of the reasons for the circulation problems in the
Valley, including past and future developments inside and outside of the City
in the General Plan Circulation Element amendment study and process..
December 5, 1995
Page 2
• Produce and air a public access show that walks citizens through circulation
system issues and possible solutions. It should include an explanation of the
technical aspects of the traffic modeling effort.
• Begin review of circulation system options and their relative impact on traffic
conditions, noise, air quality, water resources, development, public services,
animal and plant life, land use, human health and any other areas of potential
environmental impact.
• Place information about the circulation system adoption process on the City's
INTERNET Home Page. This information would include dates of meetings for
public participation.
Other Suggestions to be Implemented
• Develop and issue a regular newsletter to keep citizens informed of issues,
progress and opportunities for involvement. Include up-to-date information
about County development projects and their projected impacts and proposed
mitigations.
• Consider conducting a survey to obtain data on the actual routes people use
to get to and from work each day.
• Establish a primary contact point with citizens groups that will keep their
neighbors informed, educate them and encourage participation. This would
also provide an effective means for familiarizing citizens with available
transportation options like the transit and trail systems.
On December 12, 1995, the notes (same as those enclosed with this letter) and
suggested follow-up activities will be presented to the City Council. Staff will be
requesting that the City Council approve implementation of the suggested
activities listed above. This will include a request to hire an engineering firm to
design and carry out a public involvement process along with assessing
alternative transportation routes and their respective environmental impacts.
Thank you again for your participation and interest in this important community
issue. We urge you to continue your involvement in future public meetings and
other opportunities for input into the General Plan amendment process. If you
have any questions or comments, please contact City Traffic Engineer, Bahman
Janka, at (805) 286-4172.
Sincerely,
George A. Caravalho
City Manager
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Enclosures
NOTES FROM TRAFFIC MEETING
November, 13, 1995
Meeting Recap
On November 13, 1995, the City held a community meeting to discuss the adoption of a new
circulation system. Fifteen hundred invitations were sent to citizens who have been involved
in circulation issues in the past. Over one hundred people attended the meeting.
The purpose of the meeting was to present the City's proposed circulation system amendment
to the General Plan to citizens and to ask their assistance in identifying the most appropriate
way to involve the community in the adoption of a new Citywide circulation system.
Historical Information
A brief overview of the history of roadway issues in the Valley included the barriers that limit
our circulation options (hills, canyons, river, rail), the impact of removing SR -126, and the traffic
impacts of development within the City and County. The historical perspective of the issue was
continued with a summary of Council, Commission, Committee and staff activities since the
adoption of the General Plan in 1991. (See attached time line summary for details of material
covered.)
This historical perspective was followed by a technical review of the City's current General Plan
circulation system and the six alternatives that have been studied. This portion also included
a discussion of the impacts of increased City and County population, employment, residential
dwelling units and commercial square footage anticipated over the next 20 years. The data
showed that each of these areas will double in the next 20 years.
Panel Discussion
Will Fleet, Editor of the Signal, moderated a panel of community members, including Connie
Worden, Jack Currenton, Paul Belli, Vera Johnson, and Mark Sabbotin. The Panelists were
given a few minutes to make some opening comments and then answered the following two
questions:
1. From what you know about current information and studies, what do you think is lacking
that is causing difficulty for the City to move forward with an amendment to the traffic
circulation element?
2. What needs to happen for everyone to be comfortable with a proposed traffic circulation
system in the Central City?
The panelists' opening remarks and answers to the questions demonstrated the diversity of
opinion that exists in the community regarding the issue of roads and how to solve traffic
problems. Comments from the panel are summarized below, the actual comments are included
in the attachment.
Each panelist was given the opportunity to make some opening comments. The comments
ranged from advocating inclusion of specific roadways to questioning the request for an
environmental impact report (EIR) on a project that will not be completed. In summary, the
panel told the audience that an adequate circulation system is needed in the valley, new roads
relieve congestion, the problem needs to be clearly defined, communication with the community
is a key to success, limit impacts on homeowners and neighborhoods, development cannot be
stopped, development must mitigate its impact on the circulation system and an EIR must be
completed as part of the circulation element amendment.
The panel identified the following items as "things that are lacking and causing difficulty with
moving forward with the circulation element amendment": communication with all segments
of the community, start from the beginning again, include north/south travel in addition to
east/west, clearly define the problem and identify who will pay and who will benefit from new
roadways.
The panel recommended that the City do the following to make "everyone comfortable with the
proposed circulation system": speak understandably, explain the technical data and
assumptions used in the modeling, communicate, get people involved, remove fear of negative
neighborhood impacts, and make the linkage that a healthy job/housing balance can be
dependent upon a well-functioning circulation system.
The panel fielded a few questions from the audience relating to the use of transit and Metrolink,
the need for a better understanding of where the numbers in the study come from, the impact
of the "Not In My Back Yard" syndrome, the need for EIR's pertaining to roadway alterations,
and the fear that Newhall Land and Farming is a major beneficiary of the City's construction
and funding of new roadways.
Small Groups
The citizens in the audience were asked to form small groups to answer two questions:
1. How do we go about and what process would we use to fill in the gaps created by the loss of
SR-126 and its potential 50-100,000 car capacity?
2. Where do we go from here?
The recommendations of the groups were as follows:
Roadway Recommendations
Specific Roadways
♦ Soledad Canyon Road - widen to eight lanes from Golden Valley to Whites Canyon after
Newhall Ranch Road is connected to Golden Valley.
♦ Magic Mountain Parkway - extend to American Beauty.
♦ Golden Valley Road - build it.
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♦ Santa Clarita Parkway - construct it from Bouquet "Alamagordo" to Placerita Canyon
Road/Connection to SR -14.
♦ SR -14 - widen to reduce congestion through the City.
♦ Newhall Ranch Road - extension to Golden Valley Road and other linkages. Should be six
lanes all the way. Call it the "Extension of Newhall Ranch Road". Build it as four lanes
first.
4 North Bypass - need to build a main arterial to take traffic out of the City.. Evaluate validity
as a traffic relief mechanism. Model it and explain assumptions of model.
♦ I-5 and SR -14 - needs a six -lane connection between the two. Model I-5 and SR -14
interchange and second access to car pool lanes.
All Other Roads
♦ Should be four to six lanes and work in a grid system.
♦ Get rid of dead-end streets (Wiley, Via Princessa, Dockweiler, Decoro, Copper Hill).
♦ Synchronize traffic signals (Lyons, Sierra Highway).
♦ Maximize existing roadway resources. Enhance existing roadways through keeping the
same number of lanes throughout a single roadway (do not narrow down).
Smart lights at intersections interrupt traffic flow.
♦ Find out what the alternatives are: widen existing roadways, promotion of alternative
modes of transportation like car pools, etc.
♦ Continue to look for optional roadways (Newhall, Golden Valley, Via Princessa).
♦ Develop network that takes the place of SR -126.;
Process Recommendations
Data/Detail Explain the data and what it means. Provide back-up data for the public.
Prioritize the data outcomes by benefit and cost and to whom. Explain
assumptions. Develop criteria upon which to evaluate road options.
Conduct a Route to Work survey.
Problem Clearly explain the need and reason for the project and proposed systems.
Identification Explain who is causing the problem.
County of L.A. Work with the County to ensure mitigation of City impacts from
development allowed in the County. Enforce the County DMS. Keep
citizens informed of County development activities so they can take action
if they chose to.
Council Take public input, make a decision and stick to it. Train the public that
Decision Making they need to provide input at specific times so the Council is not faced
with changing its decision.
Alternative Modes Encourage the use and maximization of transit and Metrolink. Promote
of Transportation the use of telecommuting.
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Trust Build trust through open, clear, consistent communication. Provide and
explain data and assumptions.
Communication Release documents. Develop and implement a public relations campaign.
Use basic language. Notify all impacted parties. Identify and resolve
conflicts. Use the INTERNET and Public Access. Create and disseminate
a roadway newsletter. Implement a policy of full disclosure. Provide
consistent communication throughout the process.
Development Develop standards that keep roads away from homes. Implement City
DMS. Require that the County condition development to mitigate any
impacts to the City's circulation system. Any development in the City
should be required to mitigate traffic impacts.
Roads Take an incremental approach instead of dealing with the entire system
at once.
EIR Get started. Look at impact on humans first then the impact on the
environment.
Community Encourage personal accountability and continued involvement throughout
the process.
The small groups reported their recommendations, and the meeting was adjourned. Written
comments were also solicited and are incorporated herein. A mailing list of persons interested
in the circulation system will be developed for future communications.
Recommended Follow-up Actions
Building on the recommendations of the public, we recommend that the following take place:
♦ Begin review of circulation system options and their relative impact on traffic conditions,
noise, air quality, water resources, development, public services, animal and plant life,
land use, human health and many other areas.
♦ Include public comments received at this meeting in the EIR process for response.
♦ Develop and issue a regular newsletter to keep citizens informed of issues, progress and
opportunities for involvement. Include up-to-date information about County development
projects and their projected impacts and proposed mitigations.
♦ Place circulation system reports and data on file at the public library for citizens to review.
♦ Consider conducting a survey to obtain data on the actual routes people use to get to and
from work each day.
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♦ Clearly explain the reasons for the circulation problems in the Valley, including past and
future developments inside and outside of the City.
♦ Produce and air public access shows that walk citizens through the circulation system
issues and possible solutions. At least one show should cover the technical aspects of the
traffic modeling effort.
♦ Place information about the circulation system adoption process on the City INTERNET
Home Page. This information would include dates of meetings for public participation.
♦ Respond to comments in writing, thank them for coming and request continued
participation.
Continue to include traffic system impacts in development -related Planning Commission
staff reports.
♦ Establish a primary contact point with citizens groups that will keep their neighbors
informed, educate them and encourage participation. This would also provide an effective
means for familiarizing citizens with available transportation options like the transit and
trail systems.
Attachment
Panel Comments and Answers to Questions
Opening Comments
♦ A northerly bypass should be built.
It is difficult to believe that there is a traffic/capacity problem for trips from East (Canyon
Country) to West (Valencia) across the City.
♦ Magic Mountain Parkway should traverse straight across the valley without interruption.
♦ When did the City become the policeman for L.A. County (development outside City)?
We do not need an EIR for something we are not going to do. Removing SR -126 from the
circulation element should solve the problem.
♦ Need to decide what the problems are and make a decision based on logic.
♦ Work with the County to make sure they consider and require funding for development
impacts within the City.
♦ Clearly define the problem. It is not clear where the 100,000 cars are coming from.
♦ Need a network of roads.
♦ There is a lack of communication with all segments of the community.
♦ We should not take houses or ruin neighborhoods.
♦ No road in the City should be wider than the roads around the Valencia Town Center.
♦ Recognize that we cannot stop developments.
Evaluate the validity of a north bypass.
♦ Development community builds roadways..
♦ New roadways relieve congestion.
♦ The EIR and circulation element must be amended because the County and City General
Plans both contain SR -126 and land use decisions and entitlements are being made and
given based on these General Plans.
Answers to Question #l: From what you know about current information and studies, what do
you think is lacking that is causing difficulty for the City to move forward with an amendment
to the traffic circulation element?
♦ Need to look at list of roadway links, then evaluate environmental and neighborhood
impacts and costs.
♦ Need to identify a series of roads going north, south, east and west with a goal to add
capacity.
♦ Need to reach all of the people in the community, share the facts and develop trust.
Need to clearly define the problem so everyone is working to solve the same problem.
♦ Determine who will pay and who will benefit.
♦ Need to start fresh, if the system looks the same as it did when SR -126 was there then it
has to go.
♦ Look at north and south roadways since most people commute out of the valley to the
south every day.
♦ Is it the City's job to serve the circulation needs of the City or the entire North County?
♦ Start from the beginning and have Magic Mountain Parkway go straight across the City
with other roads feeding into it.
♦ Consider the option of toll roads and other ingenious financing mechanisms.
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Answers to Question #2: What needs to happen for everyone to be comfortable with a proposed
traffic circulation system in the Central City?
♦ Need to explain where the numbers come from in the modeling study. Need to build
confidence in the numbers and reduce confusion.
Get practical and try to do one road at a time.
♦ Work hard, get community participation and build staff credibility.
Provide access to studies, their basic assumptions and other information used.
♦ Speak understandably.
♦ Let the public know who will pay and who will benefit.
♦ Community fears developer windfall at their expense.
♦ Remove fear that neighborhoods will be ruined.
♦ Need to disseminate information broadly.
♦ Let people know that one of the reasons for a poor jobs/housing balance is poor circulation.
♦ The first road has to show big results.
♦ Enhance use of Metrolink, transit and trails.
♦ The EIR will provide public disclosure and provides a framework for evaluating
alternatives.
Small Group Flip Chart Verbatim Notes
♦ Soledad Canyon Road - widen to eight lanes from Golden Valley to Whites Canyon after
Newhall Ranch Road is connected to Golden Valley.
♦ Magic Mountain Parkway - extend to American Beauty.
♦ Golden Valley Road - build it.
♦ Santa Clarita Parkway - construct it from Bouquet/Alamagordo to Placerita Canyon
Road/Connection to SR -14.
♦ SR -14 - widen to reduce congestion through the City.
♦ Newhall Ranch Road - extension to Golden Valley Road. Should be six lanes all the way.
Call it the Extension of Newhall Ranch Road". Build it as four lanes first.
North Bypass - need to build a main arterial to take traffic out of the City. Evaluate
validity as a traffic relief mechanism. Model it and explain assumptions of model.
I-5 and SR -14 - needs a six -lane connection between the two. Model I-5 and SR -14
interchange and second access to City Car pool lanes.
♦ Should be four to six lanes and work in a grid system.
♦ Get rid of dead-end streets (Wiley, Via Princessa, Dockweiler, Decoro, Copper Hill).
♦ Synchronize traffic signals (Lyons, Sierra Highway).
♦ Maximize existing roadway resources..
♦ Smart lights at intersections interrupt traffic flow.
♦ Enhance existing roadways through keeping the same number of lanes throughout a single
roadway (do not narrow down).
♦ Find out what the alternatives are: widen existing roadways, promotion of alternative
modes of transportation like car pools, etc.
♦ Continue to look for optional roadways (Newhall, Golden Valley, Via Princessa)
♦ Develop network that takes the place of SR -126.
♦ Provide better maps and explain the various scenarios studied in more detail.
♦ Need a clear perception of the problem.
♦ Conflict exists in belief of whether the problem is caused internally or externally. Need
to study time of use and who uses the roadways.
♦ County traffic mitigation requirements for new development should consider impacts on
the City.
♦ Keep citizens informed of County activities and get organized to resist developments if
necessary. Also combine efforts with other agencies to fight County development..
♦ Look at roads incrementally rather than as a system. Determine if the road is feasible
then who will pay.
♦ Community is processed out, let's just get to work.
♦ City should adopt a Development Monitoring System.
♦ Council should establish a definite time frame for making a decision and stick to it.
♦ City Council needs to train citizens to give input up front then make a decision and stick
to it.
♦ Once we start a project we need to finish it.
♦ Need to communicate a clear purpose and reason for the roadway system.
♦ Agree on a problem and communicate data that is causing the problem.
♦ Develop standards for development that keep roadways away from homes.
♦ Conduct a Route You Use to Get to Work survey. Maybe use the Signal to distribute it.
♦ Look at more mass transit.
♦ Encourage personal accountability and involvement.
1 Resolve conflicts about perceptions and solutions.
♦ Encourage telecommuting and home-based work.
♦ Start EIR.
♦ Communicate traffic findings then prioritize roadways that give you the best deal.
♦ Build trust in the community.
♦ Need to work with the County.
♦ Identify impacts on humans first then on the environment.
♦ Keep community informed throughout the process, build trust and acceptance by the
people.
♦ Communicate via the Internet.
♦ Continue to use public access for this important process.
♦ Understand and disclose assumptions of traffic model. Release documents and
methodology. Technical assumptions reviewed via public access and simplify.
♦ Work with County on development approval processes.
♦ Developers outside should be conditioned to pay for impacts.
♦ Model northern bypass. What were assumptions?
Involve state, county and city in larger process.
♦ Continue with EIR process and analysis of impacts.
♦ Enforce County DMS.
♦ Develop new criteria or standards to assess all roads in the network.
♦ Develop criteria.
♦ Keep public informed.
♦ Use basic, understandable language.
♦ Conduct a public relations campaign -Roadway Newsletter..
♦ Full disclosure of information.
♦ Notify impacted parties.
Use public access television.
Written Comments
♦ No SR -126 Super Highway.
♦ Use a network of roads.
♦ Build more north/south roads.
♦ Consult with Hart District about future school sites in designing the roadway system.
♦ Encourage the use of buses and ride share to decrease the traffic at peak hours around the
industrial center.
♦ Include consideration of traffic from Palmdale, etc. in designing the transportation system.
♦ Build the "great northern bypass".
♦ Widen SR -14 and install a car pool lane.
♦ Widen I-5 and install a car pool lane.
♦ Work with AQMD to encourage use of public transportation (shuttle service to and from
Metrolink).
♦ Do not destroy neighborhoods that already exist.
♦ Plum Canyon must be a priority.
♦ Need to build routes to the freeways for residents who commute and businesses who rely
on customers outside the valley.
♦ Connect dead-end roads.
♦ Take the bull by the horns and get things done.
♦ Require the owners of the new materials recovery facility to pay for their use of roadways.
♦ Why no representation of the valley east of the river on the panel?
♦ Why do the traffic people "fiddle" with the traffic lights on Soledad Canyon Road?
♦ Do not expect existing communities and neighborhoods to accept new roads. The roads
weren't a consideration when they purchased their homes.
♦ Small connectors and arteries will not solve the problem.
♦ L.A. County should pay for new roads.
♦ Traffic does not seem to be a problem.
♦ Do not become like the San Fernando Valley.
♦ Build roads where the new development is coming into the City and County.
♦ Do not relieve congestion in one area at the expense of another area.
♦ Start the EIR now.
♦ Decide whether or not to move forward with the Magic Mountain Parkway bridge over San
Fernando Road in January.
♦ Acknowledge that scenarios 5 and 6 continue to be RED in Valencia and on Soledad
Canyon Road.
♦ Maximize our current roadway resources through signal synchronization, additional travel
lanes, etc. Then evaluate the community's true need for new roadways.
♦ Keep the public informed in a manner that makes sense to them.
♦ Involve the County.
♦ Implement "branch" roads identified in the General Plan.
♦ 10% will be against roads while the other 90% will be for them.
♦ Identify one problem at a time and select a solution.
♦ The most important thing to do is build a new road.
♦ Be receptive to the concerns of residents then business.
Route traffic through SCV business areas.
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Open gated communities.
Need a network that receives environmental clearance and that can be built with
developer money.
Realize that new roads will impact everyone positively and negatively.
Include the following in the public process:
* Build a six -lane Newhall Ranch Road from its current terminus at I-5 to Bouquet
Canyon Road Bridge at river point. Connect to a future road at Santa Clarita Road
connecting to Golden Valley Road exit at Golden Valley off -ramp which adds additional
capacity.
* Via Princessa/Magic Mountain connector.
* Frontage roads throughout SCV.
* Develop Wiley Canyon Bridge across San Fernando Road and improve Calgrove.
* Study revised Lyons Avenue connection from easterly terminus south of Placerita
Canyon at Placerita Canyon off -ramp..
* Emphasize the need for analysis of other roads throughout the SCV.
* Coordinate efforts with Santa Clarita Transit and Metrolink to constantly improve
public transit, vanpools, telecommuting, etc.
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