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1. How Hazel Avenue is to be used over time must be addressed.
How Hazel is defined will give the scope of what alternatives
are developed. Considering the dramatic projected population
growth in Roseville, Folsom and southeast Sacramento, the
latent demand from these areas for suburb to suburb commutes
is potentially unlimited -- and the more open Hazel is, the
more it will be used. This use creates an unsafe condition,
which deteriorates the quality of life for residents, including
actual physical damage to homes along the corridor. At this
time, Hazel is trying to be a residential street, a thoroughfare,
and an expressway. Residents are entitled a clear indication
from the County as to just which one of these Hazel will be
in the future. There are a lot of approaches to how to manage
this facility. If Hazel is to accommodate regional uses then
the corridor study needs to address that by looking at the
total picture, not just the isolated segment. We need to define
what Hazel Avenue is now, and what it will be in the future:
a major north south connector, major multi-use regional facility,
a local arterial, or all three. If Hazel is to be a major
multi-use regional facility, it should be improved as such
for multiple uses, not just cars and trucks through traditional
roadway improvements, while respecting and catering to the
needs of adjacent local communities, and clearly mitigating
impacts on those neighbors. If improvements are going to be
made for regional as well as local needs, it needs to done
right, now, for the long term. This project provides an opportunity
to do this right.
2. Hazel is a residential street.
Hazel is a residential street, with some commercial, that
is being used as a regional connector. Homeowners are concerned
about quality of life related issues such as noise, speeds,
safety, and accessibility. Getting out of driveways along
the corridor is unsafe or impossible sometimes to make a left
or get out at all during rush hour. But people are settled
and want to stay. Residents are frustrated, and hate Hazel
for the traffic, the noise, and the pollution. A huge penalty
is paid for living near Hazel. Hazel residents, those people
for whom the only exit from their homes is directly on or
through Hazel Avenue, must have this need for access considered
and protected.
The community would like to retain a residential feel to
Hazel, reflecting more of a sense of the uniqueness of the
area. Most people settle and stay here for the rural atmosphere
and less traffic, and they want to maintain that. Considering
the congestion is a problem only during commute hours, our
community identity and quality of life should not be destroyed
just to move cars to and from Placer County and Folsom more
efficiently. If Hazel is to be improved for serving regional
transportation needs, there needs to be some quid pro quo
for local residents. Any improvements should improve the quality
of life for residents. Improvements should include such things
as good pedestrian and bike paths, access for persons with
disabilities, landscaping that enhances the character of the
community, noise mitigation, more accessible, upgraded transit
service. The connection to neighborhoods needs to be maintained
with strong and separate bike and pedestrian amenities, and
improved aesthetics. Curbs, curb ramps / curb cuts and other
accessibility features, sidewalks, gutters and landscaping
are needed to make the street more safe and accessible to
the residents. We need to get away from standard approach
of just timing the lights, increasing speeds, and increasing
the number of lanes. The traditional approach to address air
quality is always to make streets faster and add more lanes,
but these solutions will destroy our quality of life. We don't
want Hazel to become like a large concrete wall dividing the
community.
3. It is unacceptable to the people living and working on
Hazel to have to suffer the consequences of Hazel being used
for regional truck access between Hwy 50 and I-80.
Truck related issues are less a matter of fairness, and more
a matter of what is the right thing to do. The perceived quantity
of trucks on Hazel Avenue is too high, especially logging
and construction trucks. These large trucks create significant
health impacts through deteriorating air quality for all who
use Hazel, but especially for Hazel residents. It seems like
trucks use Hazel to avoid the truck scales on I-80, and enforcement
is inadequate to stop them. There is a lot of noise from trucks
and jake brakes are still used at times, which impacts neighbors
day and night. Truck-related noise is a nuisance, causing
windows to rattle and making it difficult to sleep. Trucks
add to congestion, drop gravel and materials that cause maintenance
problems and can damage cars, block visibility, and create
more wear and tear on road. Trucks are too large for the way
the street is designed, compromising the bike lanes and safety,
but there is a concern that enlarging capabilities may just
make it more attractive to increased use by trucks. Drivers
are uncomfortable being around large trucks that they can't
see around. Trucks often move too fast and come up on cars
too fast, especially when cars are trying to access Hazel
from side streets, homes or two-way left turn lanes. The large
number of ingress and egress points and two-way left-turn
lanes along the corridor increase the potential for accidents
between trucks and autos, as auto drivers fail to respect
that trucks are harder to stop and slower to respond. This
slower response also aggravates drivers during rush hour,
leading to more lane changes and unsafe aggressive driving.
4. Traffic congestion is increasing, and causing problems
in adjacent neighborhoods.
There is too much traffic during peak hours. It can take 20
minutes just to get from Madison to the freeway on a weekday
morning. The existing funnel effects as the 3 lanes merge
to two at Madison/Hazel and Gold River Boulevard/Hazel creates
more aggressive driving that can lead to more accidents. There
are a variety of ways in which congestion may be alleviated,
and they must all be seriously considered individually and
collectively.
Many people use back roads to avoid the congestion, cutting
through adjacent residential areas. Illinois, a residential
street with no sidewalks or curbs, is used often as a parallel
to Hazel, and east-west streets such as Sunset, Winding Way
and Phoenix Avenue bear the burden of this cut through traffic.
This increases noise, air quality, safety, and accessibility
problems on these residential streets. An increasing number
of people are using Phoenix to cut through to Illinois during
the evening rush hour. People can cut 10 minutes off their
commute by avoiding the Madison/Hazel intersection. A big
lineup occurs in the center two-way left turn lane as people
escape Hazel onto Phoenix, eliminating the ability for residents
along Hazel south of Phoenix to make a left turn north onto
Hazel.
With the exception of peak commute times, traffic on Hazel
in the study area is free flowing. Adding more lanes ultimately
may only result in more rush hour traffic and result in greater
safety and access issues for pedestrians and cyclists. Build
it and they will come. More lanes could just back up more
people trying to get onto Highway 50. We need to look at regional
solutions to shifting traffic, such as how to reduce demand
in Placer County. Trucks are only part of the problem. The
flow of traffic needs to be improved. There needs to be better
management on the overall system.
5. Hazel is becoming a de facto freeway as the primary north-south
connector between I-80 and Hwy 50.
Hazel is being used as a bypass for commuters and commerce
going through Sacramento. Many people use this corridor to
get to and from southeast Sacramento to Placer County. We
don't have an outer beltway like so many communities. The
effect is pretty hard on not just this corridor but all the
north south corridors. An outer beltway would carry this traffic
if we had one. The lack of one has made these corridors de-facto
freeways.
Local residents don't want Hazel to be a freeway, to be a
big raceway with logging trucks and other traffic. Yet it's
de facto use as one divides the community by its width, congestion
and speeds. Peak commute times do not correspond to the County's
traditional time blocks. On Hazel Avenue, peak commute time
bands are longer, from 6:00 AM to 9:00 AM and 4:00 PM to 6:00
PM. Local residents cannot comfortably walk or bike across
its width. Noise from the amount and speed of traffic and
trucks is severe for people living and working on or near
the corridor, as well as for pedestrians and cyclists. Clean
air is vital to quality of life, both for nearby residents
of Hazel and the region.
Multiple private and commercial driveways line the corridor,
making ingress and egress from residential and commercial
driveways along the corridor difficult given high speeds,
congestion and large trucks. The two-way left-turn lanes are
also difficult with high speed, trucks and congestion. And
overuse and poor maintenance of the roadbed, shoulders, and
existing sidewalks makes traveling the corridor hard on vehicles,
cyclists and pedestrians.
6. Safe and separate bike and pedestrian access is required
all along the corridor.
Hazel is designated as a bicycle route, some of which is Class
2, in the County General Plan. There is limited safe access
to the American River Parkway trail from Hazel. Back streets
only go so far in providing access. Trucks are too large and
eliminate existing bike lane safety. The amount and speed
of traffic also compromise these bike lanes. There is a demand
for high quality, separate, bike and pedestrian access all
the way from Madison to the Parkway. Now we have to go back
up to Main, which adds five or six miles to the route. Sunset
is the earliest point to cross. There is no access at Sailor
Bar and Main is the only access to the bike trail. To feel
safe, residents must either ride way out of their way or drive
to the fish hatchery and park.
7. Hazel experiences excessive speeds and unsafe conditions.
People tend to speed on Hazel, especially on the southbound
bridge approach to the highway where the road expands and
there is a steep down hill. There are concerns about the kinds
of traffic and the speed of the traffic - especially in the
Nimbus Flat area where cycling is encouraged. Speeding needs
to be addressed along the entire corridor; there are too many
aggressive drivers on what was originally a neighborhood street.
The average speed on Hazel is probably 10 mph over the posted
limit. This makes access to businesses and residences very
dangerous.
Pressure to improve air quality usually ends up in a desire
to keep the traffic moving. But safety and quality of life
issues are paramount. Between big trucks and speeders, and
a lot of maneuvers outside lanes, such as ingress and egress
from residential and commercial driveways, the use of the
bike lane and sidewalks is dangerous and unpleasant. The existing
speed limit for the portion of Hazel between Winding Way and
Highway 50 should be lowered to match that to the north of
Winding Way. In areas without sidewalks, it is very narrow,
with no intervening shoulders to protect one from high speeds.
The lack of signal synchronization along the corridor seems
to encourage running of stop lights and aggressive driving.
A study should be undertaken to determine if synchronization
of lights will be beneficial.
8. Aesthetically the Hazel Avenue Corridor is a hodgepodge.
Hazel doesn't give a nice feeling about our community. It
is a hodgepodge of development and improvements without consistent
sidewalk, curbs, and accessibility features for person with
disabilities. We need a true corridor that we can feel good
going through, even if in stop and go traffic at rush hour.
It should be something for the community to be proud of. Aesthetics
should highlight the uniqueness and personality of this area,
a sign of a community that respects itself. Pride in the community
is important. We need to create a feeling of neighborhood,
not just an expressway.
Soundwalls against the street are often ugly and undesirable.
There are examples of both good and bad sound walls on Hazel.
The soundwall between Degas and Renoir, for example, is completely
hidden by landscaping. The Quail Ridge soundwalls are tastefully
landscaped. With proper engineering, secondary noise impacts
in interior neighborhoods can be minimal. There is an opportunity
to provide more landscaping and sidewalks. Aesthetics can
also have a calming affect on drivers, reducing speeding and
aggressive driving, while increasing property values and supporting
local businesses.
We have an opportunity to create what the road is going to
look like. Traditional congestion-based changes to the roadbed,
i.e. road widening, will bring a loss of trees and foliage,
and will increase hard surfaces. It is important to add plant
materials to soften hard materials such as pavement, curbs
gutters and sidewalks. The center median areas will become
more important to break up any expanse of hard surfaces. If
"suicide lanes" are removed, that is a good place
to recover/recapture for street trees and other softscaping,
as long as access can still be adequately provided for residents
and businesses. Placing utility services underground would
improve the aesthetics of the Hazel corridor considerably.
Since Hazel serves so many residential communities and homes
directly on the corridor, the aesthetic question becomes very
important. This is the gateway to the Fair Oaks and Orangevale
communities, both of which take great pride in their rural
residential atmosphere. Establishing the character of the
community through aesthetic enhancements is important.
Upgrading of properties along Hazel is critical to eliminate
blight and improve area property values. Speeds and lack of
buffers from traffic make it nearly impossible to grow anything
within the first 10 feet of Hazel. Residents can no longer
enjoy their front yards, and the incentive to improve the
landscaping of properties fronting on Hazel is very low, thus
property owners no longer try. The noise impacts and flying
debris and air pollution make these front yards unusable,
so there is little incentive to make front yard improvements.
If we create by virtue of design a desire to look at adjacent
properties, people may have an incentive to improve their
homes.
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