The El Dorado County Transportation Commission invites the public to attend the State Route (SR) 49 realignment study open house 6 p.m. April 30 to learn about the project, and provide comments on the process and elements of the study. The SR 49 Realignment Study began in February 2009 and is being conducted by the EDCTC in partnership with Caltrans, the city of Placerville , and the El Dorado County Department of Transportation. The purpose of the study is to identify potential alternative alignments of SR 49 between the communities of Coloma and El Dorado that will address traffic congestion and operations, and public safety.
Community involvement is important to the development of the SR 49 Realignment Study. In February 2009, the EDCTC board ratified 19 different groups and organizations as members of the SR 49 Realignment Study Stakeholder Advisory Committee (SAC). The role of the committee is to provide input on the study and to disseminate project information to their constituents.
The Open House will be held on Thursday in the Marshall Building at the El Dorado County Fairgrounds and is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.. It will provide an opportunity for the public to have one-on-one discussions with members of the project team, to review informational displays of elements of the project, listen to a brief presentation, followed by a question-and-answer session.
For more information about the SR 49 Realignment Study the public is also encouraged to visit the project Website at edctc.org.
The current alignment of SR 49 between Coloma and El Dorado contains a number of physical constraints such as sharp curves, steep grades, and little to no shoulders for safe passage of pedestrians, and bicyclists. These constraints, coupled with increased traffic demand due to growth in the county and an increase in recreational use of the area, have resulted in considerable impacts to traffic operations and mobility.
To address this issue EDCTC applied for grant funding to conduct a realignment study to identify potential alternative alignments of SR 49 between Coloma and El Dorado . In August 2008, Caltrans awarded EDCTC a $250,000 Partnership Planning Grant to fund the study.
