Keep funds in place for Hwy. 84 improvements Keep funds in place for Hwy. 84 improvements (November 11, 2005)

Just like the proverbial stars that come into alignment, so have long-sought federal, state, regional and local funds for major improvements to I-580 and to Isabel Avenue and Vallecitos Road that are now designated Route 84. Road building projects that are scheduled to start next year include adding HOV (high occupancy vehicle or carpool lanes) in the eastbound direction only in the center of I-580 from just west of Hacienda Drive in Pleasanton to Greenville Road in Livermore, and the construction of new interchanges on I-580 at Isabel and Vasco Road. Most important to Pleasanton is a $33 million project that gained funding guarantees from Caltrans last week to add truck-climbing lanes on Hwy. 84 on both sides of Pigeon Pass and to make some grade and road straightening improvements at that location. According to Pleasanton Traffic Engineer Jeff Knowles, those improvements, alone, could allow for an additional 500 cars an hour at speeds up to 55 mph, reducing cut-through traffic that now uses Stanley Boulevard, First Street and Sunol Boulevard in Pleasanton by at least 200 cars an hour during peak weekday travel times.

To be sure, proposed Vallecitos Road improvements date back to the 1950s when it first started becoming a major arterial to Livermore. After the interstates were built, it was eyed as a possible toll road connector from Sunol to Antioch. Subsequent bids to widen or realign the roadway over Pigeon Pass, where most of the congestion and accidents occur, were quashed by environmental complaints. Only in recent years, as traffic started grinding to a halt on congested freeways around Pleasanton and cut-through traffic increased, have the Tri-Valley cities and various state and regional funding agencies agreed to make minor improvements to Hwy. 84.

The federal transportation funding bill that Congress just passed, and which the president signed, provides supplemental funding for these projects. Other funding sources are the Alameda County Congestion Management Agency (ACCMA), the Alameda County Transportation Improvement Authority (ACTIA) and the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). Each has now allocated funds to build the carpool lanes, add the interchanges, and widen Isabel to six lanes from the freeway to Stanley Boulevard and to four lanes to Ruby Hill. The agencies' highest priority is to add the truck-climbing lanes as quickly as possible.

History shows that highway funds -- even those absolutely committed -- have a way of slipping or disappearing. Part of the Hwy. 84 improvements are being funded by Alameda County's Measure B half-cent transportation sales tax, and we've already seen some of those funds that were earmarked for 580 "borrowed" to pay for the widening of the Highway 238 connector between I-580 and I-880. That money is being repaid out of Proposition 42 funds and should be there when the I-580 HOV lanes and Hwy. 84 improvements start in 2006. The Isabel and Vasco Road interchanges, along with the widening of Isabel to Stanley, are still three to five years away, although funding for the Environmental Impact Reports and design work is now in place.

As for the Pigeon Pass Project, a Citizens Watchdog Committee was appointed to monitor the Measure B sales tax programs, including this one. With the Tri-Valley mayors and County Supervisor Scott Haggerty committed to this project, we look for it finally to get started next year to ease the commute for residents on the east side of Pleasanton and to make the roadway more appealing to motorists connecting between I-580 and I-680 than the surface streets in Pleasanton that they now use.

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