Natomas lightrail DNA line is back on?

It appears from the Bee and RT that RT has decided to fast-track the Downtown-Natomas-Airport (DNA) line, with a target completion date of 2017. This is three years faster than we reported last April. I know, it's 2008, so we're still looking at nearly 10 years of construction so I'm not holding my breath. But it's a step in the right direction. The RT board will hear public comments tonight at 6pm and the public comment period ends tomorrow.

There has been volumes of debate about the cost, the time, the location and probably even the paint color they use on the trains. But the reality of the situation is, a big city needs alternate modes of transportation and a way to get to the airport. If Sacramento wants to truly be a "green city" we must have a light rail system that is functional, quick and reliable. It makes no sense to me that the original light rail line didn't include an airport stop.

I've heard the comments about putting the tracks on Truxel and the dangers. That's just more bad planning on the city's part and a lack of foresight. I don't agree with the RT plan of where to run the line, but that doesn't mean the entire plan is bad. Running the line down Truxel increases transportation to the high school, the South Natomas library, Arco and to shopping areas. It's not the best idea, but it will work. RT can increase safety by monitoring the area, particularly around the high school, where traffic tends to be a younger, less safe group of drivers and pedestrians.

I also think the prediction of lowering car traffic from Natomas by 1% is simply shortsighted. As traffic increases to downtown, parking costs and gas rise and the economy bounces around, RT has no idea what will happen. If the schedule is convenient, passengers are safe and trains are clean, people will ride.

Also not factored into this 1% is out of town travelers. It would be a huge bonus for the Sac CVB to be able to sell conventions with light rail to the airport. As it currently stands, convention visitors have to rent cars or use buses (RT or private) to get downtown. I'm already envisioning a huge green living and sustainability convention that requires no cars or buses to get around. The tax dollars spent will be worth the return when the convention center, downtown hotels and shopping, restaurants and other tourist locations start to fill up.

On to the most hysterical part of this entire debate. As we have commented before, bus service to Natomas is nonexistent on the weekends. RT had to supplement their own bus service for public open houses because people couldn't use RT to get there:
"RT will offer supplemental bus service on Route 11 from downtown Sacramento to the open house at Inderkum High School on Saturday, February 9. Buses will depart from 3rd and J streets every 30 minutes from 9:07 a.m. to 11:07 a.m. The last return trip from Inderkum High School to downtown Sacramento will depart at 12:10 p.m." (from the RT press release here)

The Chaos (aka CalTrans) is about to begin...

The worst traffic snafu you've ever seen in Sacramento is coming... and it's going to last for at least 8 months. Yes you read that right, for 8 months Sacramento will be thrown into traffic chaos. According to the Bee, beginning in February or March, Caltrans will shut down sections of I-5 through downtown daily for months and months to repair the section of I-5 that is below river-level. The current plan is to close one or two lanes in each direction from Richards to the 50 interchange.

I don't mean to be alarmist but this is going to be a serious mess! Regardless of what time of day, the downtown area is always slow as people try to get off downtown, get over to the interchange at 50/80/99 and the tourists get lost because signage is bad. Can you imagine what the downtown area will look like during Jazz Jubilee? It's bad enough Jubilee weekend that most locals avoid downtown like the plague but now we have to content with tourists and closed lanes. I think we'll go to LA that weekend... the traffic can't be worse.

The road's a mess and it has to get fixed, I'll give Caltrans that. I'm pretty sure that building a major freeway below river level was not the best idea and that in a post-Katrina world, we really need an upgrade. I wish the plans included a raised section so that we won't have to tear it all back up again in 30 years.

My bigger concern is the possibility of the City to just overlook the entire situation. Quoting the Bee's quote "Hopefully more folks will take light rail, buses and carpool" city traffic official Hector Barron said.

Uhh.... what light rail? The City let builders develop the entire North Natomas area without light rail. Where's the DNA line? Stuck on someone's desk. Buses... there's a thought. Hypothetically if I wanted to ride the bus from the Kohl's in North Natomas to downtown it'll take between 25 and 46 minutes, assuming all buses are on time and I only want to travel on the weekdays during rush hour. Best I can tell, you CANNOT get downtown from North Natomas on the weekends. According to RT's online trip planner "There is no service on the day or at the time you've requested. Please try a different date or time."

My recommendation to the city- you'd better get ready to throw some serious funding towards the North Natomas Transportation Management Association and be prepared to cover alternate routes with bus coverage and weekend routes. You cannot ask people to 'hopefully' use alternate routes if you don't provide them. I'd also up the number of carpool spots in City lots and make parking with an authorized carpool free during the traffic problems. Let City workers with non-essential job duties telecommute, work alternate schedules or give carpool bonuses during the first month in particular.

But whatever they decide to do, they have to do something... just waiting until the chaos begins just isn't a good option.

Where oh where has our light rail gone?

Since 1991, Sacramento RT has been preserving right-of-way options to put in light rail. In theory, light rail was also incorporated into the regional plan for North Natomas. I remember when we bought our house in 1999 in North Natomas, it was "only a matter of time" until we could zip downtown or out to the airport on light rail. Traffic would be less complex at Arco because the new light rail would allow people from all over the city to leave their cars at home. It was an attractive option, certainly one that many newbies from the Bay liked.

It's 2007... Truxel Rd. is being ignored because "someday" there will be light rail there. Why bother putting money into your property if it'll be imminent domained anyway? For-sale signs popped up within minutes of the announced plan in 2003 to run the trains down Truxel. Not much has changed since then. A spring 2005 fact sheet , lists construction to begin in 2010, but the February 2006 fact sheet doesn't even list an estimated construction date.

It appears that the plan is mired in environmental woes. I agree wholeheartedly that the tracks need to be placed in an environmentally-conscious way, which is why I originally supported the plan to run the trains down the freeway. If the area is already damaged, a few more tracks probably won't make much of a difference.

Instead... we're left with a growing blight down Truxel and along the Downtown-Natomas-Airport (DNA) line. Isn't that an environmental concern as well? The airport expansion originally included light rail, however, the newest plan from the airport expansion folks does not include an airport line until 2020. 2020? What? Won't we have flying cars by then?