As the Subregion has experienced growth in both population and jobs, there have
been resulting strains on the Subregion's transportation system. Furthermore,
the growth projected by the Jurisdictions' general plans is expected to create
additional stresses and result in new challenges.
Each of the Jurisdictions recognizes the
need to make improvements to the transportation system that serves the
Subregion. Concerns about providing adequate transportation capacity to serve
anticipated growth, traffic congestion, deteriorating air quality, time lost to
travel, a lack of viable alternatives to automobile travel, etc., are evident
throughout the Subregion. The Jurisdictions have identified the following
Subregional Issues as critical to addressing transportation needs of the
Subregion's residents now and into the future. These Subregional Issues are:
How to:
- Improve the efficiency of automobile
travel, while limiting its negative consequences, such as traffic congestion.
- Increase the viability of bus travel,
and possibly rail travel, as alternatives to automobile travel.
- Reduce traffic congestion, improve air
quality, and otherwise improve the quality of life in the Subregion by
promoting bicycling and walking as modes of transportation.
- Encourage alternatives to automobile
travel through land use planning.
- Enhance the mobility of children and
youth, the non-driving elderly, the non-driving handicapped, and other
non-drivers.
- Promote telecommuting as a work site
alternative.
- Automobile travel
- The Jurisdictions should identify
needed improvements to the Subregional roadway network, and each Jurisdiction
should make provision for rights-of-way necessary to accommodate those
improvements.
- The Jurisdictions should take
available actions to encourage and facilitate Caltrans':
- designating the planned additional
travel lanes on Highway 101 between the Sonoma/Marin County border and Windsor
for use by high occupancy vehicles (HOV) and transit use during peak travel
periods; and
- giving construction priority to lane
additions for the portion of Highway 101 between Petaluma and Windsor.
Designation of HOV lanes should be accompanied by increased frequency of bus
service, when warranted.
- The Jurisdictions should encourage
Caltrans to improve Highway 101 south of Petaluma in order to eliminate direct
vehicle access.
- The Jurisdictions should improve the
efficiency of existing parallel arterials in the Highway 101 corridor in order
to increase the utility of these arterials as alternative routes during peak
travel periods.
- Each Jurisdiction should encourage a
reduction in auto use, single occupant auto use and traffic congestion by
promoting the following actions by employers: providing incentives for
carpooling and vanpooling (such as preferential parking spaces or parking
subsidies for carpools and vanpools), offering flex time and modified work
schedules to employees, offering telecommuting opportunities, and employing
transportation coordinators. An example of such encouragement by a Jurisdiction
could be to allow reductions in required parking in return for
employer-sponsored and administered carpooling, vanpooling, telecommuting or
transit passes.
- In making determinations regarding the
Subregional roadway network, the Jurisdictions should give priority to
maintaining community identities and the overall quality of life in each
Jurisdiction, over accommodating traffic.
- The Jurisdictions should develop a
circulation system that will accommodate the needs of projected development,
but not provide capacity substantially beyond those needs.
- Each Jurisdiction should consider
requiring new parking facilities to accommodate new transportation
technologies.
- Each Jurisdiction should identify the
need for and encourage the development of new park-and-ride lots to facilitate
carpooling and vanpooling. The Jurisdictions should prepare a coordinated
response to proposed development projects in adjacent counties that would
affect the commute on Highway 101.
- Bus and rail travel
- Each Jurisdiction should identify the
need for additional transit stops and park-and- ride lots for transit users and
make provision for the development of such facilities.
- The Jurisdictions should evaluate
establishing passenger rail service on the Northwestern Pacific Railroad
right-of-way, and should encourage Marin and Mendocino Counties to participate
cooperatively in this effort.
- If passenger rail service is developed
through the Subregion, the Jurisdictions should work together to ensure that
such system will accommodate the needs of projected development, but not
provide capacity substantially beyond these needs.
- The Jurisdictions should take
available actions to preserve the Northwestern Pacific Railroad's right-of-way
for future bus and/or rail transit use.
- The Jurisdictions should take
available actions to coordinate transit services between the various transit
operators (local, subregional and regional) in the Subregion. Examples of such
coordination could include: coordinating schedules to increase transfer
potential, encouraging joint transit fare prepayment, and discounting fares for
intersystem transfers.
- The Jurisdictions should identify and
establish a series of "transit centers" with supporting park-and-ride
lots. In so doing, the Jurisdictions should: avoid rerouting busses, provide
adequate off-street parking, provide convenient pedestrian access from activity
centers, and avoid arterials with heavy traffic.
- In selecting transit routes, the
Jurisdictions should provide convenient access to major job centers, retain and
recreation areas, high and medium density residential areas, and major health
care and educational facilities.
- The Jurisdictions should work
together, with surrounding cities and counties, and with Sonoma County
Transportation Agency and regional agencies such as Metropolitan Transportation
Commission, to lobby for increased funding for transit.
- Each Jurisdiction should encourage
employers to provide incentives for employees to use transit (e.g., employee
transit allowances, shuttle busses from between job centers and transit stops).
- Bicycle and pedestrian travel
- The Jurisdictions should cooperate in
developing and implementing a subregional bikeways plan and should ensure
consistency between local, subrigional, and regional bikeway alignments. The
Countywide Bicycle Advisory Committee might be the appropriate entity for
developing the subregional bikeways plan.
- Each Jurisdiction should promote
bicycle and pedestrian facilities to provide connections between its transit
stops, residential areas, employment centers, retail areas and schools and
other public facilities.
- Each Jurisdiction should encourage
employers to provide facilities for bicycle uses (e.g., racks, lockers,
showers).
- Encouraging alternatives to automobile
travel through land use planning
- In order to improve the viability of
transit, each Jurisdiction should establish higher residential densities and
greater intensity of commercial and employment-generating development existing
or potential transit routes. For example, this could include encouraging more
intense development in suburban business parks in order to make them efficient
destinations for transit. It could also include promoting infill development
and redevelopment in central business districts that are already well served by
transit. In its land use planning, each Jurisdiction should promote safe,
direct, attractive pedestrian access between transit stops and neighboring
development.
- Each Jurisdiction should encourage
pedestrian-oriented mixed use development that includes commercial and
employment activities and housing.
- Each Jurisdiction should encourage the
development of major commercial, office and institutional centers in areas that
can be served by existing or planned transit capable of accommodating potential
users.
- Each Jurisdiction should encourage
neighborhood-serving commercial uses within walking distance of urban
residential areas.
- Each Jurisdiction should adopt
policies which promote appropriate home-based work opportunities (e.g.,
live/work areas, etc.).
- Each Jurisdiction should adopt land
use and housing policies that promote an appropriate balance of jobs and
housing within that Jurisdiction.
- Enhancing the mobility of
non-drivers
- In developing the subregional transit
system, the Jurisdictions should pay particular attention to the needs of
transit-dependent residents of the Subregion, such as non-driving seniors,
children and youth, non-driving handicapped, etc.
- Telecommuting
- Each Jurisdiction should encourage the
establishment of telecommuting centers that provide fax machines, telephones,
computers with networking capabilities and other office equipment, allowing
workers to work close to home.
- Each Jurisdiction should encourage
employers to offer telecommuting opportunities to employees.
- Each Jurisdiction should consider
adopting residential development standards to facilitate telecommuting. Such
standards should be developed in coordination with utility providers and could
apply to both new construction and retrofitting of existing construction.
|
