Amador County - Amador County recently received its own state law allowing it to experiment with small electric cars on roads within and between neighborhoods.

AB584 was signed by the Governor on September 29th, allowing the County of Amador and the cities of Jackson and Sutter Creek flexibility in designing rules and routes for Neighborhood Electric Vehicles (NEVs).

This law originated as a project put forth by Amador Citizens for Transportation Options (ACTO), a local nonprofit group that solicited the help of Assemblywoman Alyson Huber a year and a half earlier. The law made its way through numerous Committee hearings, finally passing the Assembly 67-0 and the Senate 34-0.

Bob Devlin, a Director of ACTO, credits Huber and her staff for guiding this bill through the maze of legislative challenges, resulting in the final success. “We did have some opposition,” Devlin comments, “and needed to persuade legislators that this was a worthwhile project. We are delighted with the outcome.”

AB584 will give CHP, Caltrans and other government regulators more flexibility in the design of facilities and routing for NEVs in Amador that otherwise would be prohibited by law.

ACTO engineer, Rod Schuler, “believes the Bill is essential to allow Amador to solve our small-town traffic problems.” Schuler has prepared detailed cost estimates, including a new concept of special NEV/Bike turnouts which will allow NEVs to move off the main traffic flow and let faster-moving vehicles go by.

Because NEVs can only travel up to 25 mph and utilize existing roads that have speeds posted 35 mph or less, they can be manufactured from cheaper and lighter material and do not require the expensive and heavy armor of other cars.

Sharon Hewitt, another Director of ACTO and Jackson resident, cites statistics showing that most trips we take are short and can be done efficiently in an NEV, saving fuel, maintenance costs, air pollution and reducing our reliance on foreign sources of oil. “Plus”, says Sharon, “they are fun to drive.”

Mike and Sharon Hewitt are waiting to purchase an NEV once they can legally get from their home on Scottsville Boulevard in Jackson to Sutter Creek and Amador City.

Devlin states, “We still must convince the authorities that our proposals are safe for NEVs so they will allow us to try out our ideas.”

ACTO will be working closely with CHP, Caltrans, and local governments to obtain approval of their NEV Transportation Plan.

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