Calaveras County - The California Transportation Commission (CTC) today is holding a town hall meeting at Ironstone Vineyards in Murphys, where they plan to gather local input on transportation issues affecting the Mother Lode region.
The regional meeting is jointly sponsored by Amador, Alpine Mariposa and Calaveras counties.
All four counties are partners in a memorandum of understand that allows for the pooling of state transportation dollars. This meeting is considered a big deal because road issues in our area are often overshadowed by mammoth construction projects in other parts of the state.
Charles Field, executive director of the Amador County Transportation Commission (ACTC), said that in recent years the CTC started holding meetings in rural areas to become more familiar with issues on a local level. He said most commissioners on the CTC are from urban or suburban areas.
Field will contribute to the meeting with a presentation on the decade-long process it took to construct the Highway 49 bypass project.
“Many of the commissioners are new appointments and not familiar with what we went through, so I will provide some history,” he said.
His presentation will include background on the various steps it took to complete the project, including choosing from one of a dozen alternatives, helping Caltrans with the environmental certification process, and working with the community.
Neil Peacock, program manager for ACTC, will also give a presentation on the developing Pine Grove/Highway 88 Improvement Project, which includes 12 different alternatives for route modifications at a price tag not to exceed $40 million.
All sponsor counties are expected to attend today’s meeting with the exception of Mariposa.
Also in attendance will be John Garamendi, representative of California's 10th Congressional district.
The transportation meeting began this morning (Wednesday, October 13th) and is expected to last until the afternoon.
Story by Alex Lane This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
