By Jennifer Wilson -

The Pine Grove Bypass took center stage again at a public meeting last week. This time it was Thursday’s Upcountry Community Council meeting. John Carlson, a staff member of the Pine Grove Community Council, provided Upcountry residents with an update on transportation issues. Carlson’s update instigated a slew of questions and comments from many meeting attendees, some of whom had differences of opinion in regard to when and how a bypass option came about, and was subsequently dropped. Discussion went as far back as 2002, when the county held a series of public workshops on the bypass. UCC member Debbie Dunn gave her opinion that around that time, the Amador County Transportation Commission was required by the state to submit a Regional Transportation Plan addressing transportation issues. She said they fulfilled that requirement by holding the workshops and narrowing several ideas down to three options, then submitted those to the state. After that, the whole issue apparently was forgotten. Now, six years later, with what some say is a recent “explosive growth” in Amador County, and several new housing developments in the works, citizens are clamoring for some sort of solution for Highway 88 through Pine Grove, which sees as much as 14,000 cars per day. Carlson, also a board member of the Pine Grove Civic Improvement Club, noted that Pine Grove’s Level of Service, is now an E on a scale of A to F, with A being free-flowing traffic and F representing multiple stops and delays. Some of the public’s questions may be answered at the next Pine Grove Council meeting, which will have in attendance ACTC Director Charles Field and a representative from Caltrans. Both should give a background on the history of the proposed traffic solutions and answer questions from the public. The meeting is 5:30 PM Wednesday, October 1st at the Pine Grove Town Hall.