Arroyo Grande's preferred solution for traffic congestion at the heavily used intersection of Brisco Road and Highway 101 is likely to pit the city against Caltrans over plans that don't fit the state agency's design manual.

Caltrans officials say they are willing to cooperate with the city and would approve exceptions to the agency's guidelines as long as the proposed nonstandard design is deemed safe.

But Mayor Tony Ferrara is girding for battle and wants to enlist other local entities - perhaps even the League of California Cities - in a campaign to make the state less rigid in what projects it will allow.

“We've studied (this project) to death for over 10 years, and now at the 11th hour, when we're trying to get funding for this project, we're being hamstrung and held hostage by Caltrans,” Ferrara said in November as the council selected its preferred alternative.

The City Council agreed it wants to close the on-ramps and off-ramps at Brisco Road and create new hook-style ramps at Rodeo Drive - similar to the ones at Camino Mercado.

Then, instead of widening the Brisco Road underpass to just four lanes, the council would like at least five.

The city's plan also calls for adding auxiliary lanes on the southbound side from Halcyon Road to East Grand Avenue, and on the northbound side from East Grand to Camino Mercado.

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Finally, improvements would be made to the ramps at East Grand Avenue, including adding another turn lane at the end of the southbound off-ramp.

The council favors a phased approach - if it can secure State Transportation Improvement Project funding for the work that's estimated to cost $8.2 million.

But the phasing could affect the ability to obtain funding, as could the fact the preferred option doesn't fit Caltrans' rigid design criteria.

In fact, the city's preferred option involves a number of designs that violate Caltrans' Highway Design Manual, and city officials and consultants believe the state agency won't support them.

Mark Rodgers of Wood Rodgers Inc. in Sacramento, the consulting firm hired by the city to study project options, said some of the design exceptions can be waived by Caltrans District 5, which encompasses the Central Coast.

But other aspects involve “mandatory” design standards, he said, and the city would have to seek exceptions for those at the state level, where waivers are harder to come by.

Ferrara wants the city to fight for the preferred option even if it means taking the battle all the way to Sacramento.

“Caltrans only cares about the main line (Highway 101),” Ferrara said as the council considered the options last month. “They do not care about how it relates to the surface streets.

“If we have to involve our legislators, so be it,” he declared. “If we have to attack this problem politically, so be it. If we have to attack this problem legally, so be it.”

Common complaints

Ferrara said other cities throughout the state - including Paso Robles and Atascadero - have had conflicts with Caltrans over freeway ramp designs that didn't adhere to the agency's design manual.

Atascadero City Manager Wade McKinney said his city encountered problems with Caltrans over ramp and interchange designs.

“They're not very flexible,” McKinney said of Caltrans. “They're very concerned about their guidelines and are not very creative.”

He said Atascadero had to wrangle with the agency over signals at the Santa Rosa and Santa Barbara roads ramps and over a trails project.

Nipomo citizens also have sparred with the state agency over the community's proposals to solve major traffic congestion at West Tefft Street and Highway 101.

Dan Woodson, chairman of the traffic and circulation committee for the South County Advisory Council, said Caltrans remains firm in its opposition to an on-ramp at Hill Street.

He said the community will continue to push for the Hill Street ramp, but admitted that may mean not getting a solution to the growing traffic problem on Tefft.

Caltrans' point of view

For its part, Caltrans maintains it does cooperate with local communities, such as synchronizing its traffic lights on West Tefft at the freeway with the county's traffic lights at nearby streets.

Jim Shivers, a spokesman for Caltrans District 5, said the agency relies on the input of local communities, is concerned about project impacts on surface streets and will allow design exceptions if they are safe.

“I would start off by saying that we are proud of the partnerships that we have with all of the cities and the counties,” Shivers said.

“We rely on input from those communities,” he continued. “We actively solicit their input. We feel the lines of communication are always open here at Caltrans.

“We've had a very good relationship with the city of Arroyo Grande,” he said, noting five members of Caltrans staff met with Arroyo Grande officials last week to discuss the Brisco Road project.

“Certainly, there may be disagreements with various aspects of projects and procedures, but we feel the best way to bring forth the best project is an open dialog with all our partners in this district,” he said.

Shivers said much of the perception that Caltrans rigidly adheres to design specifications is the result of the agency's focus on safety.

“It's not a case of being inflexible,” he added. “We don't say, ‘This is the way it's going to be.' We don't operate that way. We want to make sure the public drives on safe highways, over safe bridges and through safe intersections.”

Shivers said the design guidelines have been well-researched, and the agency pursues them because it views them as safe.

“We are responsible for the state highway system,” he said, “and we are responsible if a mishap occurs on the state highway system. We have to have the bar very high when the safety of a state highway comes into play.”

District 5 spokesman Colin Jones noted that the agency cooperated with Arroyo Grande earlier this year in its test of traffic impacts from closing the Brisco Road on-ramps and off-ramps.

Solving congestion

That test last spring convinced Arroyo Grande officials that permanently closing the Brisco Road ramps would alleviate traffic congestion there.

In the test closures, traffic flowed smoothly through the Brisco intersections with El Camino Real and West Branch Street, city officials said.

During the test, about 80 percent of former Brisco ramp users entered and exited the freeway at Camino Mercado, with about 20 percent using the ramps at East Grand Avenue.

“One of the things that was most striking about when we ran the test was how well it worked,” said Councilman Jim Guthrie.

The preferred option calls for adding one lane to Brisco under the freeway, but Councilman Ed Arnold said adding two or even three lanes would be better.

“I think the last thing anyone in this town wants us to do is widen (Brisco Road) to four lanes and in 20 years say we need to widen it to six,” Arnold said.

But Rodgers said there isn't enough room under the freeway to widen the road to that many lanes and still meet Caltrans' minimum height requirements, and Caltrans will not be willing to raise the freeway to accommodate more lanes on Brisco.

However, Rodgers admitted it might be possible to add two lanes rather than one on the north side of Brisco, and his firm will study the feasibility of that option.

Rodgers also said that, based on computer simulations of projected use, moving the ramps to Rodeo Drive won't meet the goals of keeping Brisco and West Branch traffic flowing at an acceptable level through 2030.

The simulations showed that traffic shifted to the Rodeo ramps would back up on West Branch all the way onto Brisco Road, threatening to create the gridlock city officials are trying to avoid.

But Rodgers admitted the simulations used for the Rodeo Drive ramps did not take into account the traffic shift to the Camino Mercado and Grand Avenue ramps that took place during the test closure.

So the city sent the consultants back to their computers to re-examine the traffic flow projections using that data.

Ferrara agreed cross-town traffic is a problem, and said it will likely get worse as development continues on the east side of Highway 101.

For that reason, Ferrara said he is not willing to give up any access to Highway 101, such as simply closing the Brisco Road ramps without replacing them at another location.

But according to a report from Don Spagnolo, director of public works and city engineer, it will be difficult to get the Rodeo Drive ramps approved by Caltrans because they would be too close to the Grand Avenue on-ramp.

Under Caltrans' guidelines, the proximity of the ramps would not allow enough “weaving” room for drivers trying to get on the freeway from East Grand and freeway drivers trying to get off at Rodeo Drive, all in the same section of freeway.

What's next

The City Council considered not even seeking money for its preferred project, instead holding off until the next STIP funding cycle in two years.

That would give the city time to fine tune the plan and work out any kinks with Caltrans.

But City Manager Steve Adams pointed out that although the next STIP funding cycle starts in two years, it's a four-year process, so it would essentially push the project back another six years.

Ultimately, the City Council decided to submit its preferred project, broken into two phases, to the San Luis Obispo Council of Governments for the current STIP funding cycle.

Ron De Carli, SLOCOG executive director, said the agency accepted the city's request and will ask for a formal description of the project to consider at its Jan. 9 meeting.

Projects to be recommended for state funding are scheduled to be finalized by the agency in February, De Carli said.

Shivers said Caltrans is still waiting for Arroyo Grande to provide the specific design exceptions it wants. When those are received, the District 5 design group will review the city's proposal.

Shivers said, if necessary, a design package will be put together and sent to the Sacramento headquarters, and the District 5 staff would work closely with the Sacramento staff to resolve any design issues.

But if Caltrans ultimately says “no” to the exceptions Arroyo Grande wants, city officials said, they may have to settle for fewer freeway ramps to serve a growing population.

December 17, 2007