October 28, 2011

City of Santa Monica, Public Works Department
Civil Engineering Division
1437 4th Street, Suite 300
Santa Monica, CA 90401
Re California Incline Bridge Replacement Project Re-circulated Draft EIR/EA
The Pacific Palisades Community Council (PPCC) has been the voice of the Palisades community for over 38 years. The Pacific Coast Highway and Sunset Blvd. are literally our lifelines. Anything which hinders traffic flow on these arteries is of great concern because we are an isolated community and all too often must depend on far-flung resources to respond to major traffic accidents as well as fires and other emergencies. We know from experience that disruptions on PCH often bring Sunset Blvd. through the Palisades to a complete stand-still.

With this in mind, we have reviewed the reference EIR/EA and found it worrisome. A primary concern is the Traffic Management Plan (TMP). Table 4-1 refers to the “Traffic Management Plan found in Chapter 2, Section 2.1.7.” The “TMP” is both detailed and vague, leaving many facets to be worked out in the future and no signage to deter discretionary commuter traffic from areas such as Camarillo and Thousand Oaks. This “Z” traffic now uses cross-mountain roads to travel to PCH from Highway 101. During the recent closure of one lane of PCH near Temescal Canyon Road, signage in these distant locales greatly reduced coastal traffic. We expect no less for the Incline project. These signs should be installed in the weeks leading up to construction as the first day will set the tone for the duration.

The TMP boundary obviously is too small. It fails to include the area along PCH from Entrada Drive to Sunset Blvd. as well as Sunset to Allenford. Traffic counts have been ignored or are out-of date. We request that the TMP be updated to include this expanded area which undoubtedly will be severely impacted by the Incline closure. TMP should seriously consider turning 7th Street from Wilshire to the I-10 on-ramp into a one-way street to provide a useful alternative to motorists who need to access the westbound Coast Highway. The revised TMP should be vetted with the community, including PPCC, prior to approval of the EIR/EA.
We believe the Moomat Ahiko improvements will be helpful but inadequate to handle diverted Incline traffic. We strongly recommend that Appian Way be opened from the Pier to Pico Blvd. for the duration of the project. This suggestion, made by several people in 2007, has not been treated seriously in the reference draft. In addition, the “coned-off” exit from the 1550 Parking Lot must be closed temporarily and relocated to reduce traffic turbulence around the McClure Tunnel.
The traffic signal at PCH and Annenberg already causes a back up of traffic on PCH. We would like to recommend that this signal be deactivated during constructions period.
A key step in reducing the impact on the greater community would be for Incline reconstruction to proceed 24/7 to assure the most rapid completion of this project. While the EIR mentions this as an option, we urge that Santa Monica adopt this expedited policy to assure the public that work will be expedited. In furtherance of this time saving goal, we urge Santa Monica to provide substantial early completion incentive bonuses to contractors and, to the extent possible, use pre-cast materials.

Finally, we recommend that Santa Monica partner with the City of Los Angeles to develop rapid response teams to deal with traffic snarls and other emergencies near the boundaries of the two cities.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the reference Draft EIR/EA,

Janet Turner, Chair
Pacific Palisades Community Council
310-573-0382