Placer Parkway
The Placer Parkway project has long been in the planning study and environmental assessment stages. This project began in its infancy in 1998 when the Placer County Transportation Planning Agency (PCTPA) started studying alternatives to preserve right of way for a new expressway route in south placer county to address traffic congestion. Many may have even forgotten that the Placer Parkway was even being considered or would ever become a reality.
Placer Parkway was born from earlier studies of a CA-102 reliever corridor that was planned to relieve congestion on Interstate 80 between Sacramento and Auburn, the placer parkway would have addressed some of that congestion by shifting it from I-80 to CA-70/99 instead, then funneling the traffic on a this new parkway to the south placer region. This option creates its own undesirable outcomes in and of itself, including the concern for further urban sprawl and more stop-and-go congestion along the I-5 and CA70/99 corridors. This would require additional added travel lanes along these facilities to be constructed to increase capacity. To combat this the PCTPA and the South Placer Regional Transportation Authority (SPRTA) proposed that the new parkway route have a mandated no development buffer along its entire route to prevent further residential and commercial sprawl that could create more congestion.
California State Route 102
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| Proposed Highway 102 Circa 2005 |
California State Route 201 has been a proposed highway route since the 1970s. Initially the parkway was planned to traverse from the I-5 and CA-70/99 Split near North Natomas CA then head east passing through Rio Linda, Foothill Farms, Citrus Heights, Orangevale running near Elkhorn Blvd and Greenback Lane. From there it would pass west of Folsom turning north along Folsom-Auburn Road and continuing to Auburn. This route would have connected to I-80 in two places. One in Foothill Farms and the other in Auburn. Eventually urban growth made this planned expressway unviable due to the inability to preserve right or way for the corridor and the corridor was shifted northward as shown in the 2005 state highway map. This northward routing largely paralleled I-80 to the west and would have been a potential alternative route for traffic to bypass the busy I-80 since it was a fairly straight routing from Auburn to North Natomas. This plan was likely dropped when it proved not to be feasable leading to the genesis of plans for what would become the Placer Parkway corridor preservation plan.
Corridor Preservation Phase
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| Placer Parkway Study Area |
A Tier 1 Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report (EIS/EIR) was completed in 2009 which identified alternatives for the parkway. The east end of the parkway initially was intended to terminate at the Sunset Blvd interchange with CA-65, that has since been moved further north to the Whitney Blvd interchange instead, and this interchange will not be a system (freeway-to-freeway) interchange either. The western end of the parkway will still terminate somewhere north of Riego Road and is expected to be constructed as a system interchange.
It appears that the corridor study was only intended to preserve the right of way needed to construct the corridor but not the corridor itself. The study identifies that it does not address traffic congestion on the routes it will connect to (CA-65 and CA-70/99), in fact instead it will funnel traffic to and from these routes leading to congestion points along each of the corridors, especially during peak periods. Currently residential and commercial growth is already taking place in the area where the parkway is intended to be constructed, so the parkway will no doubt see a fair amount of congestion almost immediately upon its opening to traffic. Construction of the planned 4-lane expressway will likely be inadequate to handle the traffic volumes that will likely accumulate quickly since 25 years of development has occurred in the north region since the project was first considered. Construction of a 6 lane highway and widening connecting freeways would better address congestion along the corridor. However the argument for a no-build option could solidly be considered.
Corridor Construction & Planned Development
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| Placer Parkway Proposed Route |
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Placer Parkway Phase 1 Buildout -
Proposed Placer Ranch Development -
Proposed Sunset Area Plan -
Proposed Amoruso Ranch Plan -
Proposed Sutter Pointe Area Plan
Additionally the first phase of the Parkway will only construct a portion of the parkway to Foothills Boulevard, making the initial corridor no more than a surface boulevard. This further casts doubt on the ultimate buildout of the corridor. Will it be built as a freeway or as a lesser express highway, will it be another CA-244 connector. There is a strong need for a east to west freeway along this route due to the growth that will be occurring along the route, but it will likely never be a traffic reliever for the congested I-80.
The ultimate buildout of the corridor will be as a 4-lane expressway with 2 quadrant cloverleaf interchanges planned along the length of the corridor with interchanges proposed at Foothills Blvd, Fiddyment Road, Westbrook Blvd, Pleasant Grove Road, and a future new interchange at the planned Sutter Pointe development and the route then terminating at the CA-70/99 interchange.
As you can see a number of planned developments are proposed for the area immediately adjacent to the parkway. These include the Sunset Area Plan, Placer Ranch, and Amoruso Ranch to start. Further westward development is also expected in West Roseville, Curry Creek and Sierra Vista which could necessitate additional interchanges at a potential northward extension of Santucci Blvd (Watt Ave) and Brewer Rd. Future major development is also planned in southern Sutter County at the west end of the corridor. The Sutter Pointe Specific plan details over 7500 acres of development along the Placer Parkway and CA-70/99 corridors.
Ultimately the parkway was sold with the idea of growth moratoriums indented to combat urban sprawl and create traffic relief for travelers from Roseville, Rocklin and Lincoln to Sacramento and points west. As with any potential highspeed corridor. the allure for developers to cash in on the potential windfall of the conversion of farm and ranch land into suburban landscapes is too strong. Thusly instead of relieving congestion, the placer parkway will simply provide access to these new planned developments. The inclusion of larger areas of open space is barely conciliatory considering the sprawl generated by the promise of a new freeway. One must ask. Was it right to propose the corridor in the first place since it does not serve the purpose for which it will be constructed.
The real question to ask is. Will it ever be built, and if so will it be built to freeway standards. I would imagine that Placer County's slow progress in building a 1.5 mile segment of the 15 mile parkway that will not even be to freeway standards lends one to think that the eventual buildout of the corridor will be less than freeway status, leading to costly later upgrades in the future to bring it up to freeway standards. There are many planned corridors that the Sacramento region has needed, such as the CA-244/143 freeway to create a partial belt around the east side of Sacramento. That ship has long sailed, and honestly, the community that it would have gone through doesn't seem to miss it.