Niles Canyon Road Widening

Lawsuit Settlement Invalidates CalTrans Phase I Project Approval and Permits

January 2012 Update: CalTrans to Start Over On Environmental Review for Controversial Niles Road Widening Projects

Phase I: Phase I of the highway widening has been stopped. CalTrans has closed out the site and removed construction materials, and terminated the construction contract. CalTrans will rescind the certification of the environmental review document and project approval, and notify regulatory agencies that it is withdrawing the project by the end of January, 2012. CalTrans has announced it will come back with a new phase I project beginning fall of 2012. The Notice of Preparation will be in spring of 2013; then a draft Environmental Impact Report in spring of 2014 and a final EIR in fall of 2014. The ACA will attempt to work with CalTrans to remove creek fill and further tree cutting from the revised project.

Phase II: CalTrans has announced changes to the design of phase II (minor retaining wall changes and two proposed traffic lights in Sunol). Subsequently, CalTrans will revise the purpose and need for the project, update technical studies, and prepare a new draft Environmental Impact Report for phase II. The draft EIR is expected out in fall of 2012, with a final EIR in spring of 2013.

The California Department of Transportation signed a settlement agreement December 12 with the Alameda Creek Alliance that forces the agency to terminate the approval and permits for the first phase of a controversial $80 million highway widening project in Niles Canyon along Alameda Creek. CalTrans will rescind its 2006 approval and flawed environmental review for the Route 84 Safety Improvement Project, notify regulatory agencies it is withdrawing the project, terminate the project construction contract, and comply with mitigation requirements for work already done, such as tree cutting along Alameda Creek. Read the December 12 press release

June 2011 - Preliminary Injunction Temporarily Halts CalTrans' Destructive Niles Canyon Road Widening Project. Read the press release, the injunction and the very entertaining transcript of the court hearing.

Read the City of Fremont's May 2011 letter to Governor Brown requesting he intervene to stop the project. Fremont has initiated a process to restrict large trucks over 5 tons from Niles Canyon. Read the City of Fremont's Initial Study on the truck restriction, which has very different safety data than CalTrans.

Caltrans has begun a damaging and unnecessary project to widen Highway 84 through Niles Canyon, under the guise of safety. This controversial project will actually make the canyon more dangerous for drivers and cyclists, waste $76 million in public funds, degrade important trout habitat in Alameda Creek and jeopardize a decade of restoration efforts, blight a designated scenic highway, and ruin the natural beauty of Niles Canyon.

Caltrans has already destroyed over 100 mature native trees and damaged trout habitat as part of phase one of this project. Caltrans refused to conduct a transparent and thorough environmental review and has not been forthcoming in disseminating information to the public about the project. Despite assurances there would be no more tree cutting until another public meeting is held, Caltrans continues to destroy trees alongside the creek. Caltrans plans further destruction this summer through filling portions of the creek channel and floodplain with concrete retaining walls and rip-rap boulders. Then, phase two in the middle of the canyon would take out nearly 500 more trees and damage more irreplaceable trout habitat by adding nearly two additional miles of retaining walls and armoring along the creek.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Stay tuned for future protests in Niles Canyon. See www.savenilescanyon.org

There have been regular protests and more than 370 local residents have attended hearings to oppose the project.

Despite severe inadequacies in the environmental review process and failure to adequately notify or inform the public of the project, Caltrans refuses to put the project on hold. There are major discrepancies between state safety data and Caltrans' rationale for the project. Questions remain about the purported safety benefits, severe environmental impacts, flagrant waste of $75.9 million in public funds, and potential economic and aesthetic impacts on the communities of Niles and Sunol. These issues were not evaluated in the environmental review.

The Alameda Creek Alliance, Save Niles Canyon, Save Our Sunol, Friends of Coyote Hills, Citizens Committee to Restore the Refuge, Southern Alameda County Sierra Club, East Bay Chapter of the California Native Plant Society, Tri-City Ecology Center, City of Fremont, and Local Ecology and Agriculture Fremont are all opposing the project.

Visit www.savenilescanyon.org for more photos and information

Read the recent news media articles on our efforts to stop the Niles Canyon project.

Read the SFPUC's June 9 letter explaining how San Francisco transferred land title and gave legal easements in Niles Canyon to Caltrans for construction of phase one, the areas where trees have been cut and further impacts to the creek are planned. The SFPUC has committed to requiring Caltrans to minimize and mitigate any and all potential environmental impacts to Alameda Creek before considering another real estate transaction for phase two.

The Unnecessary and Environmentally Damaging Niles Canyon Highway Widening Project

The current cutting of trees and damage to the creek is "phase one " of three phases of the project. It will cut more than 100 native trees and put more than 1,600 feet of retaining walls along the creek, some of them up to 30 feet high. In fall 2010 CalTrans released the draft Environmental Impact Report for phase two of the project, which would widen and add shoulders to Niles Canyon road from Palomares Road to Highway 680, construct nearly two more miles of cement retaining walls, and remove 439 native trees from the Alameda Creek riparian corridor.

The project is supposed to be for safety, but state safety statistics show that Niles Canyon does not have a relatively high accident rate and in fact is below the state average. The project may actually increase traffic fatalities by allowing cars to travel at higher speeds through the canyon. The City of Fremont has voted to pursue banning large trucks from Niles Canyon, since trucks cause a disproportionate number of traffic accidents (38%) in the canyon and most of the fatal accidents. CalTrans has not explored options like installing radar speed signs, median barriers, and rumble strips, focusing on localized problem areas, or trimming or removing selected trees.

The Alameda Creek Alliance is opposing the project as unnecessary and damaging to the scenic character of Niles Canyon and the creek corridor. We do support Caltrans removing the culvert from Stonybrook Creek and replacing it with a bridge to provide fish passage for steelhead trout, but this could be a stand-alone project. We do not support the highway widening project and are opposed to the tree cutting and other damage to the creek and trout habitat.

Phase Two Documents

Alameda Creek Alliance preliminary comments insisting the project be dropped; supplemental comments submitted August 3, 2011; CEMAR fisheries expert comments

State Water Resource Control Board comment letter noting that they will likely not issue a permit for the project

California Native Plant Society comments on the project

Citizen's Committee to Complete the Refuge initial comments and supplemental comments August 5, 2011

City of Fremont comments

Draft Environmental Impact Report and the supplemental notice from CalTrans for phase 2

Phase One Documents

Alameda Creek Alliance March 2011 letter to Caltrans Region 4 Director regarding the agency's failure to notify the ACA of the final project approval

CalTrans tree cutting plan for phase 1

Regional Water Board Water Quality Certification - June 2010

CalTrans response to RWQCB comments on Water Quality Certification - April 2010

Dept. of Fish and Game Streambed Alteration Agreement - March 2010

Final environmental review document and response to comments - June 2006 (The ACA was never sent a copy of this document or notified that the project was finalized)

Alameda Creek Alliance request for public hearing - July 2005 (CalTrans never responded)

Alameda Creek Alliance initial comments on Neg Dec - June 2005

CalTrans proposed Negative Declaration for phase 1 - May 2005