Carbon Canyon Road Study Phase 2

At last Wednesday evening's City of Chino Hills Public Works Commission meeting, a detailed explanation and discussion for the second phase of a study on future improvements to Carbon Canyon Road was the bulk of the proceedings.

Initiated by the City with cooperation from the City of Brea and District 8 of CalTrans, the study examined current conditions and provides a diverse menu of options for making those enhancements to the state highway for safety and traffic flow improvements.

Nadeem Majaj, the City Engineer, began by providing an overview of the study, noting that there has been more accomplished in the last year-and-a-half in terms of analyzing and preparing for Highway 142's future than at any time in city history.  He added the complexity involved because the road goes through two counties, cities, and CalTrans districts, but that cooperation is better know than ever before.

A representative from the consulting firm that carried out the study reviewed traffic volumes (which are high with low "levels of service" at many intersections along the highway), areas where a range of safety enhancements can be added, and other issues, but paid particular attention to the question of large trucks, because the prevailing goal is to seek an unusual ban on those vehicles whose "kingpin to rear axle" length is over a desirable size.

A couple of years ago, CalTrans, after significant input from the City and community because of mounting concerns over the growing use of a road not built for larger vehicles, implemented a signage program that advised trucks over 50' in length to avoid the road from Valencia Avenue in Brea to Chino Hills Parkway.  Although only 1% of vehicles traversing the highway are large trucks, they can be very problematic during period of high volume posing dangers and risks because of frequent opposing lane crossing.

Being purely advisory, however, nothing could be done other than to have tickets issued for truck drivers who crossed over double yellow center lines, particularly at locations such as the S-curve at the summit of the highway in Chino Hills.

This, in fact, was among the most interesting of the study elements.   Video cameras were placed at two locations along the S-curves so that the navigation of large trucks through this area could be visually documented.  Two examples were particularly striking, as they show large semis going so far over the centerline that they nearly took up the entire opposing lane in doing so.  These were both during afternoon "rush hour," really "rush hours."

For many of us who travel SR 142 on a regular basis, this is something we've witnessed a number of times.  Just last Monday afternoon, I was heading westbound and a truck with a flatbed loaded with cars swung into my lane as it headed east, forcing me to almost stop and then move to the right to avoid being hit.

This is an original ink drawing transferred onto wood and shows Carbon Canyon Highway (State 142) looking west towards Brea from Sleepy Hollow and done by my very talented next-door neighbor, artist Lena Sekine (https://www.etsy.com/shop/lenasekine).

The City of Chino Hills, with agreement from the City of Brea, is aggressively advocating for CalTrans to prohibit all large truck traffic through Carbon Canyon on the state highway.  This is a rare occurrence, though it has happened.  So, once District 8 reviews the data and if it agrees that this should be pursued, it will make a recommendation to headquarters in Sacramento.  This could take a while, if that's the route (!) the department wants to take, so we'll see.

As for traffic flow, there is a preexisting study in the works for a traffic signal, which would be the first on the Chino Hills portion of the roadway, at Canyon Hills Road.  With the in-progress development of Stonecrest, the 76-unit housing project north of the state highway, and a proposed 107-unit Hidden Oaks to the south, this is the intersection that fits state standards for signalization.

Other intersections, such as at Rosemary Lane in Sleepy Hollow, Canon Lane at Mountain View Estates (and across from one entrance to Oak Tree Estates and Oak Tree Downs), and Azurite Drive at Summit Ranch do not have enough volume from those communities to warrant signals by those standards.  Signals cost about $300-350,000 each.

There are, though, other possibilities for managing traffic through the area, including refuge and acceleration lanes to enter the highway, such as exists now at Feldspar Drive out of Summit Ranch and at the Chino Hills State Park Discovery Center in Brea; lanes to make turns off the highway and onto side streets; channelizers, basically plastic barriers placed in the middle of roads to slow traffic down; and solar-powered speed "feedback" signs that post speed limits and the actual speed of vehicles (though these are recommended for rotation so that drivers don't become too acclimated and then ignore these signs).

Costs for these improvements range from $5-7,000 for channelizers, $7-10,000 for speed feedback signs, and $10-15,000 for refuge and acceleration lane additions.

A big concern for parents of school-age children is the fact that many drivers don't stop on both sides of the highway, as required by law, when buses stop to pick up students.  Improvements could include widening the area of these stops and having better signage.

Considered more long-term was a proposal to reopen the curve that was part of Carbon Canyon Road before Chino Hills Parkway existed going north at that intersection and using that as a "free right turn" lane to keep traffic moving more smoothly as drivers head onto the state highway portion of Chino Hills Parkway towards the highway's terminus at the 71 Freeway.

Another long-term possibility is widening the two-lane portion heading west from Chino Hills Parkway to allow for more vehicles to enter Carbon Canyon Road and not backup onto both directions of Chino Hills Parkway.  While this latter could run from $750,000 to $1 million, there was no estimate given for the "free right turn."

Discussion by commission members and public comment, of which there were several, interestingly seized on the "free right turn" concept, though it was listed as a long-term fix, but also advocated for the collector/refuge lanes, speed feedback signs, bus stop improvements.  Traffic signals were received with more mixed feelings, because, although there would be relief for those entering the highway from adjoining neighborhoods, the slowing down of the much larger volume on the roadway, which is only going to increase with rapid housing development to the east, was a concern.

One concern expressed by commissioner Bob Goodwin, who worked in trucking, is that measurements could vary depending on how the driver shifts the container or trailer being pulled, while a community member also noted the importance of weight.  Another point made by a resident who owns horse property is that there are several people like him in the canyon who have long trailers for transport of animals and this led to mention of passes or decals exempting them from any prohibition of longer vehicles, though he also wondered if shoulders on the S-curve could be widened to accommodate these vehicles.

A commission membe Ryan Kleczko, who was a county sheriff's deputy who worked in Chino Hills, talked about speeds in the canyon and this led to some discussion about perceptions of who drives faster where and when.  For example, he argued that people drove slower in Sleepy Hollow than elsewhere, which to an extent is true in absolute speed, but not necessarily for recommended speed and for conditions. 

Most accidents outside rush hours, in fact, tend to happen at curved portions as some drivers race for their adrenalin fix.  Sleepy Hollow has had many accidents in the very curvy area in its vicinity.  One commenter, in fact, is the property owner of 43 years at the S-curve where more accidents happen than virtually anywhere else in the canyon, who talked about the impacts on him and his property and called for a guardrail there.

The bottom line with dangerous driving is that, while improvements are welcome, there is no substitute for human patrols.  Acknowledging the higher costs of having deputies and CHP officers physically present, especially at late night/early morning hours, this is when most of the worst behaviors take place. 

Something has to be said also about parsing the difference between a reported accident and ones that aren't (something Goodwin rightly noted), but also between a reported accident that's a fender-bender and one that involves significant damage of vehicles and state and private property, much less injury or death.

In any case, the cities of Brea and Chino Hills will have to issue resolutions for changes, such as the proposed ban of large vehicles (though the question of resident horse-owners has to be considered), and then CalTrans will have to deliberate, as the managing entity for the state highway.  We'll see where this goes in upcoming months, but much credit goes to the City of Chino Hills for devoting the resources to this and to Brea and CalTrans District 8 for their cooperation.