Project Overview
Kammerer Road within the City of Elk Grove and south Sacramento County currently exists only between Bruceville Road and State Route 99. The Kammerer Road Two-Lane Extension I-5 to Bruceville Road Project (“Project”) proposes to extend 2 lanes of Kammerer Road west of Bruceville Road to a connection with the I-5/Hood Franklin Interchange. The Project proposes to improve mobility, access, and connections between residential and nonresidential land use, which have been limited due to increasing congestion. The Project is intended to link employment centers and residential areas in the transportation corridor and contribute to the remedy for current and future deficiencies in transportation capacity and land use compatibility. The Project is also intended to improve regional traffic operations, reduce existing and projected congestion, and provide a vital component of the east-west gap closure.
Project Background
The Project is an interim phase of Segment A1 of the Capital SouthEast Connector project which will provide a new four lane 34-mile expressway link between Interstate 5 and Highway 50 through the southern area of Sacramento County into El Dorado County. The Connector Project is managed by the Capital SouthEast Connector Joint Powers Authority (Connector JPA) and includes representation from the cities of Elk Grove, Folsom and Rancho Cordova, and El Dorado and Sacramento Counties.
In February of 2017, City staff provided a presentation to City Council on Kammerer Road, offering potential phasing options, and options to accelerate the construction schedule. At that time, Council agreed to an alternate phasing plan to construct a new two-lane road extension from Bruceville Road to I-5 as the first phase (this Project). A future phase would widen these sections to four lanes (future project).
The first environmental clearance obtained for the Project was a California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration (State Clearinghouse #2018022061) as secured by the Connector JPA, who was the CEQA lead agency. The Initial Study resulted in approval of a Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND) and adoption of a Mitigation, Monitoring, and Reporting Program (MMRP) on December 14, 2018. While the Connector JPA acted as the CEQA lead agency, the City is acting as the CEQA Responsible Agency for all portions of the Kammerer Road Project.
As there are currently federal funds in the right-of-way and construction phase of the Project and as there will likely be a need for additional federal funds to support construction of the Project, it is also necessary to secure additional environmental clearance for the 4 lane project through the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is the NEPA Lead Agency and the City is the NEPA Responsible Agency. A Draft Environmental Assessment was circulated for public comment from 2/27/2023 to 3/30/2023. Comments from this circulation were addressed and incorporated into the Final Environmental Assessment and a Finding of No Significant Impact was signed by Caltrans on 10/23/2023. This completed the Environmental Phase of the project.
Current Phase
With the Environmental Phase completed in October 2023, the Project is advancing into the Final Design and Right of Way Acquisition phase and it is anticipated this phase will be 2-3 years in duration.
Schedule
The next phase after the above referenced Final Design and Right Of Way phase is Construction. Timing of construction is dependent on funding availability but would not occur prior to the conclusion of the Right Of Way and Final Design phases.