Caltrans will sit down with both of the valley’s advisory councils on September 9th to talk about Highway 12. Questions are due in advance by August 26th.
The Springs and North Sonoma Valley Municipal Advisory Councils will hold a joint meeting with Caltrans on Wednesday, September 9th, at 6:30pm, at the East Sonoma County Service Center, 19080 Lomita Avenue, Sonoma. The subject is Highway 12 through Kenwood, Glen Ellen, the Springs and the rest of the valley.
The county’s notice says Caltrans will discuss current and planned safety improvements, including bicycle and pedestrian safety, crossings, accessibility, traffic speeds, roadway maintenance, and next steps. That is a wide brief. It is also the first time in memory that the state agency which owns the road has come to the valley’s own councils to take questions on it.
The useful part is the deadline. The county asks for questions and concerns in advance, by Wednesday, August 26th, at 5pm, to [email protected]. A question submitted by then goes into the agenda; a question raised from the floor on the night does not get the same preparation. If you have a crossing, a speed, a shoulder or a stretch of pavement in mind, this is the ten days to write it down.
Those who cannot attend in person can join by Zoom webinar: meeting link, meeting ID 881 3081 0234, passcode 212511.
Highway 12 is the valley’s spine and its most argued-over piece of infrastructure: the only through road, a state highway running as a village main street, with crossings that residents have questioned for years. This paper reported last month on the crosswalks at Kenwood Plaza Park, which are a county matter rather than a Caltrans one — but the habits of crossing, speed and visibility that make them dangerous are the same ones on the highway a block away. The meeting is on the Social Calendar; the Wag will report what Caltrans says.
Source: the county’s public meeting notice, received August 16th.