Caltrans releases environmental documents for Highway 58 truck climbing lane project

Projects from Caltrans can seem to move forward about as fast as a long line of fully-loaded big rigs heading east on Highway 58 from Bakersfield toward Tehachapi.

But patience may win the day — the agency has reported that long-awaited environmental documents are ready for public review. And a virtual public meeting has been set for 5 p.m. on Tuesday, April 11, to allow people to learn more about the project.

In the language of CEQA — the California Environmental Quality Act — the main document, with 115 pages, is an Initial Study with Proposed Mitigated Negative Declaration/Environmental Assessment.

What that means, in a nutshell, is that after a review period — and comments from the public and reviewing agencies — the agency may approve the environmental review, do additional studies or abandon the project.

Environmental impacts are identified in the assessment, along with mitigations the agency believes will address the impacts.

THE PROJECT

Caltrans proposes to construct a 12-foot-wide truck climbing lane along the eastbound side of Highway 58 from mileposts 76.3 to 79.8, west of Tehachapi. The project would also remove the at-grade intersection at Bena Road and State Route 58 and construct an eastbound acceleration lane at the at-grade intersection of Bealville Road and Highway 58.

Additional improvements would include widening inside and outside shoulders to the standard 10-foot width, installing rumble strips, upgrading guardrail and signage, replacing lighting at the intersection of

Bealville Road and Highway 58 and enhancing culverts to promote use by wildlife. The total length of the project is 3.5 miles.

Tehachapi City Council member Phil Smith is among proponents of the project.

Smith has served on the Tehachapi City Council continuously since 1986 and as a representative to the Kern Council of Governments since 1995. Kern COG is the agency responsible for regional transportation planning.

The council member has advocated for truck climbing lanes to alleviate problems on the eastbound side of Highway 58 coming up the hill from Bakersfield for years. He reported at a recent meeting of the council that funding for the project hasn’t yet been secured, noting the stiff competition for transportation dollars.

But the project is of regional importance, and he’s hopeful that it will move forward.

ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT

Environmental documents typically begin with alternatives, and the truck climbing lane environmental assessment provides two — essentially, build the truck climbing lanes or don’t.

“Under the No-Build Alternative, traffic congestion will worsen based on the forecasted increase in truck and vehicle traffic volumes by design year 2047,” the document states.

The assessment reports on the potential impacts of the project. No impacts were considered significant, but three were determined to be less than significant with mitigation incorporated — specifically impacts to some riparian habitat, wetlands and wildlife. All other assessments concluded no impact or less than significant impact.

Issues related to riparian impacts would be addressed in various ways, including the purchase of in-lieu credits or mitigation bank credits from an approved mitigation bank. Essentially, this means that if an impact cannot be addressed adequately in the area of the project, the state will compensate by helping pay for preservation or restoration elsewhere with the intent that there will be no net loss to the environment.

The project would be monitored and have procedures in place to follow in the event significant fossil or archaeological resources are found during construction. Plans would also be in place to avoid disturbing oak trees and woodland habitat with onsite planting and restoration.

Other measures would be employed to avoid disrupting threatened and endangered plant and animal species. Construction would generally take place during daytime hours to avoid disruption of wildlife movement during the night and to mitigate impacts to wildlife connectivity and a wildlife underpass structure and directional fencing will be constructed within the Keene Pavement Project limits.

The Keene Pavement Project’s environmental documents were approved last year, and the project is currently in the design phase, a Caltrans spokesperson said earlier this year. That project will remove four curves, replace disintegrating pavement and make other improvements on a 10- to 12-mile stretch of Highway 58 just west of Tehachapi. Construction on that project is expected to begin in fiscal year 2024-25.

THE PROBLEM

According to Caltrans, the District 9 Traffic Safety Office conducted a Traffic Index Calculation analysis in May 2022 to forecast the increase in traffic within the project area. The analysis used Caltrans 2020 census data from the vehicle count station at post mile 90.72. The analysis assumed a 3.17 percent annual growth rate in Annual Average Daily Traffic. Annual Average Daily Traffic is the total volume of vehicle traffic on a highway for a year divided by 365 days.

Census data indicates that the eastbound Annual Average Daily Traffic makes up 57.1 percent of the total Annual Average Daily Traffic. The data also indicates that truck volumes are 34.74 percent of total traffic volume. The analysis forecasts that the eastbound truck traffic on Highway 58 will increase by 43 percent from 1,757,208 trucks per year in 2020 to 4,081,344 in design year 2047, 20 years following completion of the proposed project. Total eastbound vehicle traffic on Highway 58 will increase from 5,058,170 vehicles per year in 2020 to 11,748,255 in design year 2047.

Additional growth in truck traffic volume is anticipated as major distribution centers continue to be built in the San Joaquin Valley.

Currently, there are more than 184 distribution and logistics centers (with an estimated combined facility size of over 52 million square feet) in the South San Joaquin Valley that rely on Highway 58 to provide truck access to the eastern states. The Tejon Ranch Commerce Center, south of the junction of Interstate 5 and State Route 99, uses Wheeler Ridge Road to Highway 223 to State Route 58 (at the base of the proposed truck climbing lane)

to ship east or to access Southern California when Interstate 5 is closed due to inclement weather.