Hwy. 149 Expansion: Do We Really Need an L.A. Freeway Near a Cow Pasture?

The Highway 149 expansion project epitomizes an exhausting and unhealthy lifestyle of urban sprawl, traffic jams, and air pollution. It is expected to start in 2006, even though it never analyzed the obvious growth inducing impacts from such massive infrastructure and failed to create a major mitigation requirement: a Habitat and Conservation Plan (HCP). The HCP is not even started let alone in draft form as it was required to be by May of 2004.

The project as planned will turn a 4.6 mile highway between highway/freeway 70 and highway/freeway 99 into a four-lane freeway with two clover-leaf intersections. All this is occurring in the middle of grazing land that is mostly zoned Unclassified or Grazing and Open Land in the County’s old General Plan. Oroville, the county seat and nearby city is four miles south of the highway. Current operating capacity is Level of Service “C” (average like a report card). The main traffic pattern on Hwy 149 is from Oroville to Chico and vise versa (DEIR/S May 2002). The environmental review document projects that the service level will drop from level C to level E by 2020. We wonder what will happen if gas prices keep climbing – maybe better planning for alternatives?

Many alternatives obviously exist to handle the majority of this internally generated traffic covering the complete 20 mile stretch between Oroville and Chico. Below are some ideas for the expansion corridor that we have presented to all the jurisdictional agencies over the last four years, yet they are dismissed as quaint when the $133.1 million boondoggle with four lanes and two cloverleaf interchanges is crowding the discussion.

  • Signalize both intersections at a cost of approximately $250,000 each or use a fly over ramp.
  • Diminish traffic speed from Oroville to 55.
  • Lengthen turn lanes on Highways 99 and 70.
  • Advocate for more funding for more CHP personnel in the area.
  • Prioritize Butte County Transit by increasing buses during peak commute hours.

BEC encourages the public to become involved with the Butte County Association of Governments, the entity that makes most major transportation decisions for all of us. They meet the last Thursday of every month. You can contact BCAG at 879-2468 or visit their web site.