"The state of California's proposal to build two massive water diversion tunnels beneath the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is a major undertaking by itself. But the current plans also call for rerouting and reconfiguring three state highways to handle a decade of heavy construction traffic.
Conceptual engineering documents obtained by The Bee illustrate detours on Highway 160 in Sacramento County around each of three huge water intakes proposed for the project, called the Bay Delta Conservation Plan.
Other documents discuss the need for new interchanges on highways 4 and 12 along the tunnel alignment. This might entail widening each highway to add a middle turn lane so heavy construction traffic could safely access work areas along the tunnel route.
According to preliminary estimates by the state Transportation Department, altering the highways would cost at least $265 million. Once the intakes are built, the Highway 160 detours would be relocated again, moved to the top of new larger levee segments.
The Bay Delta Conservation Plan is Gov. Jerry Brown's proposal to resolve decades of water conflict in California. The Delta is the hub of the state and federal water supply network in California, a diversion point for Sierra Nevada snowmelt that serves 25 million people and 3 million acres of farmland.
Heavy demand for that water has put numerous Delta fish species at risk of extinction, prompting a scramble for a solution that will both improve habitat and make the water supply more reliable in the event of a disaster such as a flood or earthquake.
The proposal involves building two giant tunnels, each 40 feet in diameter and 35 miles long, to divert a portion of the Sacramento River's flow to existing water supply canals that begin near Tracy.
The tunnels would draw from three intakes, each nearly a half-mile square, proposed along the river between Freeport and Courtland in Sacramento County.
The plumbing works alone are estimated to cost $14 billion. This would be funded by bonds issued by the California Department of Water Resources, the agency responsible for the project.
The bonds would be repaid over a period of decades via more expensive water rates paid by those who benefit from the project. This includes utilities that serve farmers in the San Joaquin Valley and urban residents in San Jose, Los Angeles and San Diego.
Public hearings on the project are planned for this fall, with a final decision around the end of the year. That decision will be made by the DWR director and will require approval from state and federal wildlife agencies.
The documents obtained by The Bee make clear that, as big as the tunnel project is, it is also far more than a water project. It will dramatically reshape the existing landscape of the Delta.
In addition to the intakes and tunnels, the project includes new water storage forebays near Courtland and Byron; new power lines and electrical substations; 15 vertical shafts, each protected by new levees, for the tunneling operation; hundreds of acres of muck storage areas to hold materials excavated from the tunnels; and more than 100,000 acres of habitat restoration.
The highway modifications would be among the first changes, and altering these critical routes raises big concerns among local residents.
All three state highways in the Delta are narrow, two-lane roads that are precarious and often crowded under present conditions. They bounce over shifting peat soil, meander along curving levees with steep drops, and squeeze across old drawbridges. Horrific accidents are common.
Most Delta residents are already firmly opposed to the tunnels. The revelation that the project may come with drastic highway modifications, and years of construction detours, just adds another strike. And though they sometimes complain about road conditions now, they don't welcome highway changes intended to serve a water diversion project.
Highway 160, a state-designated scenic highway, is crucial to agriculture in Sacramento County. Residents depend on the movement of farm products for their livelihood, and on a steady flow of tourists who come for the river views and farm stands along the highway.
Doug Hemly, the patriarch of a farming family that has grown pears and apples in the Courtland area since 1850, said periodic problems on the existing road system already cut into farm revenues. New detours and a decade of construction delays pose "real concerns," he said.
"The ripple effects on the economy could be catastrophic, because everything is so time sensitive in an agricultural economy," Hemly said."
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/04/07/5322193/state-water-tunnel-plans-call.html#storylink=cpy
www.restorethedelta.org
Conceptual engineering documents obtained by The Bee illustrate detours on Highway 160 in Sacramento County around each of three huge water intakes proposed for the project, called the Bay Delta Conservation Plan.
Other documents discuss the need for new interchanges on highways 4 and 12 along the tunnel alignment. This might entail widening each highway to add a middle turn lane so heavy construction traffic could safely access work areas along the tunnel route.
According to preliminary estimates by the state Transportation Department, altering the highways would cost at least $265 million. Once the intakes are built, the Highway 160 detours would be relocated again, moved to the top of new larger levee segments.
The Bay Delta Conservation Plan is Gov. Jerry Brown's proposal to resolve decades of water conflict in California. The Delta is the hub of the state and federal water supply network in California, a diversion point for Sierra Nevada snowmelt that serves 25 million people and 3 million acres of farmland.
Heavy demand for that water has put numerous Delta fish species at risk of extinction, prompting a scramble for a solution that will both improve habitat and make the water supply more reliable in the event of a disaster such as a flood or earthquake.
The proposal involves building two giant tunnels, each 40 feet in diameter and 35 miles long, to divert a portion of the Sacramento River's flow to existing water supply canals that begin near Tracy.
The tunnels would draw from three intakes, each nearly a half-mile square, proposed along the river between Freeport and Courtland in Sacramento County.
The plumbing works alone are estimated to cost $14 billion. This would be funded by bonds issued by the California Department of Water Resources, the agency responsible for the project.
The bonds would be repaid over a period of decades via more expensive water rates paid by those who benefit from the project. This includes utilities that serve farmers in the San Joaquin Valley and urban residents in San Jose, Los Angeles and San Diego.
Public hearings on the project are planned for this fall, with a final decision around the end of the year. That decision will be made by the DWR director and will require approval from state and federal wildlife agencies.
The documents obtained by The Bee make clear that, as big as the tunnel project is, it is also far more than a water project. It will dramatically reshape the existing landscape of the Delta.
In addition to the intakes and tunnels, the project includes new water storage forebays near Courtland and Byron; new power lines and electrical substations; 15 vertical shafts, each protected by new levees, for the tunneling operation; hundreds of acres of muck storage areas to hold materials excavated from the tunnels; and more than 100,000 acres of habitat restoration.
The highway modifications would be among the first changes, and altering these critical routes raises big concerns among local residents.
All three state highways in the Delta are narrow, two-lane roads that are precarious and often crowded under present conditions. They bounce over shifting peat soil, meander along curving levees with steep drops, and squeeze across old drawbridges. Horrific accidents are common.
Most Delta residents are already firmly opposed to the tunnels. The revelation that the project may come with drastic highway modifications, and years of construction detours, just adds another strike. And though they sometimes complain about road conditions now, they don't welcome highway changes intended to serve a water diversion project.
Highway 160, a state-designated scenic highway, is crucial to agriculture in Sacramento County. Residents depend on the movement of farm products for their livelihood, and on a steady flow of tourists who come for the river views and farm stands along the highway.
Doug Hemly, the patriarch of a farming family that has grown pears and apples in the Courtland area since 1850, said periodic problems on the existing road system already cut into farm revenues. New detours and a decade of construction delays pose "real concerns," he said.
"The ripple effects on the economy could be catastrophic, because everything is so time sensitive in an agricultural economy," Hemly said."
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/04/07/5322193/state-water-tunnel-plans-call.html#storylink=cpy
www.restorethedelta.org