II.  ASSESSMENT OF NEEDS

 

 

A.  EXISTING CONDITIONS

 

A1. Roadways

Humboldt County’s surface highway system consists of 378 miles of state highways, including U.S. Highway 101, and approximately 1,400 miles of local city streets and county roads. These roadways provide inter-regional and intra-regional opportunities for the movement of people and goods on California’s north coast and is depicted in Figure II-1.  

 

Route Segment Data

Table II-1  provides a description of segment data for each state route in Humboldt County.  The table includes route number, area type, number of travel lanes (facility type), general terrain characteristics, and general grade. The information on road segment data was compiled from the Caltrans 1997 Route Segment Report, the 2002 California State Highway Log for District 1, Caltrans’ 2001 traffic volume data on California State Highways, information from the 00-02 Humboldt County RTP, and the 1997 Highway Capacity Manual.

 

The terrain and grade characteristics are vital to capacity and volume analysis.  State route segments were classified based on the prevailing terrain and grade characteristics as shown in Table II-2.  2003 Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT) was estimated using the 2001 traffic peak hour volumes from the California State Highway Log for District 1 and increased by 1.5% per year.  The resultant segment AADT are displayed in Table II-1 and Figure II-2.   2003 Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT) was estimated using the 2001 traffic volumes from the California State Highway Log for District 1 and increased by 1.5% per year.  The resultant segment AADT are displayed in Table II-1 and Figure II-2.[ss1] 

 

Roadway Segment Capacity Analysis

 

Roadway segment capacity analysis was conducted for all state highways in Humboldt County.  In traffic engineering methodology, roadway operations are described in terms of level of service that range from level of service A (light traffic, minimal delay) to level of service F (heavy traffic and high levels of delay).  Typically, level of service D is used as the design standard in urban areas and level of service C is used as the design standard in rural areas.  A more detailed description of level of service thresholds is provided in Table II-3. 

 

Table II-4 shows estimated levels of service for various types of roadway configurations that exist in Humboldt County or may be built in the future.   This table was based on information contained in the Highway Capacity Manual  (Highway Capacity Manual, Special Report 209,

 

 

 

Table II-1.  Route Segment Data
Roadway	Between	Area Type	# of Lanes	Terrain	Grade	2001               AADT	2003                  AADT	2003 LOS
SR 36	Jct US 101 and Rohnerville Rd	Rural	2C	Rolling	Flat	2,950	3,000	B
	Rohnerville Rd and Carlotta East	Rural	2C	Rolling	Flat	3,500	3,600	C
	Carlotta East and Grizzly State Park	Rural	2C	Rolling	Moderate	2,100	2,200	B
	Grizzley State Park and Alderpoint Rd	Rural	2C	Mountainous	Moderate	1,250	1,300	A
	Alderpoint Rd and Trinity County Line	Rural	2C	Mountainous	Moderate	700	700	A
SR 96	Jct SR 299 and Hoopa South Limits	Rural	2C	Mountainous	Moderate	3,700	3,800	C
	Hoopa South Limits and Jct SR 169 West	Rural	2C	Mountainous	Rolling	3,400	3,500	C
	Jct SR 169 West and Siskiyou County Line	Rural	2C	Mountainous	Moderate	900	1,000	A