To: Board of Supervisors
From: Transportation, Water and Infrastructure Committee
Report Title: ACCEPT the Draft Richmond Parkway Transportation Plan.
☐Recommendation of the County Administrator ☒ Recommendation of Board Committee
RECOMMENDATIONS:
ACCEPT the Draft Richmond Parkway Transportation Plan.
FISCAL IMPACT:
None to the General Fund. 100% funded by a Caltrans transportation planning grant ($562,650).
BACKGROUND:
The Draft Richmond Parkway Transportation Plan (“Plan”) was referred to the County Transportation, Water and Infrastructure Committee (“TWIC”) on December 9, 2024. The TWIC recommended the Plan be forwarded to the Board of Supervisors on consent for acceptance. The WCCTC Board will consider adopting the Plan on January 24, 2025.
The West Contra Costa Transportation Commission (“WCCTC”) is the project lead, in partnership with the City of Richmond and Contra Costa County. The WCCTC Board received regular updates throughout the Plan development process. Additionally, Supervisor Gioia received a briefing on the Draft Plan in November 2024. Staff from various public agencies formed a Technical Advisory Committee to contribute to Plan development. There have also been two public outreach phases to gather public comment which included pop-up events, community meetings, online advertising in Spanish and English, e-newsletters, and web-based surveys.
The focus of the Plan is a set of targeted strategies for WCCTC and partner agencies to advance in the next 10 years. The strategies (summarized in Chapter 4) are projects, programs, and policies that collectively aim to address the following six goals of the Plan:
1. Improve safety for all users
2. Advance placemaking
3. Increase access to key destinations
4. Enhance travel time reliability and efficiency
5. Improve health
6. Support feasible strategies
STRATEGIES
A major outcome of this Plan is a recommended list of strategies that represent projects, policies, or programs related to transportation or transportation impacts along the Richmond Parkway corridor for WCCTC and project partners to advance. The Plan identifies 29 final strategies that address the Plan’s six goals, issues identified through existing conditions analysis (Chapter 2), and community engagement feedback (Chapter 3). The strategies are organized into six categories:
1. Public Health
2. Safety
3. Walking and Biking
4. Driving and Goods Movement
5. Maintenance
6. Transit
IMPLEMENTATION
Implementing these strategies will require coordination between WCCTC and partner agencies and organizations. The top 10 strategies are identified as “Priority Strategies” (Chapter 5) to be advanced first. Strategies were evaluated against the Plan’s goals to help determine priority. Equity was considered by more heavily weighting Plan goals with a disproportionate benefit to Equity Priority Communities along the corridor. Strategies were scored on a qualitative scale: meets “Some Goals, Many Goals, or Most Goals” (Chapter 4, Table 2). The top 10 Priority Strategies are shown in Chapter 5, Table 3.
For each priority strategy, lead agencies, coordinating agencies, cost estimates, and completion timeframes for delivering the strategy are listed. However, given the regional and economic importance of the Parkway, all strategies require a well-coordinated, multi-jurisdictional implementation and funding approach. County staff will work with WCCTC and necessary agencies as funding becomes available and update the TWIC prior to advancing implementation strategies.
CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
Contra Costa County, a partner agency in the development of the Richmond Parkway Transportation Plan, would not formally support the Richmond Parkway Transportation Plan which will bring substantial improvements to the Richmond Parkway corridor. Also, the County could be considered to have failed to demonstrate participating in good-faith, multi-jurisdictional, coordinated transportation planning as required by Measure J.