Approval process: Deception
Why did it appear that ACTC's Freeway Soundwall Policy was being applied to the Highway 24 soundwall
approval process? Here is the evidence.
Note: The Rockridge News is published by the Rockridge Community Planning Council (RCPC), which is a
member of the Fourth Bore Coalition. All back issues of The Rockridge News referenced below have been
removed from the RCPC website, Rockridge.org. Previously, this site had provided the complete issues
containing the cited articles.
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November 8, 2010: Public meeting at Kaiser Elementary School, Oakland re the Caldecott Settlement
Agreement projects, including soundwall studies. Present was Vivek Bhat of ACTC, who explained
the ACTC soundwall approval policy. Also present was Iris Starr, AICP, City of Oakland Public
Works Agency, Division Manager of Infrastructure Plans and Programming.
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March 17, 2011: E-mail from me to Iris Starr, "Back in November, I requested some information
from you but I did not receive it. My request was for the details on the petition process for
the approval of sound walls. I would appreciate it if you could send it or a link to it. Thanks!"
March 17, 2011: E-mail from Iris Starr to me, "I apologize. It took me some time to get the
information, and then I forgot to send it to you. Here it is, attached". Attached was the ACTC
Freeway Soundwall Policy.
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May 7, 2011 Rockridge News,
page 5, "Caldecott Settlement Project List Posted: Soundwall Studies,
Intersections, Bicycle Facilities, More, Proposed for Funding":
"An agreement with the Alameda County Transportation Commission and Caltrans must be signed
with the city regarding funding and the list of projects."
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July 2, 2011 Rockridge News, page 11,
"Freeway Sound: Pervasive, Possibly Harmful if Unmanaged":
Following a list of environmental laws regulating sound levels:
"These regulatory acts began to inform traffic-noise regulations adopted by the Federal Highway
Administration (FWHA), and now must generally be considered by agencies eligible for federal
transportation funding, such as the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and the
Alameda County Transportation Commission (ACTC)."
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May 5, 2012 Rockridge News, page 13,
"On the Nature and Likelihood of Soundwalls Coming to Rockridge":
"Building Soundwalls or Not
The Alameda Counry Congestion Management Agencey (ACCMA*) Freeway Soundwall Policy,adopted in
2002 and later revised, defined a review and ranking system for retrofit soundwall projects.
The policy defines four criteria for determining if a soundwall is warranted:
…
The screening process starts with a request for a soundwall. The jurisdiction, in this case
the city of Oakland, agrees to sponsor the request and take responsibility for coordinating
public input. As one element of the city's agreement with Caltrans, an initial screening or
pre-NBSSR study, was conducted by Caltrans' consultant…The pre-NBSSR study identifies four
areas along SR 24 that meet the criteria of the ACCMA soundwall policy and are considered
cost-effective. The study, accepted by the ACCMA, is available at http://tinurl.com/6oejbee
…
A petition favoring construction of a soundwall must be signed by a property owner from 100
percent of the households with a property line immediately facing the proposed soundwall and
75 percent of the households …If the required quota of petition signatures aren't submitted,
the city can appeal to the ACTC, if it feels that public support is nonetheless strong.
* The ACCMA has since been replaced by the Alameda County Transportation Commission (ACTC).
Same job, different name."
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June 2, 2012 Rockridge News, page 11,
"Caldecott Tunnel Settlement Projects Begin to Move Into Construction":
"Projects 7 and 8 are Highway 24 soundwall studies. The city has hired consultant Victoria
Eisen of Eisen | Letunic, who managed the public process to develop the ranked list, to
coordinate an informational public meeting at which the soundwall study process prescribed
by ACTC will be presented…"
Note: www.Rockridge.org contains a
compilation
of its articles favoring the approval of soundwalls. In that compilation, the web version of the
June, 2012 article was edited to remove the reference to ACTC.
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