Sutter Creek – The Amador County Transportation Commission announced an October schedule to start its 2010 Regional Transportation Plan Update. 4 public meetings, starting October 20th in Plymouth, will take public input for the update. ACTC Executive Director Charles Field told a Sutter Creek traffic ad hoc committee last week that the commission’s Computer Mapping Exercise tool, the CMX, may not be the solution for Sutter Hill. He said no Martell businesses pay CMX fees, because Amador County Supervisors did not require participation. Field said ACTC’s Regional Transportation Plan needs to be updated and is being updated. Foothill Conservancy’s Tom Infusino said ACTC had a great idea with the CMX, if it was approved “up front.” But the Martell developments do not participate. Field said the ACTC board of directors was worried about the CMX, that, “if we get this wrong, we’ll have the worst rural county in the state.” Councilman Pat Crosby, an ACTC board member, said “we are all trying to do the same thing, and that is to take care of traffic in this area.” He asked about putting Allen Ranch Road into the CMX matrix, because it “is the only road that decreases traffic in this area.” Field said Allen Ranch Road is not currently part of the CMX and he was “not sure it ever will be.” He said they could add more work, money and partners, but he wants to “finish swallowing the bite that we’ve taken,” then they can do Airport Road and Allen Ranch Road. He said “let’s finish the essential Martell area first.” Field said the next step of CMX is to lower its scope and “support alternate routes” to ease traffic and “avoid 7-lane intersections.” The Regional Transportation Plan update includes public meetings October 20th in Plymouth, October 22nd in Jackson, October 27th in Pine Grove, and October 28th in Ione. ACTC planner Neil Peacock invited said it will plan for the “region’s future transportation needs.” He said the Regional Traffic Plan will “forecast future traffic demands based on anticipated growth throughout the region, in order to plan infrastructure needed to avoid congestion.” He said it is “ACTC's primary responsibility to implement and regularly update the RTP in order to plan, prioritize, and fund transportation improvements of regional significance.” ACTC staff plan to have a group of “citizens and stakeholders” recommend “policies and priorities.” Story by Jim Reece This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it