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Grand Avenue Widening Project Environmental Impact Report Section 1.0 SECTION 1.0 PROJECT DESCRIPTION AND PROJECT OBJECTIVES 1.1 PROPOSED PROJECT 1.1.1 OVERVIEW The City of Santa Ana is proposing to widen the segment of Grand Avenue between Seventeenth Street on the north and First Street on the south, to the General Plan Circulation Element designation of Major Arterial. As defined in the Circulation Element, a Major Arterial includes six through travel lanes and enhanced features at intersections, including dedicated right and left turn lanes, to maintain the operating capacity of the road. The City of Santa Ana is the lead agency under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for this E1R for the Grand Avenue widening project. The City is also the lead agency for the proposed Grand Avenue widening project. The City may need an encroachment permit from Caltrans for construction and traffic control measures on Grand Avenue within Caltrans right-of-way for Interstate 5 (I-5) at its interchange with Grand Avenue. The location of the project segment of Grand Avenue is shown in Figure 1-1. The City of Santa Ana developed two build alternatives for the project segment of Grand Avenue. Alternatives 1 and 2, which assume cross sections of 100 and 120 feet on the project segment of Grand Avenue, respectively, are shown in Figures 1-2 and 1-3. Typical cross sections on Grand Avenue under these alternatives are also shown in Figures 1-2 and 1-3. In addition, the City has identified a no build or No Project Alternative. Alternatives 1 and 2 and the No Project Alternative are evaluated in this Focused Environmental Impact Report (EIR). These alternatives are described in the following sections. Since the release of the Notice of Preparation, the centerlines for both Alternatives 1 and 2 have been shifted to reduce the extent of takes on the east side of Grand Avenue. In addition, a westbound right turn only lane from southbound Grand Avenue to westbound First Street; a right turn pocket from westbound First Street to northbound Grand Avenue; and a right turn pocket from westbound Seventeenth Street to northbound Grand Avenue have been added to both Alternatives 1 and 2. Also, Alternative 1 no longer includes a bicycle lane. Alternative 2 includes an on -street bicycle trail which is five feet wide in each travel direction. 1.1.2 DESCRIPTION OF BUILD ALTERNATIVE 1 Alternative 1 assumes the project segment of Grand Avenue would be widened from the existing four lanes in a cross section that varies from approximately 80 to 110 feet wide, to six lanes in a 100 foot wide cross section, with a landscaped median. The addition of the landscaped, center median would remove the opportunity for some left turns across this segment of Grand Avenue. No existing driveway access would be removed. Under this Alternative, the widening, including the acquisition of right-of-way, would occur intermittently on both the east and west sides of Grand Avenue. Alternative 1 is anticipated to result in the acquisition of a total of 479,239 square feet of right-of- way, in a total of 20 partial takes and 45 full takes of existing parcels along the project segment of Grand Avenue. The existing edge of right-of-way for Grand Avenue, and the proposed edge of right-of-way under Alternative 1, are shown on Figure 1-2. Table 3-1, provided later in this F.•IPROJ-ENVIGrand eirWew Text- GrandlSection 1.0-new.doc Page 1-1