Diamond Bar Opposes SR-60 Truck Route Plan

The Diamond Bar City Council voiced formal opposition Tuesday night to a regional transportation plan that would place a new east-west truck route north of the 60 freeway.

Public Works Director David Liu said during a study session that a long-term transportation plan has again looked at the 60 freeway corridor as a potential location for a new east-west truck route, which the city has similarly opposed in the past.

A preliminary 2012 report, developed by the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) and CalTrans, eyes the existing San Jose Creek flood control channel as a site for the new truck lanes.

The San Jose Creek runs north of the 60 freeway from the 710 at the eastern end to the 57/60 interchange in Diamond Bar, where Liu said the truck lanes would have to cross over part of Diamond Bar near Sunset Crossing Road to reconnect with the 60.

Browse a map of the portion of the route that would impact Diamond Bar.

City Manager Jim DeStefano said the pending plan differs from years past in that it focuses more specifically on the San Jose Creek as one solution to a regional transportation issue.

"This (proposal) has clear twist because it is definitely focused on San Jose Creek," DeStefano said, "and it has a different twist because of the mandate to meet federal air quality attainment standards."

The San Jose Creek plan currently includes zero-emission trucks or electric trucks as a way to meet these standards set by SB 375 to ensure the project would qualify for state or federal funds, Liu said.

Councilwoman Carol Herrera, who serves on the SCAG transportation committee, said that these requirements could possibly hinder the proposals impact on regional traffic and that most businesses do not have the type of low-emission trucks that would be permitted on the proposed route.

"While they might spend billions (on the truck route), very few will qualify to use it, and so we'll still have so many trucks on the 60 freeway," Herrera said.

While the proposal is a long-range plan and Liu projected the cost of the project as prohibitive — at around $600 billion — City Manager Jim DeStefano said the 2012 plan is moving quickly and Diamond Bar will likely need to take the lead in organizing opposition to the proposed route.

"Diamond Bar will do the heavy lifting if it continues to have strong reservations," DeStefano said.

DeStefano said cities like Walnut and unincorporated areas like Rowland Heights and Hacienda Heights will have an interest in opposing the measure as well, but the City of Industry, which borders much of the proposed route, has been supportive of the proposal, providing funding for consultants on the project, Liu said.

Liu said the proposal looks at other options along other freeways and along the Union Pacific rail line that travels through the same corridor, but SCAG's report said that acquiring the right-of-way for the San Jose Creek would be most feasible because it is one continuous right-of-way that widens and narrows between 70 and 100 feet along that east-west corridor.

Liu also said he was dissatisfied with the amount of engineering, traffic, and environmental surveys and statistics that were provided to justify the report's selection of the San Jose Creek as a top choice for a new east-west truck route.

According to plans crafted by a City of Industry consultant that Liu presented Tuesday, one proposal includes a double-decker route that would allow for one-way traffic on each level of the highway.

Herrera said that details of how the route would be constructed are still far from being determined, but the outline of the route north of the 60 does indicate new merging lanes near the Sunset Crossing and Diamond Bar Boulevard that provide the proposed truck lanes access to the 57 and 60 freeways.