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San Joaquin County Community Environmental Setting,Impacts,and Mitigation Measures Development Department Transportation and Traffic Baseline Conditions The State CEQA Guidelines provide that,normally,the baseline consists of the existing environment at the time the NOP(Appendix A)is released for review. In this EK the selected baseline is projected traffic levels in 2007. This year was selected as the baseline year because it represents the time at which the project is expected to be completed(and begin producing traffic). In addition, SR 132/Bird Road interchange improvements are proposed for 2007 and other road system improvements that will be in place by 2007,as discussed below. The SR 132/Bird Road interchange is currently estimated to be under construction by the year 2007. The County has indicated that this interchange ` improvement will need to be in place before aggregate production in the Vernalis area can be expanded over current levels. Because aggregate production levels can not be increased without these improvements,the year 2007 traffic forecasts and resulting traffic operations presented in the"Existing and Forecasted Study Area Traffic Volumes and Resulting Traffic Operations"technical memorandum (prepared in support of the interchange project) is assumed to represent near-term future conditions(Omni-Means 2005). In order to isolate the project's traffic effects,the 2007 baseline assumes no development at the project site. Baseline Traffic Volumes Year 2007 baseline traffic forecasts for SR 132 were developed using a yearly growth rate(provided by Caltrans) of 3.34%per year(compound growth). Based on information provided by the aggregate producers, study area aggregate sites are estimated to produce up to 5,600,000 tons per year by or just after the year 2007. Based on 250 production days per year and 25 tons of material per truck, Table 3.L-5 shows this production would result in an average of 896 truck loads _ per day and 1,792 two-way truck trips per day(Omni-Means 2005). Table 3.L-5. Vernalis Area Aggregate Production Sites Year 2007 Baseline Average Daily Truck Trip Generation Average Yearly Average Yearly Average Daily Average Daily Truck Average Daily Two- Production(tons) Production Days Production(tons) Loads(25 tons/truck) Way Truck Trips 5,600,000 250 22,400 896 1,792 Source: Omni-Means 2005. On a yearly basis,there are generally one or more peak production months in which more aggregate is produced then would be the monthly average. As this could significantly increase the number of trucks,and as how this could be a �. condition that could last for a month or more, a peak adjustment factor was developed to reflect this condition. The review of this information resulted in an average peak daily production estimate that is approximately 40%higher than the im average daily production. To account for the estimated peak production, the average daily truck loads were adjusted up by a factor of 1.4(Omni-Means DeSilva Gates Quarry Project Draft Environmental Impact Report 31-7 JSS 05105.05 r