Highway 12 economic study to be released Thursday in Rio Vista

Times-Herald staff report/timesheraldonline.com
Posted: 06/27/2012 01:01:16 AM PDT

A study that takes a look at Highway 12 improvements from an economic standpoint will be released 6 p.m. Thursday at a workshop in Rio Vista.
The Solano Economic Development Corporation and the Solano Transportation Authority conducted the study.

It is designed to evaluate the potential economic benefits and needs of the corridor from Lodi through Napa, and preliminary results were discussed at a breakfast meeting earlier this year.

The Rio Vista presentation will take place at the D.H. White Elementary School multipurpose room, 500 Elm Way.

Consultant Economist Robert Fountain of Benicia is expected to talk about the economic effects of widening Highway 12 to handle more cars and provide better efficiency.

The corridor in Solano County faces significant challenges, particularly in Rio Vista, where replacement of the Rio Vista Bridge has been identified as a big need.

The current study does not include Vallejo, though the city will see some impacts from Highway 12 improvements, planners have said.

Study shows better Highway 12 would boost economy

Trucks and other cars travel on Highway 12 outside of Fairfield . (Brad Zweerink/Daily Republic file)

By Barry Eberling
 

From page A3 | June 28, 2012 | Leave Comment

 

FAIRFIELD — Improving Highway 12 through Solano County and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta should boost regional business activity that already tops $6 billion annually, according to a new study.

How much ranges from 3 percent to 10 percent, depending on the amount of improvements. Widening Highway 12 to four lanes would generate more job and housing growth than a more modest approach of making only safety improvements to two-lane segments of the highway, the study found.

The Solano Economic Development Corp. prepared the draft Highway 12 Corridor Economic Analysis for the Solano Transportation Authority. Robert Fountain of Regional Economic Consulting did the analysis.
Fountain and the Solano EDC will conduct a workshop on the study at 6 p.m. Thursday at D.H. White Elementary School in Rio Vista.

Study findings are just one more factor for local, regional and state officials to consider when planning a future for Highway 12. Others include the cost of the improvements and environmental factors.

“We have a game plan for the Interstate 80 corridor,” Solano Transportation Authority Executive Director Daryl Halls said Wednesday. “Highway 12, we’re still having that conversation.”

The draft study begins by looking at existing economic conditions along 52 miles of Highway 12 from Highway 29 in Napa County to east of Interstate 5 near the Lodi airport. It measures economic activity generated by businesses, governments and households within ZIP codes along the highway and comes up with a gross regional product of $6.4 billion.

Manufacturing and food processing is the biggest economic sector. This includes everything from the Budweiser brewery in Fairfield to General Foods in Lodi to wineries to farms. Next comes government employment, which ranges from Travis Air Force Base to Solano County government to schools to the cities of Fairfield, Suisun City, Rio Vista, Isleton and Lodi.

The Highway 12 corridor as measured by the study is home to 161,707 people and 67,145 jobs.

One possibility for the future Highway 12 is to keep it two lanes in rural areas and make improvements only for safety, not capacity. This would add $183 million to the gross regional product, or a 2.9 percent increase, the study estimated. It would add 1,193 jobs and 965 households.

Another possibility is to improve traffic flow on Highway 12 by adding more passing lanes and improving key intersections. This approach adds $332 million in economic activity for a 5.2 percent boost. It adds 2,286 jobs and 1,849 households.

Finally, all of Highway 12 could be widened to four lanes from Suisun City east through the Delta to Interstate 5 near Lodi. This adds $623 million in economic activity for a 9.7 percent boost. It adds 7,609 jobs and 6,154 households, according to the draft study.

The economic study is to go to the Solano Transportation Authority Board of Directors on July 11.
Other, already completed Highway 12 studies look at possible, new Rio Vista Bridge alignments and traffic issues. Solano Transportation Authority Director of Planning Robert Macaulay said the studies are in “silos,” each focusing on their own particular subjects.

“Now we go all into the one big area where we don’t have the walls that divide these studies anymore,” Macaulay said.

That work of synthesizing the various studies will likely take place before the Solano Transportation Authority’s State Route 12 Steering Committee, which has Solano County representatives, and the State Route 12 Corridor Advisory Committee, which includes representatives from other counties as well.

Reach Barry Eberling at 427-6929 or beberling@dailyrepublic.net. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/beberlingdr.

Solano EDC mulls benefits of Highway 12

By Melissa Murphy/ MMurphy@TheReporter.comthereporter.com

Posted: 06/29/2012 01:07:39 AM PDT

The "lifeblood" that is Highway 12 is under much scrutiny as it is closely evaluated for the potential economic benefits to the region.

Running from Lodi through Solano County to Napa, the highway is a major "vein" of transportation. Major safety improvements have been made along the corridor and possible structural improvements are being studied.

The Solano Economic Development Corporation was hired by the Solano Transportation Authority to complete an economic analysis of the Highway 12 corridor before major studies are completed.

Consultant Robert Fountain with Regional Economics Consulting addressed an audience of about 30 people gathered Thursday night in Rio Vista for a community outreach workshop. The highway runs through the city.

He explained that an analysis like the one conducted by Solano EDC is almost never done.

"This is done in the right order, where the economics is first," he said.

He said the study has already been an eye opener, revealing just how much traffic is on the highway. He said some larger highways in the state see significantly less traffic than the two-lane road.

The study has also shown that, unfortunately, the highway isn't doing much for Rio Vista, as trucks hauling goods pass through the small city without stopping. Instead, the city's revenue is heavily determined by the natural gas industry.

Fountain also noted that the money isn't in agriculture but rather food processing.

"This study is informing you of the economic choices," said Sandy Person, president of Solano EDC. "We're here out of respect to Rio Vista. You've been active and vocal and we want your voices heard throughout this process. The project will be defined by community participation."

Consultants developed three scenarios for consideration:

* Minimum improvement: This scenario includes safety improvements with little capacity enhancement;

* Middle improvement: This scenario includes a slight change in the number of lanes in key traffic areas; and
* Maximum improvement: This scenario is a four-lane divided highway, two lanes on each side with a median and extensive improvements of intersections and access areas.

All scenarios would add to the gross regional product and add to revenues, however, the maximum-improvement scenario would add $622.9 million to the gross regional product and $1.1 billion to the region's revenues.

How the bridge over the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta on Highway 12 will improve with the rest of the roadway also is unknown at this point, according to the consultants.

The presentations during the workshop are available online at www.solanoedc.org.

Residents are also asked to answer a couple of questions: What are your top priorities for the development of the corridor and Rio Vista and, if the economy expands, what improvements/amenities/investments do you think Rio Vista and/or the state should consider first?

Follow Staff Writer
Melissa Murphy at Twitter.com/ReporterMMurphy.

Highway 12 Economic Study results to be released

The Comprehensive Highway 12 Economic Study results will be presented by consultant economist Dr. Fountain at a workshop sponsored by the Solano Economic Development Corporation. The results will provide an insight as to what could happen to the Hwy 12 corridor if it were widened to enable more efficient traffic capacity. The workshop will be held at 6:00 PM, on Thursday, June 28th at the D. H. White Elementary School multi-purpose room, 500 Elm Way, Rio Vista Ca 94571.

A copy of Dr. Robert Fountain's report can be found here.

Early childhood education focus of Solano forum

By Karen Nolan/ KNolan@TheReporter.com/Posted:   05/25/2012 01:03:43 AM PDT

An advocate for high-quality, early childhood education on Thursday urged the Solano business community to speak out against state cuts to programs that benefit the youngest Californians.

"Your voice is tremendously important. You know what this means for your future workforce," Catherine Atkin, president of Preschool California, told attendees of the Solano Economic Development Corp. breakfast meeting.

Research focusing on what it takes to succeed in high school, career and college has consistently found that being an engaged learner in third-grade "is critical for future success," said Atkin.

To reach that third-grade target, "kids need to be born healthy, thriving at age 3, successful in preschool and ready for kindergarten at 5," she said, adding that too many California children don't meet those milestones.

"As early as 9 months, low-income children are already lagging in language acquisition," Atkin said. "Low-income children have heard 30 million fewer words by age 3 -- that's less than half the number heard by higher income kids. By kindergarten, they are a year behind their peers."

Those shortcomings can be seen in later test scores, where California students rank near the bottom in math and language arts, she said.

Such deficits can be overcome, she assured, citing access to high-quality preschool and two-year, transitional kindergarten classes for young 5-year-olds as among the programs shown to be effective. Waiting until high school to intervene is too late.

"The best return on investment is in the first five years," said Atkin, putting it in business terms. "The later you invest, the less the return."

As state officials attempt to balance California's budget, a half-billion dollars worth of cuts have been proposed to child development programs, she said.

"We are only 3 percent of the budget, but we are 20 percent of the cuts," Atkin said. "We need the business community to raise their voice. ... We will reap what we sow in the early years."

Follow Staff Writer Karen Nolan at Twitter.com/VacaNolan.

EDC breakfast stresses early education to ensure career success

FAIRFIELD — Business and civic leaders took in the oft-used message, “it takes a village” to educate a child during Thursday’s annual economic development breakfast focusing on the early years of a child’s life.

While the Solano Economic Development Corporation breakfasts take place monthly, this is the third annual event that focused on the need to start a positive path toward education while the child is young. It was emphasized by various speakers that the path, which starts at birth, can be helped by not only parents and educators, but the business community as well.

The one-hour event, hosted by First 5 Solano, took place at the Hilton Garden Inn.

“The early years matter. . . . Everyone has to help,” said Christina Arrostuto, executive director of First 5 Solano.

While most speakers stressed the early years, Jay Speck, superintendent of the Solano County Office of Education, talked about the mental paradigm shift between what college meant to his generation and what it means today.

“The world has changed . . . . We’ve got to start thinking that college doesn’t have to mean a four-year degree,” he said, referencing the importance of technical and trade schools in that shift.

The keynote speaker, Catherine Atkin, executive director of Preschool California, emphasized the need to connect the dots between the early years and career readiness. The early years are getting our greatest asset ready, Atkin said.

“Where can you put a scarce dollar?” she said when talking about business investments. “Put it in the early years and you will reap the benefits.”

Dilenna Harris, a Vacaville city councilwoman and executive director of the Solano County Library Foundation, spoke about the library’s efforts to increase literacy levels through its Literacy in Education Access Resource Network programs and delivered negative statistics that the U.S., California and Solano County face today.

• One-third of the nation’s children start school unprepared to learn.
• More than 40,000 Solano County residents are considered low-literate adults.
• Solano County’s dropout rate is higher than the state’s at nearly 19 percent.

“Economic development requires an educated and literate workforce,” she said in her presentation.

The event also included the 2012 Family Friendly Business awards given to businesses that provide such things as lactation spaces for nursing mothers or family friendly activities and liberal time off for baby-bonding. This year’s winners are Ball Metal Beverage Corporation, Genentech, Jelly Belly, Kaiser Permanente, Meyer Corporation and State Farm Insurance.

Reach Susan Winlow at 427-6955 or swinlow@dailyrepublic.net. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/swinlowdr.

Ford: If Singapore can, we can

By Doug Ford/thereporter.com
Posted: 05/04/2012 01:06:09 AM PDT

Last week's Solano Economic Development Corp. breakfast provided excellent food for thought for Solano leaders. Sandy Person and her staff have been doing a truly great job. The program on "Industry Clusters as Assets" featured keynote speaker Dr. Robert Eyler, professor of economics at Sonoma State University. His talk complemented all the good work that has been done through the economic summits and the Solano Economic Index during the past few years.

 

Dr. Eyler described in general terms what we need to do, such as prepare a complete list of our assets and develop answers to the questions he raised: "What assets exist to support this industry and these companies? What assets are missing and need to be found to support this industry and these companies?"

 

The first step is an asset inventory. Solano is fortunate in having life sciences as its fastest-growing cluster. We have tremendous resources in the University of California campus in Davis -- the most life science-oriented campus in the UC system. One of the first things that Linda Katehi did after she became chancellor was to appoint a blue ribbon committee to review technology transfer and commercialization. An excellent presentation available on her website is "The Role of Universities in Innovation."

So our primary asset is the tremendous brainpower we have in the university. We need to become much better acquainted with all it has to offer.

At the center of our life sciences cluster, we have the Genentech plant in Vacaville -- the largest pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in the world and regularly rated as one of the best companies to work for in the United States.

At Solano Community College, we have the first program created to train workers for biotechnology manufacturing. In the Benicia, Fairfield-Suisun and Vallejo unified school districts, we have high school academies in biotechnology, in which students earn college credit while still in high school.

We have strong educational support for our life sciences cluster, but we have plenty of room to improve.

To complete the work that needs to be done in collecting information about our assets, organizing it to make it easily available to all who need it so we can develop improvement plans will require more staff than Solano EDC now has.

In previous columns, I have briefly described the phenomenal growth of the Singapore economy. It was made possible by the Singapore Economic Development Board, which does for Singapore what the Solano EDC was created to do for Solano County.

Singapore's "life sciences cluster is a growth industry that will be developed as one of the key pillars of Singapore's manufacturing sector," according to BioSpace.com. "In 1999, the life sciences sector grew by 60 percent in output to reach $6.3 billion with value added jumping 75 percent to $5.2 billion."

Singapore, a nation one-quarter the size of Solano County and with enormous handicaps, focused on creating a life science cluster after we have. Now they are a prime competitor. We need to get busy!

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The author is retired from the U.S. Air Force, lives in Dixon and serves on the Solano County Board of Education.