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Vantage to Pomona Heights Chapter 4 230 kV Transmission Line Project FEIS Environmental Consequences PAGE 4-167 Low • No damage to state highways or county roads; and/or • Halt or impair normal use of state highways and county roads for only brief periods during Project construction. 4.7.3 Impacts Common to All Route Segments and Design Options Short-term construction impacts would include increased traffic levels on roadways used to transport equipment, materials and personnel to construction areas and potential damage to existing state, county and local roadways, traffic delays as a result of construction vehicles entering and exiting roads in the area, improvements to existing access roads, and construction of new temporary access roads. Construction equipment, materials, and personnel would be transported to the Project area using existing and new access roads and county, state, and private roads. Construction activity and movement of heavy equipment would be short-term. Equipment and materials delivery to worksites would generally occur during normal, daytime construction hours. The anticipated transmission line construction workforce and equipment are detailed in Section 2.2.3.14. Proposed Project construction activities may require road closures at I-82 or SR-243 during construction, such as at the I-82 or SR-243 route segment crossings. Other lane closures may also occur. Minor private and public roads, such as Sage Trail Road, Shotgun Road, Firing Center Road, Burbank Creek Road, and Huntzinger Road may potentially be closed for short periods of time during construction. A Traffic Management Plan would be developed which would include a detour plan if closures are necessary. Construction vehicles would temporarily increase traffic and could lead to short-term traffic delays on existing roads used to access the Project area. The primary transportation corridors in the Project area (I- 82, SR-24, and SR-243) would be used for the duration of the construction phase of the proposed Project (six to nine months). The interstate and state controlled access highways would be used to transport construction materials and workers into the Project area from labor and material source locations. The use of county roads for construction would be limited to only those roads that are necessary for access to the proposed Project right-of-way (ROW) corridor. Traffic delays are likely to occur intermittently in localized areas and only where necessary during construction. Traffic would be rerouted if possible to minimize traffic flow disruption. As detailed in Chapter 2 (Section 2.3.4), Required Design Features (RDFs) would be implemented to reduce impacts on transportation resources, including the development of a Traffic Management Plan which would be submitted to and approved by Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) and/or local agencies with jurisdiction. Therefore, construction related impacts to traffic would be moderate to low. The New Northern Route (NNR) Alternative, including the Manastash Ridge (MR) Subroute, and the Underground Design Option each would require the crossing of I-82 and SR-243 and all other Action Alternatives would require the crossing of SR-243; therefore, a Traffic Management Plan would be required by WSDOT. Depending on which Action Alternative is selected, SR-243 would be crossed in one of two potential locations. One potential crossing location is approximately 0.3 miles north of Wanapum Village with the other potential crossing located 3.3 miles west of the Vernita Bridge. A Traffic Management Plan would describe measures to minimize impacts on roads, traffic, and travelers that could result from construction activities including road crossings and the transportation of Project components and heavy equipment. A Traffic Management Plan would address each construction segment, locations of temporary work areas, access roads, and crossings and would describe how the minimization