NEWS RELEASE

City of Chico
www.ci.chico.ca.us

January 15, 2019

CITY OF CHICO CAMP FIRE TRAFFIC IMPACTS

On November 8, 2018, the Town of Paradise and surrounding unincorporated areas of

Butte County experienced one of the most devastating natural disasters in our country’s history. Due to

the nature of the fire and level of devastation, residents continue to be displaced, dealing with the many

facets of their homes and livelihoods being gone. The City of Chico is the major adjoining community

to Paradise and has therefore continued to play a critical role in this incident, housing many of those

who have now been left without a home, as well as many of the support operations from State and

Federal agencies such as FEMA, CalOES, EPA, Red Cross and so on. As details and timeframes of the

incident have unfolded, the level of coordination and assistance on various aspects, such as schools,

shelters and operations have impacted Chico's traffic volumes due to this increase in population, as well

as general daily activity. The City of Chico deployed traffic counting devices in early December to

collect data on the magnitude of traffic related impacts.

Attached is a City of Chico staff Memorandum with the supporting data obtained,

quantifying the traffic related impacts on the City of Chico.

Any questions or concerns regarding this data may be directed to the City of Chico Director of

Public Works – Engineering, Brendan Ottoboni at 530-879-6901 or brendan.ottoboni@chicoca.gov.

###

Distribution:
All-Council, All-City (e-mail)
News Media (e-mail and fax)
BCAG
 CITY OF CHICO MEMORANDUM
TO: CM – MARK ORME DATE: January 11, 2019

FROM: DPW-ENG - OTTOBONI FILE:

SUBJECT: CAMP FIRE TRAFFIC IMPACTS

On November 8, 2018, the Town of Paradise and surrounding unincorporated areas of Butte County experienced
one of the most devastating natural disasters in our country’s history. Due to the nature of the fire and level of
devastation, residents continue to be displaced, dealing with the many facets of their homes and livelihoods being
gone. The City of Chico is the major adjoining community to Paradise and has therefore continued to play a
critical role in this incident, housing many of those who have now been left without a home, as well as many of
the support operations from State and Federal agencies such as FEMA, CalOES, EPA, Red Cross and so on. As
details and timeframes of the incident have unfolded, the level of coordination and assistance on various aspects,
such as schools, shelters and operations have impacted Chico's traffic volumes due to this increase in population,
as well as general daily activity.

Chico residents continue to feel the impacts in their daily trips to work, school, grocery stores, dining, etc. The
City of Chico Public Works - Engineering staff deployed traffic counters at 34 various locations throughout the
City, in order to quantify the Average Daily Traffic (ADT) volumes, which also assists in better understanding
where the new traffic patterns are moving. In 2017, Butte County Association of Governments (BCAG) had
traffic counts at the same locations as a requirement of our regional traffic demand modeling. City staff has now
received the count data from post Camp Fire volumes and tabulated this data, comparing it to the 2017 (pre-Camp
Fire) data obtained by BCAG. See attached Figure 1, showing the locations and graphical comparison of traffic
volumes. Figure 2, then provides the location specific data set.

The data set shows that all locations have seen increases in ADT, ranging from 4% to 77%. Part of the lower
ADT increases are simply due to the physical infrastructure constraints that limit volume and therefore, we see
higher volumes as 'spill-over' in adjacent paths. On average across-the-board, the roadway network in Chico had
an average ADT increase of 25%. Historic averages in the City of Chico were a 1-2% increase per year due to
population growth. The 25% increase literally represents a change in volumes of 15-20 years of population
growth, overnight. Prior to the Camp Fire, there were already segments of roadways that were inadequate to
handle the traffic volumes and the current impacts have now overwhelmed those locations.

In addition to the City of Chico data obtained, we have worked closely with the California Department of
Transportation (Caltrans) to obtain information relating to the traffic volume data on the State Highway Systems
through Chico. Figure 3 represents data obtained from Caltrans for State Route 99 through Chico. While there is
consistent increases in the hourly traffic volumes, the capacity of State Route 99 is over-saturated, resulting in
significant congestion. Therefore, the average speeds dropped nearly in half (from approximately 60 MPH to less
than 30 MPH) during the peak evening commute hour.

With the known volume increases, Public Works - Engineering staff then worked closely with the Chico Police
Department to look at the traffic collisions being reported in our community. In the industry of traffic safety,
there is typically a correlation between traffic volumes and the collisions, resulting from higher concentrations of
traffic. When looking to address the impacts of traffic safety, we typically refer to the "3-E's", which includes
Engineering, Education and Enforcement. Certain traffic safety issues can be mitigated through engineering
design to improve the circulation, build infrastructure to reduce collisions and provide a safer route of travel.
Education is good to remind travelers of the functions to safely maneuver in traffic. Enforcement assists in
ensuring that vehicles drive in a safe manner within the established laws relating to traffic. Figure 4 provides the
Memorandum
Page 2
traffic collision data table for the same timeframe between 2017 and 2018 on the total number of reported
collisions. Overall, since the Camp Fire incident, we have experienced a 49.8% increase in the number of
collisions. For comparison with the traffic volume data in the first week of December, where a 25% average
increase in ADT was seen, a correlating 38% increase in the number of collisions has been experienced. In
general, the severity of collisions have also increased, such as head-on and broadside collisions, causing for
concern of the traveling public. With an increase in the total number of collisions, this adds to the number of calls
for service that our Police and Fire Departments have to respond to.

The City of Chico continues to communicate these concerns to our State and Federal agency partners to look at
funding mechanisms that can pay for the needed infrastructure, as well as Police and Fire staffing as a direct result
of the Camp Fire incident.

A recent study identified the City of Chico as the 'hottest' housing market in the country, with an average of 37
days on the market for a home. Midland, Texas is second on that list at an average of 51 days on the market. It is
expected that there will continue to be a high demand for housing in Chico due to the proximity to Paradise, as
well as the fact that we continue to hear that an average of about 10% of the employees for Chico based
employers, lived in Paradise and the surrounding areas. With many unknowns as to the timing and duration of
cleanup and rebuild activities in Paradise, residents who work or have family in Chico, will look to the most
expeditious market for existing and new housing. Therefore, it is expected that traffic related problems will
continue, and even potentially increase in the spring of 2019 with California’s largest debris removal operation
beginning, as well as construction season for housing becoming such a high demand. Public Works - Engineering
staff intends on doing another round of traffic counts in the spring of 2019 at the same locations, to provide
further comparative analysis.
 City of
5 CHICO
PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT

CAMP FIRE

COHASSET RD
C
TRAFFIC IMPACT MAP

99
ÿ
|
HICKS LN

EATON RD

E
V
A
N
E
S
S
LA
E
ES

3
PL
A
NA

4
D

EAST AVE
E

7
F
8
BIDWELL PARK

E
AV
T
S
A
E
W
E
V
MA

A
T

32
1S

ÿ
NG

|
E
ES

RO
P

VE
LA

VE
NA

A
AV

H
8T
DE

G
NO
RD
AV

BRUCE RD
E

99
B
ÿ
| 2 D
FOREST AVE

0
¸ Miles
0.5 PA
RK
AV
E
6
A
E PARK AVE
City/County Boundary
Arterial Streets
Collector Streets E SKYWAY

School Related Sites Government Related Sites

1 Paradise Middle Charter School
2 Paradise High School Remote Learning
3 Achieve Charter School (K-8)
4 Achieve Charter Hig h School, Home Tech School
5 Paradise High School Interim Site (700)
6 Future PUSD Long Term School Facilities
7 Children's Community Charter School
8 Paradise Middle School
A Silver Dollar Fairgrounds Evacuation Shelter
B Paradise Town Hall
C Cal OES, FEMA, National Guard Base Camp
D Dis aster Relie f Center
E Paradise Unified School Distric t Admin is tratio n
F Red Cross
G Paradise Police Station Sources: Esri, HERE, Garmin, Intermap, increment P Corp., GEBCO, USGS,
FAO, NPS, NRCAN, GeoBase, IGN, Kadaster NL, Ordnance Survey, Esri
Japan, METI, Esri China (Hong Kong), swisstopo, © OpenStreetMap
contributors, and the GIS User Community
Spreadsheet to accompany Camp Fire Traffic Impact Map

Percent         
Pre Camp Fire     Post Camp Fire   
Increase of      
STREET NAME LOCATION 2017             Dec. 2018       
ADT Post        
Average ADT* Average ADT     
Camp Fire

E 20TH ST W of WHITMAN AVE 18,255 32,231 77%

EATON RD W of BURNAP AVE 5,681 9,264 63%
NOTRE DAME BLVD N of SKYWAY 14,040 21,735 55%
DAYTON RD S of ARCHER AVE 6,096 9,163 50%
FOREST AVE S of HUMBOLDT RD 14,543 21,062 45%
SKYWAY W of NOTRE DAME BLVD 31,404 43,621 39%
COHASSET RD N of EATON RD 10,222 13,980 37%
DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. PKWY N of 23RD ST 6,945 9,459 36%
BRUCE RD N of LAKEWEST DR 11,363 15,343 35%
LASSEN AVE W of BURNAP AVE 7,654 10,115 32%
MIDWAY RD S of E PARK AVE 16,862 22,139 31%
BRUCE RD S of HUMBOLDT RD 10,536 13,468 28%
PARK AVE N of E PARK AVE 12,136 15,294 26%
EAST AVE E of COHASSET RD 17,367 21,819 26%
EAST AVE E of SR 32 16,355 20,375 25%
EATON RD W of SILVERBELL RD 9,728 11,949 23%
E PARK AVE Btwn SR 99 & CARMICHAEL DR 24,550 30,138 23%
ESPLANADE RD S of W SACRAMENTO AVE 20,748 25,286 22%
EAST AVE E of ESPLANADE RD 24,468 29,799 22%
ESPLANADE RD S of EAST AVE 20,558 24,578 20%
BROADWAY S of 2ND ST 8,638 10,267 19%
MANGROVE AVE S of VALLOMBROSA AVE 18,703 22,004 18%
EATON RD E of ESPLANADE RD 16,834 19,754 17%
E 1ST AVE W of LONGFELLOW 15,546 18,201 17%
PARK AVE S of 16TH ST 17,988 20,658 15%
W 8TH AVE E of NORD AVE (SR 32) 6,952 7,955 14%
PARK AVE S of SR 32 18,405 20,934 14%
EAST AVE W of CUSSICK/HOLLY AVE 20,106 22,592 12%
ESPLANADE S of COHASSET RD 24,099 26,744 11%
E 20TH ST W of BRUCE RD 7,794 8,498 9%
MAIN ST S of 2ND ST 10,724 11,612 8%
E 20TH ST W of FOREST AVE 22,772 24,362 7%
MANZANITA AVE N of CHICO CANYON RD 11,807 12,500 6%
EAST AVE E of FLORAL AVE 18,036 18,840 4%
*ADT = Average Daily Traffic 517,915 645,739 25%
 Volumes and Speeds at Northbound SR 99/Skyway  
    

 
 
 

Volumes and Speeds at Southbound SR 99/Skyway  
    

   

 
 
 START OF FIRE
Traffic Collisions
2017 vs 2018
80
SCHOOL OUT/
70 HEAVY SMOKE

60

50

40

30

FIRE CONTAINMENT/
20 SMOKE RELIEF

10

0
Nov Wk1 Nov Wk2 Nov Wk3 Nov Wk4 Nov Wk5 Dec Wk1 Dec Wk2 Dec Wk3 Dec Wk4
2017 61 47 49 44 49 53 40 31 28
2018 48 37 52 70 57 73 74 64 29
% Change -21% -21% 6% 59% 16% 38% 85% 106% 4%

2017 2018 % Change

Source: Chico PD Dispatch/Records

Fig 4.