An adequate system of streets, roadside walkways, trails and pathways is essential for orderly growth within the Community Plan. This element defines the circulation concepts that provide for safe and convenient movement of people and goods throughout the Community.
An onsite network of public collector and local streets serves the Community Plan. This network of public collector and local streets ties into the regional roadway system and is designed to accommodate a variety of transportation modes, including vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians (refer to figure 3-1). The proposed circulation system for the Community Plan is illustrated in Figure 2-1and 3-1. Given the level of detail of this plan, road alignments shown should be considered diagrammatic and subject to some adjustments in location and alignment. The Community Plan will have two points of access to and from Lime Kiln Road. One will utilize the existing Mountain Springs Golf Course entry. The second Community access will be from the northeastern portion of the Community Plan and will tie into the existing road constructed to serve the adjacent parcel containing 13, three acre lots (refer to Figure 3-1).
The primary function of Mountain Springs’ standard minor collector streets is to move traffic into and from the higher uses contained within the Village Center component of the Community Plan as well as to facilitate travel to local roads through the Community Plan. The collector streets provide access to Lime Kiln Road, which forms a portion of the Community Plan’s eastern border. The distance from Lime Kiln Road to the connection with State Route 108, a major east-west arterial in Tuolumne County is approximately 2 miles. Lime Kiln also connects to Jacobs Road which connects to Old Wards Ferry Road that provides convenient access to nearby major commercial, medical and hospital facilities located in East Sonora. Mountain Springs is located closer to the services located in East Sonora than any of the other 17 existing communities in Tuolumne County. Lime Kiln Road also serves as the connection between the Community Plan and the City of Sonora (refer to Figure 1-1, Figure 1-2).
A loop road is created around the golf course to serve the balance of the Community Plan west of the Village Center. As the loop road passes the Village Center and the traffic needs are lessened the road section is reduced to a Local Road (Non-Hillside) Street Section and then is further reduced to a Hillside Local Road Street section near the western portion of the property. The reduction in road sizes reduces the width of the road and enables the road to better conform to the natural terrain and reduces the amount of grading required. The street sections will be designed and landscaped to reflect the character of the Community Plan.
