Environmental impact report on the Mid-Valley Parkway

Public Record, The, Sep 02, 1994

CATHEDRAL CITY -- The Draft Environmental impact report is out on the proposed 13-mile long Mid-Valley Parkway and already there is some opposition much of it from the Palm Springs Unified School District.

David MacEwan, director of facilities Planning and Development for the district, believes the section of the parkway near the new Cathedral City High School presents some serious threats to the safety of students and the District "cannot recommend approval of the proposed General Plan Amendment."

MacEwain, in a letter to Pat Russell, senior planner for the Development of Community Development for Cathedral City, states that he would rather see the alternative route along Gerald Ford used than the one along Dinah Shore Drive.

"A Gerald Ford alignment would move the proposed parkway closer to Highway 111, where the parkway would than be a clearer option for drivers considering an alternative to traveling along the heavily congested portions of Highway 111," he concludes.

One of the other problems where the Dinah Shore path of the parkway would go is found near the school, when any widening or encroachment on school property would not be welcome since it would infringe on the school's 50-foot buffer zone, endangering students walking to and from home and attending ball games in the nearby ball parks.

The favored path of the pathway, thus far, has been along Dinah Shore since, as the report states, the alternative route along Gerald Ford (farther south) would severely impact Cathedral Canyon Country Club.

Surprisingly, despite the existence of several sizeable housing projects such as the Mission Hills Country Club, Rio Del Sol Rancho Mirage Estates and others along Gerald Ford, the planners foresee no problem of squeezing in a 100 foot right-of-way (six lanes) for the parkway there.

But on Dinah Shore from Date Palm to DuVall Drive (along the southern boundary of the Cathedral City High School property) the right-of-way only 80-feet (five lanes). From DuVall to the terminus at Gerald Ford and Monterey Avenue the right-of-way would 100 feet wide.

A couple of alternatives are also being considered for the route of the Mid-Valley Parkway from Ramon Road to Mesquite Avenue in Palm Springs. One would be to follow the west bank of the Whitewater River to Mesquite Avenue another would be to follow Gene Autry Trail to Mesquite.

In any event a new 18-foot-high bridge would be built across the Whitewater Wash to move the traffic across the wash and to link-up with an extended Dinah Shore Drive.

The parkway north of Ramon Road would eventually be built to link up with Highway 111 north of Palm Springs or I-10.

Robert Mohler, a traffic engineer for the city of Palm Springs, is representing the city as the lead agency in the initial planning for the parkway.