19E - SANTA ANA GRADE SEPARATION PROJECT

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Santa Ana Blvd. Grade Separation 13I0-4 Standard Best Management Practices. Applicable Best Management Practices shall be implemented. These include but are not limited to: • Water pollution and erosion control plans shall be developed and implemented in accordance with Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB) requirements. • Equipment storage, fueling, and staging areas shall be located at sites with minimal risks of direct drainage into surface waters. Project related spills of hazardous materials shall be reported to appropriate entities, including but not limited to the City and /or RWQCB, and shall be cleaned up immediately and contaminated soils removed to approved disposal areas. • Exotic species removed during construction will be properly handled to prevent sprouting or regrowth. • Trucks with loads carrying vegetation will be covered, and vegetation materials removed from the site will be disposed of in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. • Construction equipment will be cleaned of mud or other debris that may contain invasive plants and /or seeds and inspected to reduce the potential of spreading noxious weeds before mobilizing to the site and before leaving the site during the course of construction. • To avoid attracting wildlife to the project site, the construction shall be kept as clean of debris as possible. All food related trash items shall be enclosed in sealed containers and regularly removed from the site(s). 6.6 Visual Impact Assessment The report concluded that the proposed project will not result in substantial adverse effects on visual resources under the NEPA. Since the project's grade separation features are essentially at or below existing grade levels, they will not substantially affect either east or west - facing views along Santa Ana Boulevard. As motorist or pedestrians enter the underpass while travelling eastward on Santa Ana Boulevard, they will experience only the briefest interruptions in views of the Lomas Ridge and the more distant Santa Ana Mountains ridgelines. Hence, no significant changes to key views will occur. Residential viewers also will continue to have key east - facing views of the mountain ridgelines available to them. The loss of mature trees will reduce visual quality over a period of five or more years; however, because comparable replacement landscaping will be installed per City and Caltrans' best management practice, no adverse effects would occur under NEPA.. Caltrans and FHWA mandate that a qualitative aesthetic approach be taken to mitigate for visual quality loss in the project area. The proposed project fulfills these requirements because it is expected that it will address the actual loss of visual quality that will occur in the project viewshed within five to ten years of when the project is implemented by installing comparable replacement trees for those proposed for removal, where feasible, and groundcover where full right -of -way takes would necessitate demolition and /or where right - of -way design constraints will preclude installation of replacement trees. The project will be implemented in adherence to the guidance found in Caltrans' Highway Design Manual and other Caltrans memoranda regarding landscape design policy, which mandates consideration of the local design context in which the work is proposed and obtaining the input of local governmental agencies. In addition, the project will be designed and PROJECT REPORT EQUIVALENT 19E -28 19