The Sacramento region collectively produces more than 3.4 million tons of agricultural commodities annually. Trucks carry, by weight, more than 98 percent of these commodities from the field to processing facilities and markets around the state. The majority of this travel occurs along rural roads and state highways.
Average weekday truck volumes on the region's freeways range from around 3,000 (State Route 70) to over 10,000 (I-5). During peak harvest seasons, trucks hauling agricultural products dominate the roads in many rural parts of the region. From late July to October 2007, 650 trucks daily were required to haul more than 52,000 acres of tomatoes grown in Sacramento, Sutter, and Yolo counties to processing facilities from Woodland to Bakersfield.
In addition to the region's large agricultural commodity operations, smaller producers rely on rural roads to access local markets.
Changing demographics, land uses, and commute patterns in rural areas, coupled with constraints on infrastructure capacity can be problematic for timesensitive movement of agricultural products. Additionally, rural roads designed and built decades ago are often narrow and constructed for light traffic volumes.
The growing size, weight, and number of heavy duty trucks (as well as the growing size and number of all vehicles) can take a substantial toll on these aging roads. In fact, the largest goods movement trucks require specially designated routes built to accommodate their massive size.
The importance of efficient distribution of goods for maintaining healthy agricultural economies makes it necessary to maintain a robust network of goods movement routes serving processing facilities, markets and farms. As part of the ongoing RUCS effort, SACOG staff is working with county farm bureaus, farmers, and city and county transportation planners to identify important farm-to-market corridors throughout the region.
Identifying and developing a network of rural roads that meet the unique needs of the agricultural industry must be a part of an effective goods movement strategy. Rural issues, while as acute as those in urban areas, have very different characteristics. With only 8 percent of California's population, rural areas comprise 94 percent of the land area. Supporting farm-to-market travel across such a sparsely and widely distributed area presents special transportation challenges that must be considered when planning for a balanced, interconnected system.