The San Luis Obispo City Council has approved the installation of safe biking routes in parts of the city. This comes after a Cal Poly student died this week after colliding with a pick-up truck on his bike.
The city said its 9 million dollar Arterial Project Plan would increase accessibility and safety for all roadway users of Santa Barbara Avenue, Monterey Street, California Boulevard, La Loma Court and parts of Morro Street.
It’s meant to help maintain pavement in that area and would eliminate 13 parking spots on Santa Barbara Ave.
Greg Cleary with the city’s Public works department introduced the project's plans at the April 18th city council meeting.
“Specific design objectives in this work include the maintenance and rehabilitation [of] damaged pavement and potholes, improve ADA access and parking availability for persons with disabilities. Improve safety and access for walking and bicycling,” Cleary said.
Cleary said the project aims to minimize impacts to on-street parking as well as inconvenience for residents and business owners.
Cleary said the City is not meeting standards in what he calls a Pavement Condition Index, or PCI. It’s a way of measuring pavement quality.
Right now Monterey Street, California Boulevard, and parts of Morro Street are rated as “poor” while Santa Barbara Avenue is rated as “fair.”
Anthony Ramos is one of the project’s engineers. At the last City Council meeting he said the city’s damaged roads could put more pedestrians and cyclists at risk.
“Our focus has been on vulnerable users like cyclists and pedestrians as well as more control in high visibility crossings for pedestrians on those types of streets,” Ramos said.
This city council unanimously approved the Arterial Project Plan last Tuesday, April 18th. Just a few days later on April 21st, Cal Poly student Sean Ogawa Hillman was struck by a pickup truck while riding his bike at Grand Avenue and Frederick Street.
Those streets aren’t part of the city’s Arterial Project Plan, but it does include California Street which is near the Cal Poly campus. Hillman died of his injuries on Monday around noon.
The city is also working on The North Chorro Neighborhood Greenway Project which also provides safe routes for cyclists and pedestrians in the North Chorro area.
More information on the city’s capital improvement projects is at slocity.org.
