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HomeMy WebLinkAbout4/20/2023 Item PC and Item 3, Woolf Jamie Woolf < To:Advisory Bodies Subject:Active Transportation Committee, April 20 meeting This message is from an External Source. Use caution when deciding to open attachments, click links, or respond. Hi, I have two comments for the April 20 meeting. I will be out of town that day so I am submitting these in writing. 1) I encourage the ATC to discuss at a later meeting the status of the proposed bike/pedestrian bridge over the UP Railroad tracks near Sinsheimer Park. I believe this will become a lively topic when the city starts fencing the tracks from Jennifer Street Bridge to Orcutt St. The fence will make the need for this bridge painfully obvious. Here is some background information I am preparing to distribute on social media: Sinsheimer Park Bridge Overview: The proposed Sinsheimer Park Bridge would be a bike/pedestrian bridge over the Union Pacific Railroad tracks. One end would be adjacent to Sinsheimer Park, and the other on Francis or Lawrence streets. The final location hasn’t been determined. The design would likely be similar to the Jennifer Street Bridge over the tracks near SLO’s Amtrak depot. Cost: The city’s Active Transportation plan has a huge range of possible costs for this facility, depending on where and how it is built. The estimates range from $750,000 to $5 million. The planning process: This important bridge is in the city’s plans and classified as a “Tier 1” or top priority among bike/pedestrian projects. But it’s an expensive project and there is lots of competition for this sort of project. Why now? The city this spring will start erecting a new fence between the Railroad Safety Trail and the tracks to discourage trespassing on UPRR land. The new fence will be 5’-6’ high with pressure-treated wood posts and a no-climb chain link fence. This will make it much harder to occasionally slip across the tracks to get to Broad Street or cross the other way to get to Sinsheimer Park, Sinsheimer Elementary School, or the YMCA. 1 Why the fence?: Maintaining a fence is one of the things the city agreed to do in exchange for the rights of way to build the section of the Railroad Safety Trail from the Jennifer Street Bridge to Orcutt Rd. What’s needed now? Letters and phone calls to the mayor, city council, and Active Transportation Committee. Tell them we need a safe and legal way to cross the tracks in our part of town. We love our secluded little neighborhood, but it’s cut off from the rest of the city by these tracks. We need this project pushed to the top of the city’s priority list. Benefits of the proposed bridge: -- People on the Sinsheimer side would have easy access to businesses and restaurants along and near Broad Street. These include the SLO Coop and Taste restaurant. -- People living in the Broad Street area would have safe and easy access to Sinsheimer Park, the city’s swimming pool and baseball field, the playground, and the YMCA. -- If school district boundaries were shifted, children living in the new condos between Broad Street and the tracks could walk or bike to Sinsheimer Elementary School without crossing a single busy street. -- The bridge would help the city meet its goal of reducing the number of automobile trips. 2) I'd also like to comment on Item 3 on your agenda: Minor Bicycle and Pedestrian Improvements Funding. On the list is #3, "Sinsheimer Park Bridge Improvement." The bridge in the photograph is the middle of three rickety bridges over this little creek/drainage ditch that runs through the park, All three are too narrow for my recumbent tricycle and in awful shape. I encourage you to think carefully whether the middle bridge is on the alignment of what someday will be a paved trail connecting the Railroad Safety Trail to Southwood Dr. near the swimming pool. This middle bridge might be right route for this trail, but the one closer to the drain under the tracks could also be good option. The bridge near the tennis courts isn't as direct a path, but would require less construction since a paved trail now runs more than half way around the courts. I urge the city to proceed with improvements of these bridges. Since funding is limited I encourage you to make certain this work becomes the first step toward getting a paved path across this park. I know that when Peggy Mandeville oversaw the Bicycle Advisory Committee she worked with the Parks Department to design a possible route for the paved trail in the area of the middle bridge that could climb the hill to the baseball diamond without violating ADA rules for steep slopes. I never saw the final plan but it might still be in our files. Thanks, Jamie Woolf 2531 Boulevard del Campo San Luis Obispo, CA 805-234-5604 -- 2 Jamie Woolf she/her/hers 3