HomeMy WebLinkAbout4/18/2023 Item 6a, Carpenter RE Schwartz
Schwartz, Luke
Sent:Monday, April 17, 2023 6:40 PM
To:dlcslo@aol.com
Cc:
Subject:RE: Johnson Ave improvements
Hi Dan,
Thanks for reaching out.
The planned road diet on Johnson Avenue south of Bishop Street, mentioned in the article you linked to below,
was approved by the City Council last year as a pilot project within a larger Pedestrian Crossing Improvements
project, with a specific focus on improving pedestrian safety at the Johnson/Sydney school crossing. There
were no plans for any changes to Johnson north of Bishop as part of that project.
When we last spoke about a year ago, all of Johnson Avenue between San Luis Drive and Laurel Lane was
scheduled for repaving in summer 2023, which presented an ideal opportunity for staff to consider the
feasibility of extending the road diet north of Bishop to San Luis Drive and making the pilot road diet south of
Bishop permanent. While staff did conduct some preliminary traffic analysis for this concept, the segment of
Johnson north of Bishop was ultimately pulled from the 2023 paving project and deferred due to a conflicting
utility project—our utilities department is planning a water line replacement on this stretch of Johnson within the
next 1-2 years, so paving is deferred until after the water line is installed. Similarly, the segment of Johnson
south of Bishop was also pulled from the 2023 paving project, so the pilot road on that segment will remain in
temporary form (installed with paint and temporary materials) for at least another year.
With all that said, I will note that the initial traffic analysis we conducted for Johnson Avenue showed that a
road diet worked fine south of Bishop where there are no traffic signals until Laurel Lane, but there was
potential for significant congestion and queueing impacts with a road diet north of Bishop that would exceed
the City’s adopted policy thresholds. This could be particularly concerning considering the proximity of the
hospital.
Why does a road diet work south of Bishop, but not as well north of Bishop? Traffic volumes north of Bishop
are 30%-40% higher than south of Bishop and the presence of 4 traffic signals along this stretch severely
worsens traffic flow when travel lanes are eliminated. For example, you can move high volumes of traffic on a
two-lane highway with no signalized intersections, but much less volume on a two-lane urban street with
signals every few blocks.
When the segment of Johnson north of Bishop is rescheduled for paving, we will take another look at the
feasibility of a road diet and present the pros and cons to the community and City Council to help guide a final
decision on that street design, but we are not planning to pursue a road diet for that segment of Johnson at this
time.
I’ve cc’d the City Clerk to make sure this response and your email below are included in the public agenda
correspondence for tomorrow’s Council Meeting (Item 6a).
Please feel free to contact me if you’d like to discuss further.
Thanks,
Luke Schwartz, PE
Transportation Manager
1
Public Works
Transportation Planning/Engineering
919 Palm Street, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401-3218
E LSchwartz@slocity.org
T 805.781.7190
slocity.org
From:
Sent: Saturday, April 15, 2023 3:37 PM
To: Schwartz, Luke <LSchwart@slocity.org>; Johnson, Derek <djohnson@slocity.org>
Subject: Johnson Ave improvements
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Hi Luke & Derek,
As you recall, I’ve written you numerous times concerning pedestrian & bicycle safety on Johnson Avenue between San
Luis Drive and Bishop. I’ve requested a road diet with street parking added on the east side to accommodate the
residential neighborhood, and slow down traffic north of Bishop.
As a regular pedestrian on this stretch of Johnson, I assure you traffic speed picks up significantly coming down the hill
north after Bishop to San Luis Drive. Numerous times I’ve had close calls coming out of my driveway on the hill. Bicyclists
are flying down the hill in the bike lane next to my driveway exit. On many occasions they are at such high speed, they
have to swerve into traffic to avoid hitting my car.
If I read the attached article correctly, you’re now going to convert Bishop south to Laurel Lane to two lanes? And leave
only four blocks of Johnson (Bishop to San Luis Drive) at four lanes? Why would you not try the road diet on these four
blocks as well? The only four blocks on several miles of Johnson to have four lanes? So, cars will transition from two
lanes, to fours lanes, back to two lanes in four short blocks?
Am I missing something here? Please explain the rationale based on the concerns I’ve illuminated.
Thank you,
Dan Carpenter
Johnson Ave
Johnson Ave. in SLO to get new additions as part of pedestrian safety project
https://www.ksby.com/news/local-news/johnson-ave-in-slo-to-get-new-additions-as-part-of-pedestrian-safety-project
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