HomeMy WebLinkAbout2/29/2024 Item 1, Englert
Jesse Englert <
To:Advisory Bodies
Subject:ATC Item 1
This message is from an External Source. Use caution when deciding to open attachments, click links, or respond.
Dear ATC,
I'm very supportive of all the active transportation improvements in the 2024 Roadway Paving Project plans!
My primary comment is to encourage the ATC to push back against the 20 foot fire code requirement on Grand Ave in
the wide buffer areas. I'd like to see mountable physical barriers such as armadillos or flex posts put there to prevent
vehicles from using those wide buffer areas for unsafe passing, parking, and loading/unloading.
Where possible I'd like to see extra space given to the bike lane where bike medians are installed to allow for more
comfortable passing. The narrowness of protected bike lanes around town makes it impossible or awkward at best to
pass another bike rider. This friction will increase with the rise of e-bikes that create a speed difference between riders.
For example in the Cal Trans section under Hwy 101 is it possible to give extra width to the protected bike? Consider the
drive lane is 11 ft, the buffer is 10 ft, and there is a 6 ft buffer to the left of the drive lane for 27 ft of usable space for fire
vehicles and they only need 20 (hopefully I interpreted the engineering docs correctly)
Related to bike lane width, Bike SLO County is currently working on implementing a new program called Cycling Without
Age. This program will use wide bikes (~3.5 ft wide) to carry two passengers sitting side by side. The program aims to
give free rides to our elderly population around town and going to Cal Poly using Grand Ave is one of the proposed
routes. Given these wide bikes I'd like to see the infrastructure take them into consideration:
see https://copenhagencycles.com/ for specs on the trishaw bike that Bike SLO County is planning to use.
Thank you all for all that you do to make our streets safer for our vulnerable road users!
Best,
Jesse Englert
SLO Resident
1