HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/21/2024 Item 4a, Lakiotis
Andrea Lakiotis <andijean11@gmail.com>
Sent:Thursday, November
To:Advisory Bodies
Subject:2025 Paving Project Citizen Input
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IN RE:
Active Transportation Committee
Thursday, November 21, 2024 at 6:00 P.m.
Council Hearing Room, 990 Palm Street, San Luis Obispo
To whom it may concern,
Thank you for the transparent communication regarding the 2025 paving project. Unfortunately, we are
unable to attend the meeting tonight but we wanted to be active citizens and communicate our thoughts
since this directly impacts our neighborhood and how we use this road. Overall we are very happy with
the efforts to reduce traffic on Tank Farm east of Broad and make it safer for pedestrians. We did our best
to read through the information but apologies if our comments reflect a lack of understanding on our
behalf. We are not traffic experts, but we do use these intersections both by car and by foot on a daily
basis.
Comments/notes/concerns:
1. Are there any alternatives to the bollards that are as cost-effective but possibly more attractive?
This is such a pretty street and we think the bollards would really take away from it without
enough gain to justify them. Other areas in town that have reduced their lane have planters (like
Chorro under the highway bridge) - could similar concrete barriers or bumps be used instead?
2. Eastbound on Tank Farm, between Broad and Poinsettia, at the Poinsettia intersection, we hope
the plan is to make the right lane a "right turn only" in order to go from 2-lane to 1-lane, rather than
a merge before/after the intersection. The current plan language was unclear exactly how the 2-
to-1-lane transition would happen at this intersection.
3. "Restriping the Broad/Tank Farm intersection to provide two westbound auto lanes on Tank Farm
continuing through the intersection." We strongly disagree with this point in the plan. The west
side of Tank Farm/Broad is already a dangerous merge with southbound drivers turning right.
There isn't enough room to merge around that curve before the MindBody traffic light. We already
experience this with turning left from Broad (northbound) with 2 left turn lanes merging to 1 lane;
in our opinion we feel unsafe whenever we have to take this turn with drivers in both turn lanes.
Directing westbound drivers to be in 1 lane approaching the intersection while letting right-turners
(north on Broad) turn at their discretion, in our opinion, remains the safest option. We worry the
new striping will hold up traffic even more if people turning north get stuck behind people going
straight (unless the restriping includes room for a designated right turn lane, although this does
not resolve the perceived issue of a dangerous merge). We do not understand this part of the plan;
in our years of living here we have never experienced back-ups so bad that would justify two
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westbound lanes, especially if it comes at the expense of a northbound right-turn lane. It feels like
maybe the justification is that it frees up the east part of the intersection but it defers the danger
and congestion to the west side of the intersection.
Thank you for providing space for citizen input and ultimately we know you and the city teams are
expertly working for the safety of drivers, bikers, and pedestrians. We apologize again that we cannot
voice our comments in person at the meeting tonight. Thank you for your work.
Sincerely,
Andrea & Steven Lakiotis
Lobelia Lane residents
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