HomeMy WebLinkAbout2/4/2025 Item 7a, Otto
Garrett Otto <
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:Item 7a - Higuera Complete Streets
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Dear Mayor and Council,
I am in strong support of the Higuera complete streets project. For 5 years I lived off Margarita and my
wife and I biked on Higuera daily for work, visit friends, and run errands. Each day's commute felt scary to
say the least. Many times if either my wife or I was running late and not home when expected, our
thoughts always went to a dark, but unfortunately all too likely scenario. Now that our family has grown, I
would not choose to ride a bike daily on Higuera in its current configuration. The existing conditions has
proven to be deadly and mostly comes to the risk of those traveling outside of a vehicle.
I am not alone, many of the people in driving this corridor would love the opportunity to bike to work or
school. However, without robust protective bike lanes and improved intersections, it is unrealistic to
think that those "interested but concerned" community members would choose to travel this corridor
outside of a vehicle. As new developments are built we need to make sure people have safe and reliable
transportation choices, otherwise traffic, severe injuries, and death will only increase on our roadways.
I am asking you to please provide staff with the following direction and approvals:
1. Please add additional hardened protective barriers beyond flex post along the corridor to increase
safety for people biking and walking. Flex post are not protection, they visual deterrent only. Use of
concrete curb stops could be added strategically to increase protect, but still allow for gaps frequently
for cyclist to overtake other riders or merge into travel lanes for left turns.
2. Please approve the two intersection reconfigurations proposed. Looking over the traffic analysis,
between the two intersections, the average wait time increase only 25 seconds (only during the peak PM
commute hour). Vehicle queuing times cannot be the main factor for not accommodating other modes
of transportation. We cannot let 3% of the week keep the intersections unsafe for those biking and
walking 100% of the time.
3. Keep the road diet. Despite what others are worried about, road diets have been proven in SLO and
many other cities to decrease speeding and collisions which in turn increases safety for everyone,
including drivers.
4. Ask staff to continue working with Caltrans to make the multi-use path at the Madonna overpass a
reality in the near future as a separate project to ensure the rest of the Higuera project is built ASAP.
Please prioritize the safety of all community members. Thanks for your leadership and commitment to
making SLO a better and more sustainable place.
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Garrett Otto
San Luis Obispo
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