HomeMy WebLinkAbout5/6/2025 Item 7c, Parker, J.
Jackie Parker <
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:Tank Farm Road Safety Project - Road Diet
Dear Mayor Stewart and City Council,
I am writing to urge you to Select Alternative 1 (Road Diet) for the 2025 Paving Project for Tank Farm Road
(TFR). I have lived adjacent to TFR since 1991 and the traffic speeds and danger for pedestrians and
those turning left onto TFR from Poinsettia has been a long concern. Several years ago, a group of
concerned neighbors met with then Council member Andy Peace and City staff (Luke Schwartz attended
that get together) and as a result the City made some improvements - first some flexible bollards (which
drivers kept striking) and later a flashing beacon at the busy pedestrian crossing at Poinsettia.
The neighborhood appreciated the efforts, but drivers kept speeding up and down TFR and pedestrians,
even with the beacon, found it unsafe to cross TFR. Essentially, the many homes on the opposite side of
TFR were stranded from visiting French Park by foot or bike as crossing TFR was hazardous.
The long awaited paving project and proposed road diet are almost a reality, but now objections seem to
have led the City to develop a much less desirable Alternative 2, which would not reduce lanes or widen
bike lanes and would not have the same traffic calming effect as the road diet.
The City has successfully engineered 3 similar road diets on streets with similar volumes and with a large
proportion of residential homes and apartments - Johnson Ave, Laurel Lane and South Street. Our city is
safer for pedestrians and bicyclists, thanks to these projects. Our neighborhoods off TFR deserve the
same safety enhancements.
There are always naysayers and people who are in a huge rush to get from Point A to Point B. The road
diet would affect a stretch of road less than a half a mile! And after you drive that half a mile, you
encounter 2 lanes again on TFR, in either direction. It is really ridiculous to insist on 4 lanes for cars for
this slight time they will lose (and they gain this time by exceeding the speed limit, which wide lanes
encourage).
Please think of the families, kids on bikes, the park, and the hundreds of homes off of TFR and select
Alternative 1, the Road Diet.
Sincerely,
Jackie Parker
4423 Poinsettia St. SLO
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