HomeMy WebLinkAbout2/17/2026 Item 6b, Lenhardt
Cheryl Lenhardt <
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:Tuesday, February 17, 2026 City Council Meeting, Item 6B
Dear members of the city council,
I sincerely appreciate all the work and outreach done by City staff and consultants to bring the Higuera
complete streets project to this point, and I support the requests as defined by City staff in item 6b. This
is an important project for our active transportation plan. Five deaths in the past five years are five too
many.
That said, I am disappointed that real physical barriers were not provided as part of the base bid to
increase the protection of vulnerable cyclists along the currently hazardous Higuera corridor. After
listening to most of the public testimony at the May Active Transportation Committee meeting, I heard
that many drivers feel challenged in negotiating their vehicles in narrower lanes and feel especially
nervous in lanes that are confined by physical barriers. While I’m sympathetic to their concerns, the lack
of physical barriers means that if a driver is errant, they have a greater potential to hurt or kill someone
instead of simply experiencing minor damage their vehicle. A car striking a concrete barrier is usually a
result of poor driving, which could have resulted in a much more dangerous collision with a cyclist if the
barrier were not there. Furthermore, the amount of damage to their vehicle is often correlated with the
speed of which they are driving. Drivers should be fearful of hitting things (and cyclists) who are outside
of their travel lane and physical barriers help reinforce the need to drive with care.
Accordingly, if the base bid approach of using flex posts to separate vehicular and cyclists is what
ultimately gets awarded, I would greatly appreciate it if City maintenance staff would keep records of the
locations and frequencies of where flex posts are routinely damaged by errant vehicles. If there are any
locations where the flex posts are routinely hit, then I hope that these locations would be considered for
a more robust treatment such as a physical barrier-- as funds become available and the data collected
would support their need.
Sincerely.
Cheryl Lenhardt
1