HomeMy WebLinkAbout2/17/2026 Item 6b, Lane
Terese Lane <
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:proposed traffic changes for Higuera Street bike lanes
My name is Terese Lane and I reside at 1255 Orcutt Rd. in San Luis Obispo. I am writing in opposition to
the citywide plans for confiscating ongoing traffic lane space in order to build well-meaning But
inherently unsafe bike lanes through primary arterial streets such as South Higuera. I regret I cannot
attend the meeting as I must be out of town today but when I heard this was on the agenda I felt I must
write.
I am a cyclist. Today the Council is voting on yet another Measure which looks great on paper but in
practicality and the logistics of safety is fraught with peril. You are proposing to close even more traffic
lanes on major arterial streets, to build inherently dangerous yet allegedly "safe" bike lanes, through a
city which has many unoccupied sidewalks already paid for by taxpayers, where If you chose to legalize
it, cyclists could ride safely on concrete lanes that remain empty of pedestrians 98% of the time
citywide.
You are doing this at the same time you have approved explosions of housing density increases, row
after row and block after block of extremely dense apartments and condos, The newest of which
surround my neighborhood off Broad Street, and which have already succeeded in tripling the amount of
traffic throughout the Righetti Hill annexation area as well as on Broad Street, other adjacent residential
streets as well as arterials. The danger has increased with it --to the point that anyone foolish enough to
ride a bicycle through any of those little miniature "bike islands" which you cannot see if even a pickup
truck is in front of you driving along, will create the delusion that people are "safe" on their bicycles, and
will result in people literally taking their lives in their hands.
But instead, San Luis Obispo could create yet another groundbreaking, progressive, first in the state
local ordinance that would immediately improve everyone's safety no matter whether they are on their
feet or on two wheels or four or six or eight by allowing cyclists to ride safely --like many of us already do--
on local EMPTY already bought-and-paid for sidewalks. So now you want to take an entire lane's worth of
space from Higuera, the largest arterial in the entire city, on which you can drive from end to end going
from Trader Joe's all the way to downtown SLO and not see a single pedestrian on any given day, and
dedicate that to a bike lane on either side. Sounds great right? But how often do you drive on South
Higuera, any of you? What time of day do you drive it? Do you realize that people approach speeds of 50
miles an hour on that road? That it is very highly traveled because of all the essential public entities and
providers of service that are mandatory for people to access? I drive that road regularly and I can count
on one hand the number of times I have seen a pedestrian walking on those sidewalks other than to go to
their parked car.
And no I am not suggesting that people should be able to ride their bikes on the sidewalk on the main
drag of Higuera through the shops and restaurants of the primary downtown shopping District. I am
talking about going past the cemetery, the DMV, the county buildings, the Social Security
office, yadayada.... on South Higuera where it would be much easier for the once in a blue dream
ACTUAL pedestrian to share the road with the FAR greater number of active bicycles without causing a
hardship or any expense Then it will be for a cyclist to safely compete with cars that are going 50 miles an
hour. I also walk a lot through our city, and it takes five seconds for me to step off the pavement for a
1
cyclist to go by. In a Health oriented city like Hours, no one minds doing that. In fact you have
constructed parks where there are signs advising people that they must share the walking trail with
mountain bikers --Like the trail that goes up Righetti Hill in my neighborhood.
The idea that bicycles are inherently dangerous on a public sidewalk originated in crowded urban
cities where many people live without cars, like downtown New York City or Chicago, Or in small towns
where cyclists were relegated to the street because streets were very wide, with room for not only cars to
park but bicycles to ride past them while children played outside. That is not the case in
California. What is reality now is that vehicles are twice as big as they used to be when most sidewalk
cycling prohibitions were enacted a century ago, Streets are narrower and housing is more crowded-
- and there are far more work trucks and construction-hauling tool-pushing food-delivering dual-wheel
trucks on the road on both Broad Street and South Higuera because of all the construction going on...
But alas, visibility these days is often almost ZERO. Countless times I have been behind a large
motorhome or work truck or pick up truck or toy hauling dune buggy rig heading towards Avila Beach on
South Higuera and been completely unable to see a cyclist that is only 10 feet ahead of me because of
the giant truck blocking my view. This is what caused the fatality at the corner of Higuera & Los Osos
Valley Rd years ago -- overcrowded road+narrow bike lane+ horrible visibility. So those little mini pieces
of bike lanes that are now so ridiculously being Spliced into narrow roads that have just had new condos
crammed In next-door to active businesses (like the ones by Miners Ace Hardware for example) are NOT
helping. People are slowing down in their cars, expecting to be able to turn into a business driveway
already there, but the intermittent bike lanes broken up in between the driveways are causing so many
near crashes I have personally witnessed, it is ridiculous! In order to navigate the turn into the driveway in
between the bike lane segments, you have to almost come to a complete stop in order to make a hard
90° turn in that narrow space, which puts everyone doing so at risk of being rear-ended by something
larger, like the giant Pepsi delivery truck directly behind me the other day. This is a formula for disaster. I
have to be in Visalia today, otherwise I would be testifying from not only my personal cycling experience
in SLO and the central Valley, but also my experience on the Visalia Planning Commission (2007-
2012), where equally well-meaning things that looked great on paperwere often proposed that were
unfortunately logistically ridiculous and therefore unsafe, And ultimately either got shelved or
dismantled Back then, but now those with the drafting boards are back at it over in the valley causing
untold dangers by putting bizarre parking/bike lane combos on bus arterials near local schools!
This is a safety issue, Not a "design style." ....and not just for cyclists. Collisions between motorists
and cyclists in almost every case lead to the motorist being charged with some kind of negligence,
including but not limited to felony vehicular manslaughter, which then ends them up in prison for hitting
a cyclist they could not see! The rampant overcrowding increases on local roadways that everyone can
see just in the last five years-- due to these burgeoning housing increases-- have to be mitigated from a
standpoint of SAFETY, not pie in the sky creative traffic masterpieces on AutoCAD done by the Public
Works Dept--which might look really good on paper --but when you are behind the wheel of a car or on a
bicycle some Require you to defy the laws of physics to Safely navigate them! The Unrealistic fantasy
That bicycles and large vehicles can safely "share the road" in a city like SLO --that is guaranteed to keep
growing by leaps and bounds now That the "small footprint" gurus of the Awhanee Principles In housing
development have won their battle--Is inevitably going to lead to even more traffic fatalities for cyclists
and pedestrians and drivers in the future, unless City leaders on the council regain their common sense
and picture the future, when condos are literally lining every road that currently has open space and this
city looks like LA 10 years from now. I am certain none of you want the number of funerals for cyclists
killed on local roads to Become yet another Ever-Increasing "growth categorical" of local statistics in the
City of San Luis Obispo.
Please vote to return to the drawing board and do some polling of local citizens As well as the many
professional cyclist to come to our county to ride, the bike shop owners, the highway patrol, Families
2
who have lost cyclists to drunk drivers and people on their phones. There is a better way right in front of
your eyes staring ass all in the face on the maps that are already drawn, and the concrete that has
already been paid for.
Terese Lane
(559) 303-1457
3