HomeMy WebLinkAbout2/6/2018 Item 12, Lopes
Christian, Kevin
From:James Lopes <jameslopes@charter.net>
Sent:Monday,
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:City Council 8-6-18 meeting - Item 12_Broad Street Bicycle Boulevard
Attachments:Council 2-6-18 Item 12_Broad Street Bicycle Boulevard.doc
Dear Mayor Harmon and Council Members,
RE: February 6, 2018 Agenda; Item 12: Broad STreet Bicycle Boulevard (Anhom Bikeway) Plan
Please open my attached letter and carefully consider a much less intrusive yet very effective alternative to staff's.
Thank you for your consideration.
James Lopes
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912 Bluebell Way
San Luis Obispo, California 93401
February 5, 2018
City Council
City of San Luis Obispo
RE: February 6, 2018 Agenda; Item 12: BROAD STREET BICYCLE BOULEVARD
(ANHOLM BIKEWAY) PLAN
Dear Mayor Harmon and Council Members:
I hope that you will take small, incremental steps with the proposed bicycle
boulevard. My proposal has been somehow ignored, or not considered effective,
but it will be more effective in cost and safety to the staff proposals. Much can
be done to improve and encourage bicycle circulation between downtown and
Foothill Boulevard without any bike channels or restricted parking:
The entire corridor can be “advertised” as a bicycle boulevard just as is the
Morro Street Bicycle Boulevard, through signage and emblems. Former
transportation planner Peggy Mandeville did an effective job creating an
alternative route to Santa Barbara/Osos Streets.
The most level route between downtown and Foothill Boulevard should be
chosen.
Vehicle speed humps and crossing tables should be provided throughout,
as was done on Pismo Street between Johnson Avenue and Santa Rosa
Street. The frequent speed humps and crossing tables effectively keep
traffic speeds below 18 miles per hour on Pismo Street.
A paint‐striped vehicle lane edge at 8 or 9 (or 10) feet from the centerline
would indicate that this is a “slow street” for passenger vehicles primarily.
This improvement is known to also slow vehicle speeds. The outside area
would not be a designated bike lane; but it would help organize bicycle
traffic outside the vehicle lane.
Residential street lighting should be installed to illuminate the street and
sidewalks, which should also be upgraded and widened where feasible on
at least one side.
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Another “simple” approach in context with the neighborhood, would be to
make Chorro and Broad Streets one‐way streets, with one vehicle lane and
a wide bike lane, which is now in place on Pismo Street between Broad and
High Streets. Combined with speed humps and crossing tables, this might
be very effective to encourage more bicycle traffic in the same direction as
slow‐moving vehicles.
The concept is to present a very slow street with vehicle and bicycle speeds held
below 20 or even 15 miles per hour. It is well known that the Chorro Street
neighborhood complained loudly against the installation of roundabouts; the City
installed Stop signs as a solution. That approach should be expanded to further
reduce vehicle speeds, frequent stops will discourage fast through drivers.
Chorro and Broad Streets can then be experienced as full streets with parallel
vehicle and bicycle traffic.
The staff‐recommended approach is too expensive, disruptive of living patterns
and dangerous. Bike channels are not supposed to be used on streets with
frequent or any driveways. Bicyclists are “captives” within these channels, and
any sudden blockage, such as a vehicle entering or exiting a driveway, may be life
threatening to a bike rider. Bike channels were introduced to separate bicyclists
from fast moving vehicle traffic on wide arterials. They should be considered
elsewhere in San Luis Obispo, on any of the arterials with high collision rates
shown in Figure 1, Page 243 of the 2016 Traffic Safety Report. As shown there,
Santa Rosa and South Broad Streets are obvious candidates for this expensive
installation. An obvious two‐lane candidate may be Chorro Street between the
Highway 101 overpass and downtown.
But, the North Broad / Anholm neighborhood is too fine grain, small‐scale and
residential to accommodate this kind of installation. In the quest to increase bike
traffic, this area is where small‐scale revisions should be the first choice, and they
will likely be effective and attractive.
Thank you for your consideration.
James Lopes