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Home My WebLink About6/1/2017 Item 1, Layous Christian, Kevin From:John Layous <john.layous@gmail.com> Sent:Thursday, June To:E-mail Council Website Subject:Pro Penny Lane Bike Bridge Mayor and Council Members, I wanted to reach out one more time regarding the Penny Lane Bridge as yesterday I heard the project is now listed in the draft budget for 2019/2020. I am strongly supportive of the project and am curious what would need to happen to keep in the project moving forward now or in the future? In the last month I’ve been talking with neighbors on Breck and Fairview regarding the project. Yesterday, I also hosted a bike month bike breakfast at my house on Breck to promote some awareness for the project. The response I get is almost universally the same, everyone who stands to benefit from the bridge has no clue the Penny Lane Bridge project exists, but are ALL excited for it and acknowledge it would good for the neighborhood. I’ve also heard there is a vocal individual on Penny Lane who opposes the project. I would assume the potential increase in pedestrian traffic on the quiet Penny Lane cul de sac is a driver of that opinion, but I’m hoping you would be able to share what other concerns have been expressed so I can better understand his/her viewpoint. I also have been in contact with Bike SLO County, who sent an email blast back in April asking ALL members to ask the council to “STALL” the Penny Lane project. I wrote them because I was confused why they would be opposed to this specific bike infrastructure. I also thought the verbiage used in their email blast was a bit not accurate to their true message. They replied to my email with this: "Bike SLO County is in no way opposed to a bridge at Penny Lane. But we were concerned with the news that City staff, citing a lack of funds, were recommending stalling projects that have already completed or begun feasibility studies and using that money instead to start another feasibility study for another project. In a nutshell, our take, in this context, was "Let's finish what we started (before we start something else that will likely get stalled for lack of funds)". " Their concerns are with allocating funds to complete current “shovel ready” projects. I am 100% behind that philosophy. I would prefer to see current projects completed rather than stalled out because funds were shifted to start new projects. That said, its my understanding that the funding for the feasibility study could not be applied to current projects and needed to be allocated to a project like the Penny Lane Bridge. In conclusion, I would appreciate any suggestions on steps to getting this project moving. I was considering asking neighbors/supporters to write the council so their opinions can be heard. Is that a good idea, and if so when would be the most effective time to have that message delivered (did I already miss the window)? Thank you very much for your time and consideration, John Layous 1342 Breck St 1 I’m copying and pasting my original email to the council for reference: Council Members, I hope you all are enjoying some rest after the long meeting last night. Last nights meeting was the first SLO city council meeting I’ve watched and it was great to see that our city is in such good hands. My reason for writing you today is to comment on the Penny Lane pedestrian bridge project. I first heard about the project a couple years ago and originally thought it would be a nice addition to town, but seemed like an expensive project for the benefit it could provide. I would have assumed pedestrians and bikers could simply ride out to Johnson and only slightly increase there ride effort/time. Since then, I moved to Breck St (one block from the proposed project) and I have had the chance to see the logic and potential benefits of a Penny Lane Bridge. There didn’t seem to be a strong proponent of the project last night, so I wanted to share some reasons I strongly encourage the project to continue to move forward. 1. Vehicle traffic on Johnson at Breck is dangerous. I can not stress this enough. Vehicles traveling toward downtown along Johnson are almost always speeding, on a downhill making it hard to brake, and generally focused on merging and rounding the turn under the bridge, not on cyclists trying to turn off of Breck. Vehicles traveling up Johnson toward French hospital are hidden by the bend in the road just a short distance away. The situation is made worse by the number of inexperienced high school drivers in route to the high school. There is no stop light at this intersection so cyclists never have a protected turn. When I try to make the turn during peak travel times, I usually have to ride up to the stoplight at Lizzie. I often see people ride illegally backwards down the close bike lane to avoid crossing Johnson. It’s really a dangerous intersection and right now without the bridge, it is the current end of the bike path from French Hospital. 2. A significant amount of cyclists commute along this route. It doesn’t seem like there would be much bicycle traffic along Breck, but it’s not uncommon to see packs of both commuters and recreational riders pop out of the freshly installed bike path from the hospital. I don’t have any numbers to quantify it, but there are more people than I could have ever guessed. I’m confident bike and pedestrian traffic would increase if a bridge were installed as well. 3. The proposed bridge site should make construction cost effective. It’s my understanding there used to be a bridge in this area. The location of the existing abutments and topography make it a simple straight shot over the RR. This means there should be minimal earthwork and complexity. No bridge is cheap, and I’m sure there are a myriad of planning and coordination issues, but from a design and construction perspective, this bridge should be relatively cost effective. 4. Helps complete another leg of the bike path. 5. A bridge would cut down on illegal RR crossings. There is a well defined walking path that crosses the RR at this location already. A bridge would create a safe, legal route. 6. Provide a direct pedestrian link to downtown from a high density R3 zoned area. You’ve probably heard this a million times, but more trips to downtown by bike and foot cut down on congestion and parking. The bridge would connect a pocket of R3 zoned area along Breck and Fairview. I moved to SLO in 2003 to attend Cal Poly. I studied civil engineering and have been working in town as a structural engineer since graduation. I’ve almost exclusively used a bike to commute for the last 14 years. I now have a 1 year old daughter who will soon be going to day care. My wife and I have the bike trailer and a co-pilot set up for day care drop offs, but have some serious concerns about attempting the commute with our 2 daughter. As she grows up, I’ll have serious concerns about her biking in our area at all. A bridge over Penny Lane would open up a safe biking route for us. A bridge is a big endeavor and I’m sure there are a lot of “shovel ready” projects that would have more immediate results, but I’m hoping you consider my points above and put some serious thought into the benefits of a Penny Lane bridge as the preliminary studies move forward. If pictures of any of the above would help to illustrate my points, please let me know. Thank you and keep up the great work! John Layous 3