Road Diet on Southwest Boulevard Gets Green Light

The City Council Tuesday night agreed to submit a grant proposal — that would revamp Southwest Boulevard — to county transportation authorities. The project, aimed at calming traffic, reducing speeding, making the stretch friendly to bike commuters and safer for pedestrians, would eliminate one driving lane and add a bike lane in between Adrian Drive and Burton Avenue.

Funded by a $131,120 grant from the Sonoma County Transportation Authority, the street diet is twofold for the city: It'll create a safer crossing for pedestrians, eliminating the possiblity of a "multiple-threat" situation, and more people will be encouraged to walk or bike instead of drive.

The project would install some sort of flashing beacon where Almond Street meets Southwest Boulevard, either white blinking lights in the crosswalk itself, or flashing yellow lights. In the remodel, the street would also be repaved and a bike lane striped in.

City engineers say the project will go far in making the crossing at Almond Street and Southwest safer for an estimated 400 kids next school year, , respectively. And, the strip will be safer becasue cars only have one traveling lane — speeders will not be able to weave in and out of traffic.

Officials said currently, speeding is a problem. Cars travel, on average, 38 or 39 mph, and the posted speed limit is 35.

According to a staff report, the street "is one of few road in Rohnert Park that would be eligible, as it meets a threshold level of car traffic, has an opportunity to add new bike lanes and can benefit from traffic calming and safety enhancements that would encourage more walking." The Bay Area Air Quality Management District divies up the funds.

Darrin Jenkins, the city's director of development services, explained the benefits. The original vision for Rohnert Park, he recalled, was each neighborhood being equipped with a school and a park. The school would be the nucleus of a cohesive community, and no child would walk more han one third of a mile to get there.

Now, as part of a school district reconfiguration, geard towards growing student enrollment numbers and sparking more interest in Cotati-Rohnert Park Unified, kids who live in A and B section or who currently attend Waldo Rohnert and John Reed and want to walk to school will have to cross the busy commuter throughfare — Southwest Boulevard — one of three main strips that connect the city's neighborhoods.

Starting in the fall, kindergarten thorugh 3rd grade will attend Waldo Rohnert and grades 4-6 will attend John Reed Elementary. That means with the schools adjacent to one another, during morning and afternoon school times, a slew of kids will flood area crossings.

"We identified Almond Street is going to be a major crossing," Jenkins said. "The idea to split two schools got us thinking as a staff, is there anything we can do to improve the safety of the crossing at Southwest?"

Patrick Barnes, deputy city engineer, said concerns and questions have been addressed in a community forum, and letters were sent out to residents who live nearby. In the end, he said, it's about safety.

"We want to make this crossing safer, that's our goal with this project," Barnes said. "One of our big complaints in Rohnert Park, of course, is speeding."

Jenkins echoed Barnes's safety concerns.

This is the type of accident that's happened in Santa Rosa, on College Avenue, for example, he said.

"This is a real issue. It is injuring and killing people in Sonoma County right now, this kind of accident," Jenkins said.

Barnes explained the problem of a multi-threat crossing.

"One car is stopped, the other car does not see the pedestiran and pedestrian can't see the oncoming car," he said. "Both are in each other's blind spots."

But by removing a car lane and adding abike lane, pedestrians get a full view of traffic and there's no longer a visibilty problem. Barnes added that a 2011 study reported that similar road diets reduced speeding to 20 percent, from 74 percent, crashes were down by 16 percent and injuries reduced by more than 20 percent.

Engineers say this isn't unchartered territory. The community raised concerns last summer, when the . That project, however, eliminated a parking lane instead of a driving lane.

But Barnes said despite questions and some concerns, the city received very little blowback for the proposal. Out of 378 letters sent to residents within 500 feet of the project, six residents wrote with questions and concenrs. At issue was how to get speeders to slow down, if vehicle capacity would be impacted and if the project would affect emergency services.

Barnes said police and fire wouldn't have any problems, and driver capacity would remiain roughly the same. Southwest Boulevard gets about 15,000 car trips a day and about 11,000 cars per day, roughly the same as both Golf Course Drive and Commerce Boulevard. Traffic flows would remain relatively the same, he said.

Pedestrian crosswalk safety is all-too-familiar in Rohnert Park. It was just two years ago that .

The City Council raised questions about whether or not this project should be a priority for the city. Though it wouldn't impact the General Fund, $110,000 of additional roads repair funds would be required for street repaving and upkeep.

Councilman Joe Callinnan asked if there have been accidents on the street in the past, and Councilwoman Gina Belforte asked if this is a high priority for the city.

With the increase in pedestrian crossings, the city wants to prevent accidents before they happen, Jenkins said.

Callinan said he wasn't convinced that the public's input was carefully vetted. He said the whole city uses Southwest, so the whole city should be consulted. And he said he doesn't believe that masses of kids will be crossing at the intersection of Almond and Southwest.

"Is that our best money spent," he asked. "Do we wnat to take another $100,000? Is that our highest priority crosswalk? I'm still not convinced."

Barnes said Southwest Boulevard is at the point where it needs a major revamp.

Callinan said $10,000 would get a lot of potholes and other streets in the city fixed.

Councilman Amy Ahanotu agreed.

"Is this the best use of this money," he said. "I"m a little bit on the fence about it."

Mayor Jake Mackenzie and Vice Mayor Pam Stafford said that the school district reconfiguration will bring more students to the area, and that's enough of an arument to justify the revamp.

"This is going to affect more people and help our students more to do something like this," Stafford said.

"I've always been fascinated by this section of Southwest Boulevard," Mackenzie said. "That whole section of Southwest Boulevard, I don't find it particulary safe from a bicycle point of view...if the school district is making these changes, this is persuasive."

But Mackenzie said the question of whether or not this is the best use of the monies is a great question.

A few members of the public showed support for the project.

I cycle all over Sonoma County, said Creighton Bell, who is also on the Bicycle Advisory Committee. He added, that he thinks that this particular stretch of Southwest is probably the most dangerous road in Rohnert Park.

There's blind spots for drivers who can't see cyclists, some said, and raised burms on the street are not safe.

The City Attorney clarified that there's no evidence that this stretch is unsafe. But it meets the criteria of the grant — that there's a level of car traffic and that there is safety amendments that can be made.