Good show, council, keeping downtown Monterey Road at two lanes
each way. A lan to have traffic one-way in each direction would
have created an uncessary bottleneck. Narrowing the lane width from
12-feet to 10.5-feet will go a long way toward slowing drivers who
tend to see how fast they can get from Dunne to Main.
Good show, council, keeping downtown Monterey Road at two lanes each way. A lan to have traffic one-way in each direction would have created an uncessary bottleneck. Narrowing the lane width from 12-feet to 10.5-feet will go a long way toward slowing drivers who tend to see how fast they can get from Dunne to Main.
Unfortunately, the lane narrowing will not free up extra space to widen sidewalks in front of Monterey Road restaurants, whose owners would like to see alfresco dining in the space. Maybe later.
We also like the other “traffic calming” strategies the council chose to spend its $125,000 on: bright, white stripes in First and Third street cross walks, installing two speed cushions to get driver attention and trees in the Fourth Street median.
Included in the list is a $5,000 commitment for police presence. That will buy, according to Chief of Police Bruce Cumming, one police officer to keep an eye on traffic for two hours a day, five days a week for eight weeks. Though Cumming said many other areas of the city have a, possibly, greater need for speed control – Jackson Oaks Drive, for example – the council decided to give it a try.
Public Works has come up with a way to narrow, on a trial basis, the entrance to the downtown area in front of the community center. Councilman Steve Tate said the white plastic barriers standing in the street “look like sticks” – and they do – but they are a cheap way of testing traffic response. If they work to slow the road racers down, it could be worth adding a permanent “bulb out” that one sees at other downtown intersections.
Also, thick, bright white stripes will be painted to better alert drivers of crosswalks so they can slow down and give pedestriand a chance to reach the other side in one piece.
In addition, the Council adopted the downtown plan update, encouraging a higher density of residential units mixed with retail and commercial than before. In many other communities, success has come from weaving together housing, retail and commercial. Still to be worked out is how to mesh the needed changes with Measure C, the residential growth-control ordinance
If all goes well, downtown 2010 will be a much more exciting place to live, work and visit than downtown 2005.
One fly in the ointment, though, is parking, relatively scarce during peak times and, with a major lot about to disappear in a year or two (behind the Granada), more is needed. In June council will receive a study of the situation, with, one hopes, affordable solutions.
