John Washington is a journalism senior and opinion columnist for Mustang News. The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Mustang Media Group.
At a meeting earlier this month, San Luis Obispo City Council spent more than three hours discussing the plans of the Higuera Complete Streets project, which is an effort to encourage more people to walk and bike throughout San Luis Obispo.
City staff expect to begin the project’s implementation later this year. Caltrans will foot most of the bill through a grant. The plans include a lane removal with added bike lane protection via flex post barriers on South Higuera Street in a 0.4-mile stretch that saw 49 crashes and seven involving pedestrians or cyclists in the last five years.
This action is not only influenced by the pursuit of public safety but is also in tune with the city’s climate action plan. It reminded me how lucky I am to live in a place that prioritizes these issues. The city even has its own committee dedicated to increasing the amount of bikers and walkers in the jurisdiction.
Biking around downtown San Luis Obispo is easily the safest I have ever felt biking on busy streets, with protected bike lanes and reasonable speed limits throughout the neighborhood. We should extend this throughout the city to enhance mobility and safety.
Growing up in a Bay Area suburb, bike lanes are not a foreign concept to me. But where I’m from, they generally exist without protection on 40 mile-an-hour roads where cyclists shutter with every passing car they hear (and feel).
This is similar to what you might currently experience biking down South Higuera Street, which is why this upcoming project is important to me. San Luis Obispo prides itself on bikeability, advertising its gold level designation in bike-friendliness from the League of American Bicyclists on the city website. It is one of just six cities in California to reach that designation.
While this Higuera project is a big step in the right direction of continued implementation of bike safety on busy streets throughout the city, Foothill Boulevard needs to be next. Thankfully, city staff agrees, but the project is currently not funded and delayed until fall 2026 at the earliest.
According to the city, more than 18,000 people drive on Foothill Boulevard every day. Since 2017, three pedestrian or cyclist deaths have occurred along that stretch of road via traffic collision. Due to the 35 mile-per-hour speed limit and a small, unbuffered and unprotected bike lane on either side of the road, cyclists constantly have to be in a defensive position, ready for any mistake a driver might make.
This road gives access to K-12 schools, homes, parks, a hospital, restaurants and, of course, Cal Poly. The safety of community members, especially children, being able to get to their desired locations on a daily basis is clearly a high priority for the Active Transportation Committee and the city.
But, for the residents who are upset there are fewer driving lanes, making their drive a minute or two longer. Or for the people upset their street parking turned into a protected bike lane that helps kids get to school safely. It needs to be important to you, too. Some empathy might help.
Cyclists have just as much a right to the road as cars do. Unfortunately, they are treated with very little respect from drivers, who I often see glancing downwards at their phones while on my walk to school down Foothill Boulevard.
When bike lanes are protected, buffered or even just painted, they are safer. A 2012 study found streets with protected bike lanes saw 90% fewer injuries per mile than those without bike infrastructure. Safer streets also mean people are more willing to hop on their bikes, with less reason for concern.
Attentive drivers are safe drivers. So until the city can finish properly addressing the issue of cyclist and pedestrian safety along Foothill Boulevard, I beg the drivers on that road to put down their phones, have some awareness of their place on the road and show a little respect to the vulnerable positions of cyclists just trying to get to school.
As for the timeline, we all know government projects take longer than we’d like. The Foothill funding likely won’t be granted until the Higuera project proves effective. After that, it will be Broad Street’s turn for a makeover. While it is a drag that these safety measures cannot be instituted quickly enough for me to enjoy them, it is incredibly encouraging to know that these improvements are important to the city I currently call home.
The key to the active transportation plan is refusing to stop after you fix the biggest issue, because there is a new biggest issue at hand. Luckily, it can probably be solved with some green paint and flex posts.
