SOUTH STREET CORRIDOR REHABILITATION "ROAD DIET"

 

S.L.O. & Caltrans partner for a successful transition from a four lane highway to a neighborhood friendly street

The South Street corridor "road diet" portion of the State Route 227 rehabilitation project is an excellent example of collaboration between the surrounding neighborhood, local government, and Caltrans. The result was a successful context-sensitive project that meets the needs of the mostly residential corridor's pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists. State Route 227 is actually a city street that runs through a neighborhood. It was converted into a highway in 1995 and was transferred back to the City of San Luis Obispo in November 2010. The road runs along a city park, an elementary school and several homes. The "road diet" worked in this context because it reduced travel lanes to improve pedestrian and bicycle safety. This project rehabilitated the roadway, widened the San Luis Obispo Creek Bridge to include a sidewalk on the south side, installed new textured bridge rails, added curbed medians, upgraded existing curb ramps and driveways, and installed median islands and bus turnouts. Now, pedestrians and bicyclists only have to cross two lanes of through traffic, instead of four. Also, speeds have been reduced with the lane reduction without sacrificing traffic flow along a mile section of roadway that is an important east-west corridor in the city. Community members and city officials played an important role in identifying the problems and determining a solution that met and balanced the needs of all stakeholders.

(adapted verbatim from:  www.dot.ca.gov/awards/winners/11winners.htm)