Paso Robles city leaders took to the streets Monday to learn first-hand the concerns community members have of the Niblick corridor.
A recent study showed the Niblick corridor has more vehicle accidents than the state's average for an area of that size.
The corridor the City is focusing on stretches from Niblick Road between South River Road and Fontana Road.
During an interactive walk, community members were able to share concerns about the streets, sidewalks and bike lanes Monday with Paso Robles City leaders, consultants and a non-profit called the Local Government Commission.
For people like Dana La Curan, the issues are two fold.
"I'm an athlete out here, so I really want to see what they're going to do for bikeways and ways for runners but the other part is professionally I work with individuals who are blind or have a visual impairment and the way the roads are designed really impacts their ability to be independently mobile in the community," La Curan explained.
La Curan says she's hoping the City will consider adding auditory pedestrian signals near Paso Robles High School.
"So sometimes when there's not signals by the vehicles themselves, they need the auditory pedestrian signals or some other method for knowing it's safe for them to cross, it's their turn to go," La Curan said.
Paso Robles City Engineer David Athey says 30,000 vehicles drive on the east side of the Niblick corridor and 10,000 on the west side every day.
Some neighbors say all of these vehicles add to congestion trying to get to work.
"We're trying to find ways to circumvent the high school traffic so we're a little bit concerned what will happen if they put in this new housing track straight up Niblick," neighbor Jim Moore said.
Those involved in the project will collect all of the suggestions gathered this week and bring a plan to the city council of what new projects need funding.
"The solutions are varied and they're going to be expensive to inexpensive and hard to easy to implement and we're going to come up with a plan that looks at all those different solutions so we can prioritize those and come up with a good plan for our corridor," explained Athey.
Several other events are planned for this week to work on identifying issues and solutions. On Tuesday, groups will be meeting with students and staff at Paso Robles High.
On Wednesday, they will be putting out cones and tape to simulate larger bike lanes near Appaloosa Drive before a final presentation Thursday.
The City says the projects they decide to move forward with could be put in the city’s budget for next year and get implemented starting next June.
Athey says the issues that present immediate safety concerns might get resolved sooner.
For more information: https://www.prcity.com/849/Niblick-Corridor-Plan
If you have students in the Paso school system or drive Niblick EVER, this affects you. Please come give input on the draft designs that are being created by and with residents this week!
— City of Paso Robles (@PRCity) November 6, 2019
Thursday, November 7
Mtg: See the Preliminary Designs
6:00-8:00
City Hall, 1000 Spring pic.twitter.com/PRQrQas3KQ
