For locals in Paso Robles, Niblick Road is known for being busy.
“It's pretty congested, especially heading eastbound," says Paso Robles resident Annette Rodriguez. "So, we assume it's a lot of commute traffic coming off 101."
Paso Robles Associate Planner, Katie Banister, says that it also has a higher-than-average accident rate.
Wednesday night, city officials got the community involved by inviting them to see the final design for the Niblick Road Corridor Improvement project.
“It's the biggest grant that we've received as far as pathway," says Paso Robles Capital Projects Engineer Ditas Esperanza. "It's a $17 million active transportation grant that we received."
She says that the project will majorly transform the road, from Creston Road to Spring Street.
"We'll have a protected multipurpose path on the north side for pedestrians and bicycles," says Esperanza. "It will enhance the area in front of the high school. It will enhance the bus shelters and just provide some aesthetically pleasing landscaping and street lights for the whole corridor, and the pavement of the road will also be refreshed, repaved as well."
There was another open house in December for the project. Esperanza tells me that the design then was not well received by the community, so they went back to the drawing board
“The first batch wasn't quite up to par, and so we went and redid it,” she explains.
Paso Robles resident John Almaguer was at the first meeting and says that after seeing the new design, he’s interested to see how the project turns out.
“That's going to be a multi-purpose sidewalk where you can drive bicycles, walk scooters," he shares. "So, that sounds really interesting to me."
The design will now go back to the council on Sept. 16 so it can be formally approved. More details on the project can be found here.
