Front Page  »  

AG Council votes to reopen Brisco Road ramps

November 28, 2016

Arroyo GrandeThe Arroyo Grande City Council voted 4-1 Tuesday to reopen the Brisco Road off ramp in mid-December with Mayor Jim Hill dissenting.

Currently, the north bound ramps are closed due to a study to determine how a permanent closure would impact traffic congestion in Arroyo Grande. Since the closure, about 66 percent of public responses are in favor of keeping the ramps closed.

However, while Caltrans agreed to allow the ramps to remain closed until June, it would not permit the closure to extend until the city moves forward on one of two possible alternatives to reduce traffic congestion in the intersection.

Proponents of reopening the ramps voiced concerns about traffic backing up on the highway. In addition, Council Member Barbara Harmon saw no benefit in keeping the ramps closed for six months when Caltrans would require the ramps to be reopened in June.

Opponents of reopening the ramps argued that not only did the majority of city residents want to keep the ramps closed, safety personnel noted quicker response times with the ramps closed. In addition, Hill said he also wanted to keep the ramps closed for an additional six months to gauge the impact of a Food 4 Less opening near the intersection in March.

“I am certainly disappointed we did not take advantage of Caltrans offer to keep the ramps closed another six months, that would have been a benefit to the community,” Hill said. “When the ramps were closed, we saw better emergency response times. It also dramatically reduced traffic congestion.”


Loading...
Related:


10 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

I think the whole town should be a bottle neck , all the queers in Town should ride bikes , and the dykes for that mater if you need to go to SLO or santa maria get up early, Mayor hill thinks cal trans is right… there you go .. Hill have you been doing that pot stuff?good Lord crazy .. Get You Som of That !


0

They should not get any input from the genius Caltrans traffic engineer(s) that came up with widening the 101 at the Avila Beach on and off ramps. That really helped.


0

The ramp has been closed what, a year?


Make a call. Something about govt. that makes people’s brains slow down to 1/4 speed.


If this were a private business the ultimate decision would be made as soon as there was statistically significant data. Beyond that you’re just dragging heels.


0

“Something about govt. that makes people’s brains slow down to 1/4 speed”, easy answer, it’s not their money. As you said a private business would have already made the call one way or the other, but when you are using taxpayer money, the usual plan is to talk, talk talk, analyze, analyze, analyze, spend, spend spend, the after wasting a substantial amount of taxpayer money, announce a decision, and as in this case one with no solid funding means and with the hope of dragging it out more as to waste more money.


The recent playground structure was another one, the beginning plan was a private person with a plan costing a few dollars by the time government got involved, studies later, large use of staff time, (more $$$$$), presentations, (more $$$$$), we end up with a completely different structure costing big $$$$$$$. What a waste. Not to mention time at a city council meeting which should have taken less than an hour ended up pushing the meeting very late.


0

“about 66 percent of public responses are in favor of keeping the ramps closed.”.


Why is it that the council members think that their opinions are above the public? Watching the meeting on TV, all community members who spoke that evening were in favor of keeping the on ramp closed for the next 6 months to see the impact of the new Food 4 Less.


Yet, council feels it’s no big deal, just re-open and let’s take one of the multi-million dollar options instead? Where are they getting that money? How much money has been wasted already on this project? More millions.


I did not know that Arroyo Grande was so rich.


0

Why even have a local government since Caltrans calls the shots?


0

Jim, quit confusing the council with the FACTS. Never mind the 2/3 majority, or the better EMS response times…this council is about NOT listening to the community.

You are in a very unenviable position being the only one with any common sense.


0

I vaguely recall when the WalMart was going in that “they” did traffic studies and whatnot only to tell us that there would be little- to no impact with the off/on-ramps. I recall thinking we are being lied to if someone thinks that those “mini” on- and off-ramps would not affect traffic nor congestion.


It has been a bit of a pain for me, but I am not a resident, so many of my visits would utilize those ramps; I adapted, it’s not critical, and it does seem to improve traffic around the local roads that connect there.


I think the problem was that they should have just been closed and not “studied” – nothing new is going to show up: they cause congestion and are not “mission-critical” for the operations of the retail players there. The slight benefit of convenience does not seem to out-weigh the problems of congestion or (now) emergency response times (which improve with any reduction in traffic congestion, one would think).


0

I agree it should remain closed but that being said, I wouldn’t lay it all on Wal-Mart. I worked in A.G. in the late 80’s and it was crap back then WAYYYY before Wal-Mart, getting under that freeway.


The other that was bad was the overpass by OSH that they widened to 4 lanes and moved the on and off ramps. That use to back up almost all the way to Grand Ave. Once took me (no lie) 40 minutes to get from Grand to the freeway.


Point is that a lot of this was bad planning back when freeway was built and before a lot of population and stores.


We have same problem up here in North County at 46 west.. When I moved here that intersection got little traffic. As we grew it has gotten bad. Yes development impacted but COMMON FOLKS, this is bound to happen. Life changes.


We can’t go back and undo the past. Lets move forward and fix.


0

Please say it isn’t so.


0