City moves forward with $1 million safety upgrade aimed at improving pedestrian, bicycle, and ADA access at key traffic hub

The City of Morro Bay is out for bids to make improvements to one of its busiest intersections, with an eye at making it safer for bicyclists and pedestrians, especially those with handicaps.

The Request for Proposals or RFP went out March 26 and proposals were due by April 30. From there the city would analyze the bids and choose a company to make the improvements. Work is expected to begin in mid-August.

The RFP seeks someone for the “design of a budgeted city project for multimodal and safety improvements and enhancements to the intersection of Main Street and Quintana Road, the city’s only signalized intersection.

“The purpose of this project is to implement Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) improvements to the intersection and promote safer access for increased usage by pedestrians and bicycles, meanwhile providing flow of vehicle traffic through two main arterial roadways of the city.”

It’s a tough intersection to deal with, as both Main Street and Quintana Road have steep roadways into and away from the intersection.

The city has $1 million — $621,000 in grant funding and another $381,000 in additional monies — allocated for the project.

The grant monies came from a Community Development Block Grant and a Community Betterment and Accessible Streets grant program administered by the San Luis Obispo Council of Governments or SLOCOG.

Though the RFP calls for bidders to do the design work on the intersection, the city laid out several areas to focus on:

  • Upgrade of curb ramps and abutting sidewalks to current ADA standards
  • Installation of updated audible push buttons and pedestrian signal heads
  • Exploring and implementing signal modifications for bicycle detection, bicycle crossing, dedicated bicycle/pedestrian phasing, or push buttons from Class II facilities to existing Class 1 path on the north side of intersection
  • Upgrade of traffic signal software, timers, and other equipment as needed for safety upgrades including addition of Opticons sensor or potential installation of cameras
  • Striping improvements, including crosswalks, bicycle conflict striping and buffers, and delineators for addressing level of stress for bicycle users
  • Pavement restoration in intersection to accommodate new ADA ramps, signal upgrades, new loop installations, pavement markers, safety, and bicycle features.

And whoever wins the bid and does the design will have to present the project to three city boards — PWAB, the Finance Committee, and the City Council, so it appears residents should have ample opportunity to comment on the plans.

That intersection has long been of concern to the city as cars tend to drive far too fast on Quintana Road both heading up to the intersection and turning onto the steep downhill road when leaving Main Street.

The Main-Quintana intersection is one of a handful of problematic intersections the city plans to address at some point. Others include Main Street and Highway 41, which is being proposed for a roundabout; and the Highway 1/Main/Alder/San Jacinto jumble, which had also at one time been proposed for a roundabout, but that idea was rejected by the City Council.

As for Highway 41 and Main Street, the roundabout solution continues to languish in red tape, with the city staff currently working on the environmental review, and SLOCOG holding onto millions of dollars it set aside long ago. There has been pressure from other cities to reallocate that money to more, ready-to-go projects elsewhere in the county.

Indeed, the Highway 41/Main Street roundabout almost lost its funding a couple of months ago when the SLOCOG staff proposed moving that money into the fund for completion of the Bob Jones Trail, a bicycle and pedestrian path that, when completed, will connect South SLO to Avila Beach with a segregated pathway.

They had also recommended moving money away from the Morro Bay-Cayucos Connector Path Project, a dedicated bike path from North Point in Morro Bay to the south end of Studio Drive in Cayucos, traversing the bluff top overlooking the beach.

But in the end, SLOCOG found other monies to use for the Bob Jones Trail project and the Connector and the Highway 41/Main Street roundabout project is still live.