SLO expected to approve $1.3 million for traffic barriers at downtown Farmers Market
With the goal of preventing a devastating tragedy downtown, the San Luis Obispo City Council is expected to formally sign off on a $1.3 million budget expenditure Tuesday to install safety bollards or other types of barriers during for the Downtown SLO Farmers' Market and other public events.
The city plans to have its first phase of road blocks in place this winter during farmers markets to prevent motorists from accidentally or purposefully plowing into pedestrians, which has happened at public events nationwide, said Daryl Grigsby, the city's director of public works.
The city still is formulating which type of security measures it will use — but Grisby said he's hoping to have a formal plan in place soon.
The council unanimously supported the allocation in February. If approved as expected, the budget allocation would set aside general fund money for the 2018-2019 fiscal year for the downtown security measures.
Elsewhere in the country, motorists have barreled into pedestrians at farmers markets. In 2003, a driver plowed through barricades at the Santa Monica Farmers Market, killing 10 pedestrians and injuring 63 others.
Similar fatal incidents have occurred in Venice Beach, Austin, Texas, and Hawthorne, New Jersey.
"We've been calling around to other cities that have used barriers to get the best sense of what will work for us," Grisby said.
The city is looking at placing bollards — short, sturdy posts used to divert traffic from the road — at a total of nine locations in the downtown area. Those include spots on Higuera, Broad, Garden, Chorro, Morro and Monterey streets where those attending farmers markets enter and gather.
Those temporary blockades could be mechanical barriers that rise and sink into underground pockets in the street at the push of a button.
Or they could be removable barricades that are positioned for special events by the city and then hauled away and stored elsewhere when not needed — an option that would require more manpower and storage space.
"We're leaning toward options that don't require a deep excavation of the downtown area," Grisby said. "The mechanical lifts would require an excavation, and there are all kinds of lines and infrastructure below our downtown streets."
Grisby said the city's priorities would be to focus on barricades for the both ends of Higuera and the east and west ends of Mission Plaza.
"I think we'll use all that $1.3 million and I'm not sure we've be able to do something at all nine locations," Grigsby said. "So, we'll probably have to prioritize ... The city of Berkeley, which has a well-attended farmers market, only has two barriers at access points. So, nine is ambitious."
Grisby said that the project has been talked about for the past four to five years, and the city and council have heard from members of the public who are concerned about road safety in the downtown.
The city has faced several close calls with confused drivers who aren't aware public events are taking place downtown, and nearly have slammed into pedestrians, Grisby said.
The funding allocation would come from a pot of $6.5 million in excess reserve funding generated over the past year due to "better than expected revenues and significant operational savings."
Other expenditures of the excess reserve funding include $1 million to use to offset a potential economic downturn; $4.2 million toward paying down rising pension costs and $250,000 for an infrastructure investment fund.
This story was originally published June 4, 2018 at 5:25 PM with the headline "SLO expected to approve $1.3 million for traffic barriers at downtown Farmers Market."