Should deadly El Campo, Hwy 101 intersection be closed? SLO County wants your opinion
Last October, 18-year-old Cal Poly student Jordan Grant was killed at the intersection of Highway 101 and El Campo Road just south of Arroyo Grande, when a vehicle turning onto the highway hit his motorcycle.
Now, the San Luis Obispo County Council of Governments wants to know if you think the intersection should be closed, or what other safety improvements you would like to see made to the busy roadway.
SLOCCOG will host an open house meeting at the Arroyo Grande Hospital Annex at 345 South Halcyon Road from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday to share information about the next steps regarding the intersection.
The council, which governs county-wide transportation issues, has started a two-step process to “technically understand the implications of restricting access on this stretch of U.S. 101,” according to its website.
The first step is preparing a traffic displacement study to examine detour routes and safety impacts caused by changes to access and circulation patterns; the second is a more in-depth study that would propose short-term improvements, according to its website.
At other meetings, the public’s suggestions for how to address the problematic interchange have varied.
Grant’s family has continuously advocated for its closure, calling the intersection a “death trap” and asking for it to be shut down immediately.
Residents in the area have asked for an overpass to be put in instead of fully closing the interchange, so that traffic patterns don’t have to change, and so they can retain emergency access routes to their homes.
For more information on the meeting, or SLOCOG’s current plan of action, visit slocog.org/studies-underway/el-campo-road-intersection.
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