Unlike some residents, I appreciate several aspects of the transformation of Chorro Street: using plant containers to separate bikes from cars, planting trees, decorating the underpass to make this once dreary stretch more welcoming for pedestrians. My main objection—and it’s a big one—is the unreasonable cost for a project that may not have been necessary at all.
There has never been any bike death on Chorro, and the number of cyclists has always been low. Even now I see very few bikes when I walk along the street, so the question is: Was the $6 million expense undertaken for aesthetic or for safety reasons? If it was for safety reasons, using Lincoln Street all the way to West Street would have been more efficient and would have eliminated the dangerously confusing switch from right to left at Chorro and Lincoln. And it would have cost much less.
We have been waiting for more than 50 years for attention, and if it means waiting a little longer so the city can figure out how to make this boulevard finally safe and more appealing, we will wait a little longer.
Now let’s take the case of Foothill Boulevard, the longtime neglected boulevard that sees hundreds of student cyclists commuting to Cal Poly every day, risking their lives in the narrow unprotected so-called bike lanes. Two of them have already been killed—Kennedy Love in 2017 and Andreas Kooi in 2021. Since the day I moved near Foothill Boulevard almost 50 years ago, no effort has been undertaken to make the boulevard safer—except for a pedestrian crossing at Ferrini after Kennedy Love was killed. Speeding cars, nonstop noise, pollution, narrow unprotected bike lanes and sidewalks, bare vegetation, all of this was already there 50 years ago. The recent dramatic influx of bikes has added another dimension to the many dangers presented by the boulevard.
The city is finally studying various improvements for Foothill, but money is an issue. After spending $6 million on the controversial Chorro project, there is a big hole in the treasury, and we are left scrambling for crumbs when it comes to something important like Foothill. There are talks of using quick fixes and ugly cost-effective physical barriers such as flexible posts to separate bike lanes instead of the attractive and much more efficient boxes used on Chorro. This worries me and should worry everyone. I do not want to see a low-cost, quickly slapped together “improvement” that leads to another death. I am sure most residents don’t want it either.
I hope that all the neighbors, cyclists, Cal Poly students, and parents of students work together with the city and demand a thorough, safe, and attractive job as was done on Chorro, with boxes where needed, trees and bushes added to the bare landscape to calm traffic, roundabouts with plants to slow it down, etc. We have been waiting for more than 50 years for attention, and if it means waiting a little longer so the city can figure out how to make this boulevard finally safe and more appealing, we will wait a little longer. But, please, in memory of those who lost their lives on Foothill, do it right. ∆
Odile Ayral writes to New Times from San Luis Obispo. Send a response to letters@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Sept 17-24, 2026.
Odile, you have it mostly right
I’m glad to see you back in the “Letters” column in New Times! It’s been ten years. You should write more often. Your letter in the September 17 issue prompts me to respond here.
First, allow me to try to clarify your second paragraph where you suggest “using Lincoln Street all the way to West Street.” This suggestion makes no sense unless you are talking about Broad Street as an alternative to Chorro Street. I couldn’t support that, due to the narrow width of Broad Street and the way it serves steeply-sloped homesites on both sides.
I’m a bike rider who uses the North Chorro Greenway almost every day, and I see a LOT of bicycles on my route into downtown and back. I truly appreciate BOTH the aesthetics of this facility AND the fact that I can ride safely in a protected bikeway for almost its entire length into downtown. The $6 million expense to provide this greenway was fully justified, in my opinion, if it prevents bike accidents such as that which cost the life of Kennedy Love on Foothill Boulevard.
I echo your hope that the City now turn its attention to bike safety for Foothill – but I question your assertion the City will never have the money to implement those improvements. Bicycle and pedestrian safety is the primary goal for the Foothill Boulevard Complete Streets Plan, still in its first stages of public outreach. The City would not have initiated this plan for Foothill if there was no funding to implement that Plan – though it won’t happen for a few moreyears. Let’s be patient and hold them to their commitments in this upcoming Complete Streets Plan for Foothill. If they don’t, then we can complain that they didn’t follow through.
But I think that they will. Soon afterI was termed out in 2016, every Councilmember since then has made good on their commitment to allocate more funding from our transportation budget to improve bicycle safety. I only wish that I had made that commitment when I held office.
Finally – let me amplify your larger point: You’re right to point out the dangerous mix of heavy automobile traffic with intense bicycle and pedestrian traffic at the eastern end of Foothill Boulevard. It gets much worse as one approaches Cal Poly, particularly at the intersection with Santa Rosa Street (Highway One). Ten years ago, I had advanced a “blue sky” proposal for a bicycle/pedestrian tunnel UNDER Foothill Boulevard that could be developed west of Santa Rosa, connecting Boysen Street with City- and Cal Poly-owned property just west of the Lutheran Church. Yes, it would cost money – but it would be worth every penny, greatly relieving the hazardous conditions at Santa Rosa and Foothill. As to funding, the City could make a good case for an infusion of CalTrans funds – and, if we are lucky – some funding from Cal Poly as well.
When I put forward that proposal during my time on the Council, it lacked the necessary support to get any attention from staff or my fellow Councilmembers. With your (and my) engagement in the Complete Streets Plan, together we might be able to change that.
Let’s focus on a vision for Foothill Boulevard throughout its entire length, from Cal Poly all the way to the city limits at the western end where there are serious defects in the road alignment that constitute a major hazard for this important gateway to the City.
But that’s a subject for another letter to New Times, sometime in the near future. Stay tuned, please!