Templeton residents are no strangers to the traffic that comes with driving in the growing North County town, especially at the intersection of Rossi and Vineyard.
“The intersection is challenging during school hours as it is extremely impacted and hazardous,” Templeton resident Zoya Dixon said during public comment at the Nov. 28 San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors meeting. “It is a danger to both pedestrians and vehicles, specifically vehicles making a left-hand turn onto Vineyard.”
That day the board voted 4-0—with 5th District Supervisor Debbie Arnold absent—to take the next steps of improving safety and traffic flow along Vineyard Drive.
“Our overall goal is to create a long-range vision for the entire [road],” SLO County Transportation Manager Joshua Roberts told the board. “And eventually roll out plans that are intended for future projects over the next 20 years while improving road access and safety for all drivers.”
But residents like Dixon are concerned that the county’s long-term planning is not acting fast enough to provide a short-term solution for intersections along Vineyard Drive, like the one at Rossi.
“It does not identify a meaningful solution in any appropriate time frame for a growing community where traffic and access is already increasingly difficult and dangerous,” she said.
In particular, Dixon said, the turn into the Trader Joe’s parking lot presents an issue that needs to be addressed sooner rather than later.
“Rossi feeds into a small mall with a Trader Joe’s, various restaurants, and other small businesses,” Dixon said. “Trader Joe’s is one of the few places in North County to purchase groceries, and the only one in Templeton.”
Trader Joe’s employees, according to Dixon, often have to make a dangerous walk down Rossi every day to their place of employment from a dirt parking area along Vineyard Road.
“Because that intersection of Rossi and Vineyard is so dangerous, they avoid it entirely and walk along the property line and cross further down Rossi to avoid turning traffic,” she said. “Because of this behavior, pedestrian counts at that intersection will not be accurate.”
In response, Roberts said that a short-term solution to those specific concerns could create new problems.
He said that one short-term solution that some residents have suggested involves putting crosswalks and signals at the intersection along that segment of Vineyard.
“While it’s true that … these changes would formalize the intersection, we would also in the future need to signalize [other streets] and respect the already existing signals,” Roberts said at the meeting. “Rossi Road itself would become unreasonably congested.”
First District Supervisor and Templeton resident John Peschong said that while he understood why the traffic issues needed to be addressed, it was important for both his fellow board members and residents to know that no formal decisions were being made.
Dixon and others urged the board to strongly consider asking staff to research a faster alternative.
“We are kindly requesting a revisit … to this part of the project, and propose a quick-build solution at this intersection in a reasonable time frame to protect our community and enhance the quality of life,” she said.
Fourth District Supervisor Jimmy Paulding echoed that sentiment and said the board’s end goal should remain focused on making things safer as soon as staff figured out what is possible.
“We are in a position where in the rural parts of our county that have become more urban, people want to see us transition and see routes become safer,” Paulding said. “These types of improvements are not only intended to make our community safer in theory, they actually do—we will save lives, we will create safe routes for kids to get to schools, and people will be able to get groceries.” Δ
This article appears in Nov 30 – Dec 10, 2023.
