On Tuesday April 22 the Morro Bay City Council voted 3-2 to give away millions of dollars of outside funding to fix a major safety problem in the city.
For 20 years Morro Bay citizens and councils have been looking for improvements to the tangled six-way intersection at highway 1, Main Street, and highway 41. We see it as a threat to pedestrians (including high school students) and it has the highest vehicular accident rate in the city.
A solution is at hand! Except the current City Council rejects it for reasons that do not stand up to facts and analysis.
The solution proposed by CalTrans and the project consultant is a roundabout. As a Tribune article pointed out on April 29, a roundabout is the safest way to calm traffic, reduce speed, and reduce the number and seriousness of pedestrian and car accidents. Current analysis of this specific roundabout estimates it is by far the safest approach to the problem in Morro Bay.
What about cost? Cash-strapped Morro Bay doesn’t even have to pay for it. Beyond some environmental research that is already 96% done and mostly paid for, the project will be funded by CalTrans and the SLO County Council of Governments. It is virtually free.
There is no good reason to reject this badly needed improvement. The Morro Bay City Council is currently scheduled to take the next step to terminate the project on May 27. Attend the Council or email them to ask them to reverse the April 22 decision and move forward with the roundabout.
Marlys McPherson
Glenn Silloway
Morro Bay