Like traffic? Move to SLO. Photo courtesy of opinion editor Jane Culbreath.
Ask a person visiting or living in San Luis Obispo, which includes many of San Luis Obispo High School’s student body, a takeaway from the area, they may say a walk through Bubblegum Alley, watching a show at SLO’s Repertory Theatre, or a stay at the Madonna Inn. SLO undoubtedly has a lot of great places and experiences to offer for its residents, visitors and students.
However, I think it is much more likely that the biggest take away a person can take from SLO is the absolute mess of its streets.
Be it construction, cyclists, an endless amount of one-way streets, or pedestrians, there is almost nothing about the streets of SLO that makes travel here easy or practical.
“In SLO there are a lot of places that do not have crosswalks that are dangerous for pedestrians and cars to navigate,” said freshman Aiden Field.
This point is totally valid as there are multiple crosswalks on California Boulevard, for example without a specified or clearly marked pedestrian crossing covering almost four lanes of traffic.
I have recently moved into the SLO area from Morro Bay, and compared to the other cities and towns I’ve lived in, getting around in San Luis Obispo can be a real hassle. In Morro Bay, common coffeehouse conversations would consist of the weather, plans for the day, and complaining about going into SLO. And in my opinion they’re not wrong.
SLO has the one way street issue. The purpose for one way streets is to calm traffic and make it safer for pedestrians and drivers alike.
But with so many of these streets, constant construction on nearby sidewalks, and quite frankly, a higher number of elderly and brand new drivers on the road, getting around is a headache in and of itself.
SLO is also home to a couple high schools, including San Luis Obispo High, Mission College Prep, as well as San Luis Obispo Classical Academy. This means that there are more students that are of the age -or near enough- to begin learning to drive, or are already on the road. I personally cannot think of a more hellish place to learn to drive than in SLO. Instead of a calm, reassuring environment, San Luis Obispo’s streets provide a stressful and confusing drive.
However, there is a reason for all of the repairs that have been ongoing for a while now, which can be found on the City of San Luis Obispo’s website. The goal from the construction is to create a safer area for drivers and pedestrians, with the repairing of street signs, paving the roads, and gutter repairs among some of the renovations being made to the streets of SLO.
Regardless of the desired outcome, the current situation that those going around SLO are in is anything but desirable. Whether its multiple one way streets, streets with an ever changing lane count, or people that straight up should not be on the road, SLO certainly has something unique to offer its commuters, and that is a dumpster fire of a trip through town.
Source: slocity.org