San Benito County and City of Hollister officials are taking it up a gear by adding bike paths and safer crosswalks near local schools.
The San Benito County Council of Governments received a grant to prepare a plan for safe routes to schools, and Hollister made some of those safety improvements a reality this fall near Calaveras and R.O. Hardin Schools using city funds.
“They (COG) got a grant and they had a lot of public input to help develop strategies to make it safer and encourage people—parents and students—to walk to school,” said Mary Paxton, the program manager for the City of Hollister.
As part of the project, employees from Hollister public works in November striped yellow, high-visibility crosswalks along sections of Line Street, Westside Boulevard, Buena Vista Road and Central Avenue. They also added sections of bike paths to San Felipe Road and striped a path on San Juan Road between Westside Boulevard and Miller Road, Paxton said.
“It was done over a span of time because these guys are really busy, but we’re really excited,” she said.
For Pat Moore, a trustee with the Hollister School District, which runs Calaveras and R.O. Hardin, high-visibility crosswalks are a step in the right direction but there are still plenty of safety improvements needed to keep students safe as they travel to campuses.
“There’s a lot of infrastructure that still needs improvement, and the crosswalks is a nice start,” Moore said.
Moore did not remember discussing plans to stripe yellow, high-visibility crosswalks near several local schools, but affirmed crosswalks—along with other types of safety improvements—are needed.
“I think the crosswalks are very important,” said Moore, adding how other problems exist since some students near Sunnyslope School walk in the dirt to get to classes and are often accompanied by parents rolling baby strollers across unpaved paths.
A handful of neighbors steaming crabs in a large metal pot on Vista Lane off Westside Boulevard last week reflected on the idea of additional bike paths nearby. There is already an existing north-south bicycle lane on Westside Boulevard, but Hollister Public Works Department employees recently striped an additional path near Calaveras School on San Juan Road between Westside Boulevard and Miller Road.
“You know what we need here on Westside? We need speed bumps, ” said Martin Montes, 63, who has lived on the boulevard for almost 20 years. “We don’t mind the bike lanes or whatever but we desperately need speed bumps.”
The speed limit is technically 35 miles an hour, but most vehicles zoom through at close to freeway speeds at 50 to 60 miles an hour, Montes said.
“This road is too fast,” said Louie Freitas, 59, who lives on Vista Lane and added that it’s dangerous for dogs to cross the nearby boulevard. It is also dangerous for young children walking to school.
The plan for safe routes to schools is meant to improve student safety, eliminate congestion at school, encourage healthy lifestyle choices by making it possible to bike or walk to school and to meet the statewide objective of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by getting cars off the roads, Paxton said. There is more to do with the safe routes to school plan but it’s contingent on securing funding, Paxton said.
“We’re going to keep looking for grant funding,” she said. “We’ll keep applying.”
