With school back in session, students are taking advantage of
the sun and biking or walking to school.
But sometimes, the routes to school are dangerous or lacking.
With this in mind, Hollister’s Public Works Department has applied
for a grant to make school routes safer on Meridian Street.
With school back in session, students are taking advantage of the sun and biking or walking to school.
But sometimes, the routes to school are dangerous or lacking. With this in mind, Hollister’s Public Works Department has applied for a grant to make school routes safer on Meridian Street.
“There have been several complaints and accidents over the years,” said Matt Atteberry, assistant engineer with the Public Works Department. “We need to calm the traffic down. There are a lot of bike racks (at Marguerite Maze Middle School) but no bike lanes.”
The grant is for $429,000 and the department is expecting notification this month. The application calls for a bike lane on the south side of Meridian Street, a bike lane with chicanes on the north side, sidewalk improvements, restriping the whole street and decreasing traffic from four to two lanes, Atteberry said.
Chicanes are curb extensions that alternate from one side of the street to the other, forming S-shaped curves. They serve as buffer zones between traffic and pedestrians or bicyclists.
After studying the area, staff observed that the four lanes allowed passing. Two lanes would provide for traffic without passing or speeding, as well as fit in with the traffic-calming strategy. Atteberry said there have been requests for the Hollister Police Department to increase enforcement in that area. After looking at the street’s traffic volume, it could be decreased to two lanes, he said.
Staff also studied the route and found that many more people use Meridian in addition to the students.
“It’s not just for students. We did a survey and it found that, throughout the day, a lot of people use it as a pedestrian and bike route to get to downtown,” Atteberry said.
The grant money would come from the California Department of Transportation and would be for the next fiscal year, Atteberry said. Although Meridian will eventually be linked to Fairview Road, the project is at least five or 10 years down the road.
Atteberry said Maze was chosen for the grant because “most of the problems associated with schools were around Meridian.”
