Highway 227 Corridor
October 10, 2000
The County of San Luis Obispo Public Works and CalTrans believe that removing the traffic signal at Los Ranchos Road and 227 and replacing it with a roundabout will improve traffic flow on 227. When this plan was presented to the public in March of 2019 it was protested by hundreds of local residents and those who work in the area. Concerns about bicyclists, pedestrians, school busses, farm equipment and the difficulty of accessing the roundabout from Los Ranchos Road during peak traffic hours were some of the concerns voiced at the meeting. The alternative plan, which involved widening the 227 to 2 lanes in each direction from the airport through the intersection of Los Ranchos and adding signals at Crestmont Drive and Farmhouse Lane was not chosen for reasons that were never explained, although it was preferred by many of the people at the meeting.
Not to be deterred, in November 2019 County Public Works requested the funds for a second traffic study from the County Board of Supervisors at a cost of nearly $700,000. Kathy Borland of Preserve the SLO Life and 2 other community members spoke at the board meeting, asking that the new study seriously consider the widening of the 227 and include traffic on the 101 and Orcutt Road, all of which are impacted during commute hours. The funds were granted and the study is currently in the environmental review phase. Once this is completed it will be forwarded to CalTrans for their review. The study will then be presented to the public sometime in early 2021. As soon as a public meeting date is set, we will update you here with that information.
February 10, 2021
Good Morning, Neighbors! The county likes to point out that roundabouts reduce the number of serious accidents in an intersection. Some will even tell you that fatalities are impossible because roundabouts eliminate T-Bone accidents. Don't you believe it! The following article details an accident in a roundabout right here in Lompoc.
We were actually asked not to post this article. There was concern that it would cast blame on the firefighter driving the truck. We have nothing but respect for our firefighters and in no way blame the driver. We were told that the driver was inexperienced and there was heavy fog at the time of the accident. This is exactly why we are posting this article. We get many tourists on the 227 who are visiting our wonderful wineries, so by definition they are inexperienced with our roads. We also get heavy fog in Edna Valley many times during the year. This same scenario could happen here.
But what is really disturbing is the following quote from the attached article. Many of you attended the meeting at Los Ranchos Elementary in March of 2019. More than 200 people were there and we made it very clear that we don't want roundabouts on the 227. We gave a variety of reasons. And yet here we are again.
“I, personally, would like to see (the roundabout) removed altogether, but unfortunately I don’t feel like Caltrans is going to do it,” she said. “They went against what we wanted, anyway, to begin with. The mayor didn’t want it, we as the people in the city of Lompoc didn’t want it, and they still went ahead and did it.”
Sound familiar? This is my greatest fear; that although there are far more people opposed to the roundabouts and we are trying to make our voices heard, that the county will ignore us. Please be prepared to attend another meeting, unfortunately probably via Zoom. Also to call or email all of the county supervisors. The latest traffic study is scheduled to be released to the public this spring. I will keep you posted.
Roundabout near Lompoc under renewed scrutiny following fatality
March 3, 2021
Since we last updated you, the project manager for the roundabouts has changed. Genaro Diaz is the new project manager for 227 Corridor Project. It is very obvious that he prefers the roundabout option, although he’s trying hard to pretend that he doesn’t.
We still believe that our strongest option is to convince Caltrans that the community will never be satisfied with a series of roundabouts. We continue to look for contacts in Caltrans that we can meet with. This is apparently difficult because Caltrans prefers to let the county handle the often contentious face-to-face with the taxpayers. Because they “own” the 227, if they won’t go forward the project will effectively be dead.
If any of you are on Facebook, you can search “Proposed 227 Roundabout Insanity” and request to be a member. It is a closed group, and only for those who agree with our view on roundabouts.
Attached is an article regarding why roundabouts are such a terrible idea. It appeared in the Wall Street Journal on March 16, 2020. The picture at the top is enough to strike fear into your heart, and is practically identical to what’s being proposed at Los Ranchos.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/car-crash-mystery-why-cant-drivers-figure-out-roundabouts-11584191556