Work of Class CE424 Fall 05 “Public Transportation”

San Luis Obispo South 2050

Instructor Eugene Jud, Fellow ITE, ejud@calpoly.edu , (805) 756-1729

The class planned a “Sustainable SLO South”, and had a public exhibition of the projects in the City/County Library on November 18^th, 2005 with posters and PowerPoint presentations. Approximately 20 guests from politics, City committees, the press, County Planning, Caltrans, and Cal Poly viewed our work.

Enclosed are the PowerPoint presentations, overall maps, and full reports for each project. Unfortunately, we cannot give you the large posters, but they are available from Eugene Jud if needed.

Planning in SLO South is highly political due to the issues including the Dalidio Property, access to the Sports Fields, and more. The students’ work must be seen in the context of the SLOCOG campaign “Community 2050,” which is somehow visionary. Most groups emphasized additional mobility connections to SLO South using alternative modes and omitted the freeway interchange at Prado Road. Only one of the groups envisioned Prado Road to be developed as a four lane arterial between the Damon-Garcia Sports Fields and the South Hills. The guiding principle for the planning was a quote by the City Manager of Ventura, Rick Cole:

"All politics is local -- even global politics. Here in Southern California, we have one car for every driver. And our zoning codes mean we now have seven parking spaces for every car. If China copies our model, that's seven billion more parking spaces in China alone. That's not just a problem for pandas -- that's a global environmental catastrophe. Right now we are 6% of the planet's population, but consume 22% of its fossil fuels. By 2015, though, China will surpass us as the globe's largest gas guzzler. The choices we make in our communities today will determine our standard of living and quality of life when gas hits seven bucks a gallon."

• Group 1 designed an internal greenbelt to connect all of SLO South with a pedestrian/bike bridge over the freeway. A Bus Rapid Transit system was also suggested. This project is the easiest to understand.

• Group 2 (not shown) proposed a pedestrian/bicycle bridge over Broad Street connecting the Marigold Center to the Damon-Garcia Sports Fields, as well as a Transit Center on Tank Farm Road near the railroad.

• Group 3 planned an extended light rail system for SLO South and a golf course on the Dalidio Property.

• Group 4 proposed a light rail system from Cal Poly to the Marigold Center, Margarita Area, and the Dalidio Property with a Transit Center in the Margarita Area, including new bus lines to SLO South.

• Group 5 favored a streetcar system similar to the one in the Pearl District of Portland and a park/community/convention center on the Dalidio Property.

This is food for thought and we hope you enjoy it.