The El Cajon City Council last month gave the go-ahead to a project called "Main Street Green Street." It is intended to make the area near the El Cajon Transit Center greener, more accessible and safer for bike riders and pedestrians and encourage public transit use.
Tony Mendoza, associate engineer for El Cajon, said that while there is not a large number of cyclists frequenting the area, the thought is that if the city makes areas safer and more accommodating, it will encourage more activity.
The project is one of the first steps in the city's Transit District Specific Plan, adopted by the City Council in 2018. The plan laid out a blueprint for redeveloping about 260 acres surrounding the El Cajon Transit Center at 352 S. Marshall Ave.
The city envisions the transformation of the area around the transit center into a neighborhood with a range of housing options, commercial services, employment opportunities and facilities — all connected to local and regional transportation, with streets designed to provide safe and attractive connections to the transit station, and beyond.
The city received $2.5 million for the project from San Diego Association of Governments to use toward the upgrades. The project was also awarded an additional $250,000 grant from the San Diego River Conservancy to use drought tolerant landscaping and other storm water components for the project. City staff said TransNet is providing some matching funds to the other money.
The project is currently halfway through the design phase for the area along Main Street from Marshall Avenue to Johnson Avenue. Plans are expected to be solidified in March 2021, with construction slated to begin June 2021 and end December 2022.
Among the changes coming:
Two eastbound lanes along West Main Street will be reduced to one lane; Protected bike lanes along West Main Street in both directions together with widened sidewalks along the southerly side of the corridor; Surface improvements and a mid-block crosswalk are proposed along Marshall Avenue from West Main Street to Palm Avenue; Forty new street trees with decorative tree grates, low-maintenance and drought-tolerant plants and a state-of-the-art irrigation system;New decorative streetlights to improve nighttime illumination. City Councilman Bob McClellan expressed concern about the lane reduction, which will occur near on- and off-ramps at Interstate 8.
McClellan said he people might not feel comfortable getting off I-8 at that exit and might avoid El Cajon altogether, "going to Santee and not using our shopping centers and our car dealerships as much."
"I think we're making a big mistake squeezing the traffic down in that area near the freeway," McClellan said. "People are not getting out of their cars right now. They may in 2050 but not yet. I think we're jumping ahead of ourselves."
Councilman Gary Kendrick asked rhetorically: "How many people are going to be riding their bikes out here in East County on a hot summer day?"
Mendoza said flexible delineators between bike lanes and vehicular traffic could be removed and the road re-striped if there is not as big of a demand for the bike lane as the city envisions.
This story originally appeared in San Diego Union-Tribune.
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