Politics & Government
U-Turn Me Round and Round, Decision On Downtown Lafayette Streetscape Project Postponed Until January
Lafayette residents were out in force Monday to hear the latest plans for a downtown makeover — right down to the faux Victorian streetlamps.
Whether a U-turn at Mount Diablo and Happy Valley Road should be allowed to remain in place was key to Monday night's Lafayette City Council meeting discussions on the proposed downtown Streetscape Project.
After two hours of testimony from Streetscape architect Sudhish Mohindroo and community feedback pro and con, the U-turn matter was tabled until additional testing and study of traffic patterns at the intersection is completed in early January.
The city of Lafayette recently won a 1.2 million federal Transportation for Livable
Communities grant to upgrade the sidewalks on Mount Diablo Boulevard between Lafayette Circle, Oak Grove Road and Mountain View Drive. The city will match that amount with $350,000, bringing the renovation cost to about 1.5 million.
This proposed downtown design project will include brick paving, stone planters,
street furniture, decorative benches, Victorian-style street lights, public art, bike racks and trash receptacles. Mohindroo feels this will coalesce nicely with the improvements in front of the nearby Lafayette Mercantile Building and Town Centre shops across the street.
While the Streetscape Project will significantly improve the aesthetics of downtown
Lafayette and make life safer for pedestrians and cyclists, it will be less convenient for motorists and prohibit cars from making a U-turn at the intersection of Mount Diablo and Happy Valley Road.
Local business owner Karen Crawford feels a "no U-turn" policy would exacerbate
already tenuous downtown traffic conditions. Mohindroo countered by saying that the many benefits of the project outweigh this minor inconvenience to motorists.
Also of concern to some is the placement of low stone planters in front of CVS and Diablo Foods, potentially narrowing the driveway and making the heavily congested parking lot slightly more cumbersome to navigate. This issue, staff suggested, can be remedied by restriping the parking spaces — a move that requires permission from the property owners.
The council will render a final decision on the Streetscape Project at its Jan. 10
meeting. Construction on the project is scheduled to begin in the summer.
