Traffic circles aim to slow speeders in Salinas
Pedestrian deaths are a big problem, especially in Salinas. Nationally, of all traffic-related deaths, 18-percent were pedestrians. Last year in Salinas, it was 70-percent. Residents hope new measures will force drives to slow down, before someone gets hit or killed.
The City of Salinas has been slowly introducing calming measures in areas where drivers speed. One of those areas is Riker Street, from Blanco to Alisal.
“You see it all the time, they just fly through,” is how one resident described the traffic.
Riker Street is a residential area that is supposed to have a 25 mile per hour speed limit. However, studies found as many as 4,200 cars going through the street every day, sometimes at speeds of 40 miles per hour.
“Dangerous situations. Incidents where folks were injured or property was damaged and ultimately with a vote of the neighbors, we were able to move forward with this traffic calming,” Salinas Council Member Steve McShane said.
The solution – traffic circles. They look like roundabouts but are smaller and with a different purpose. Roundabouts control the right of way, traffic circles slow the speeds.
“So when you’re getting to a roundabout, you yield to the vehicle in the roundabout,” said James Serrano, transportation manager for the City of Salinas. “With traffic circles, like I said it’s a speed cushion in the roadway, you still have to respect all the rules in that intersection. There’s stop signs at the intersection? Those are still effective. People need to follow them.”
There are two traffic circles on Iris Drive across from the rodeo grounds and four along Riker Street. People there believe it’s an improvement.
“We’ve seen up to a 35 or more percent drop, depending on the day, in the speeds and a good drop in the number of cars coming this way,” McShane said. “This is not as big a shortcut. Ultimately these circles are working, they’re doing their job.”
But with it there’s been some criticism – Why not speed bumps? The city said it slows down first responders who use the road as a primary emergency response route. Others don’t believe it slows anyone down.
“People are saying, ‘Well I can still drive fast through this,’ and the question we should be asking is, ‘Why do you need to be driving fast on those streets?'”
The city believes once drivers get used to the traffic circles, their behavior will change.
The Salinas Traffic and Transportation Commission is revisiting the issue of traffic calming measures next week. They want folks from the Riker area to stop by, as well as anyone who wants to learn more about getting these in their neighborhoods. The meeting in Thursday, August 9 at 6 p.m. at the City Hall Rotunda.
