125 replies to this topic

[intelkid]

Boy, closing Sibley would be *bad* news. Though I have heard they will be making Sibley 4-lanes from Glenn to Blue Ravine. Long overdue, and not hard to do (it's already pretty wide). Though I would suggest they make it 3 lanes by Sibley/Glenn - 1 turning left on to Glenn, 1 straight, 1 right. That would really help.

[Terry]

I don't know what kind of response you got from Miklos - the City Council already heard this issue and agreed to do the proposed closures for a test period beginning in February. This is the same thing they did for old town Folsom, which will be permanent until Folsom Dam Road is reopened (don't hold your breath).

Keep in mind that this proposal didn't come out of the blue. The Sibley/Bidwell neighborhood has had to endure months of lawless drivers (running stop signs, passing over double yellows, driving in the bike lanes - on Lembi, speeding - the limit on Sibley between Glenn and old town, and Lembi is 25 mph, littering, and verbal abuse by drivers when they see neighborhood members holding signs for drivers to slow down).

The neighborhood has never objected solely to the volume of traffic that has found its way into our neighborhood, but over time, drivers become more and more disrespectful to the fact that this IS a residential neighborhood.

Also remember, neighborhood residents will be just as invonvenienced in finding alternate routes for getting where they're going - probably more inconvenienced because we use these routes more than those who simply use the route for commuting to and from work.

If any of you were to come down here and watch what goes on at Lembi and Sibley, or Sibley and Bidwell, you would see that the neighborhood has been more than patient with the current problems. They've run out of options for dealing with the problems and are now involving the city.

[john]

If the "temporary" diverters are indeed now semi permanent (until the new bridge, probably 5 years away), I wish they would do something to make these diverters a little more attractive. Now they really look tacky.

[zach5]

I agree if they are going to leave them there for sometime they should at least make them look a little better because thousands of commuters pass through folsom and get to see some of the most beautiful accents of it( the diverters).

[tony]

Terry: Are you sure council already heard the Sibley issue and decided on a February test period? Were you there? Council is scheduled to hear it at the Januarry 27th council meeting, after it goes through the Traffic Safety Committee one more time on January 22. Traffic Safety has not made a recommendation to council yet.

As for the Scott-Sutter temporary closure. The city is still in the environmental review process for making this permanent. They won't make improvements tothe temporary mess until the environmental review is complete. I don't know when that will be. The other problem with the temporary closure at Scott-Sutter is that it does not provide the bicyckle access promised by the city. As it currently sits, the closure blocks cyclists on Sutter St. from accessing the bike trail connection to the Historic Truss, among other movements.

[bordercolliefan]

The telephone message I received from Mayor Miklos was very clear: he does not support closing Sibley and does not intend to recommend it to the City Council. Also, I received a response from Kerri Howell (one of the City Council members), and she said she is opposed to closing Sibley, too.

Mayor Miklos stated that the Sacramento Bee had reported erroneously, suggesting that it was almost a done deal. He said that since that article appeared, he has received numerous voice messages and emails from concerned citizens opposing the Sibley closure.

[bordercolliefan]

Another point about the Sibley issue:

If the problem is motorists speeding on Sibley, the solution to that is not closing the road. Instead, speed enforcement should be stepped up. I travel on Sibley twice each day (around 8 am and 12 noon) and I have NEVER once seen a police officer there doing speed enforcement. I think the City should try this before they simply shut down the road.

In my experience, once drivers know that a particular road is targeted for speed enforcement, they tend to slow down in a hurry (excuse the pun).

[zach5]

Are there really that many drivers drivng through sibley and other residential streets? I have never noticed because i dont travel that way

[bordercolliefan]

I think it's a misconception to call Sibley a "residential street." It is more accurate to call it a "mixed use" street -- similar to Natoma Street. It has houses but it also has businesses, such as the commercial day care center and a church. It has a solid yellow line down the middle -- not something you find on most true "residential" streets. As the Mayor called it, it is an "arterial street" in Folsom.

I must say in all my hundreds of trips up and down Sibley in the past year, I have never witnessed the bad behavior the residents are complaining about. Most cars go at a pretty reasonable speed, and I have never seen anyone stop in the middle of the road, throw litter, or anything like that. I'm not saying it has never happened -- I'm just saying that I am on Sibley A LOT, and I've never seen it. So I think these are, at most, a few bad apples rather than the typical driver.

It is easy to cast aspersions on the much reviled "commuters" who drive through our town, but the fact is, a large percentage of the users of Sibley St. are simply local residents, like myself, going to Sutter St., to school, or to church.

[Sibley Resident]

Tony is correct this has not yet passed the Traffic Safety committee or been presented to the city council yet. I want to say that I’m very disheartened by some of the comments made here. Sibley is not a main arterial road and is not classified as one in the Folsom’s Master Plan. There is a small section of Sibley between Glenn and Blue Ravine that is commercial. The section between Glenn and Natoma is entirely residential besides the one Day Care (in a house) located on the corner of Sibley and Bidwell. The committee did take the Day Care into serious consideration when coming up with their recommendation. The section of Sibley between Bidwell and Natoma happens to be only 22 ft wide. This is the section of Sibley located in the Historic District and is one of the smallest residential streets in the city of Folsom. The recommendation was made after the committee consisting of residents from every portion of this neighborhood along with city officials spent 2-3 hours a session every week for months going over every possibility. We considered Speed Humps, Chicanes, Gateways, raised intersections, Traffic Circles, Diagonal Diverters, Half street closures and Full Street closures. This recommendation was not made lightly. The objective was to move the cut through traffic out of the neighborhood onto the main arteries with as little effect as possible on the residents and businesses and not to move our traffic to other sections of the neighborhood or somewhere else. Several adjustments have been made and there is a possibility more will be needed but we won’t know until we try it.
It’s hard for me to understand when people say we should of known about this when we purchased our homes. This area is an extremely old area of Folsom and includes a portion of the oldest, “The Historic District”. There is a large portion of the residents that have lived here for more than 20 yrs some even purchased there homes when Sibley and Prairie City was nothing but dirt roads and Prairie City was only used to go out to the dump, they remember when they use to close Bidwell and heard sheep down Sibley, how it is that they should of known this was going to happen is beyond my understanding. For those that have purchased their home here in the last few years, they were dealing with speeders on Sibley but were working with the police dept to try and resolve the speeding issues. We were not dealing with bumper-to-bumper traffic. In one years time we have gone from less than 1600 vehicles a day to between 4000 to 8000 a day. The majority of these vehicles are concentrated at specific points of the day that causes the bumper-to-bumper traffic to sit in front of and inch by our homes. This was not something we asked for, this happened to us. I’m not against development and growth but I am against the city not mitigating the problems that growth and development has on their already existing residents and neighborhoods when that development causes adverse effects.
Our neighborhoods first problem was when the city cut through a historic graveyard on Natoma and connected it to Folsom Blvd allowing that traffic to enter and exit through our neighborhood. Another problem is that the New Bridge was dropped off on our front door steps, On top of all of this they developed Glenn, Blue Ravine, Prairie City Road, Iron Point Road and the other end of East Bidwell. In changing the roads, expanding, extending, connecting and widening without any traffic mitigation the problem our neighborhood has was created by the city. The city has now given us some hope that they will correct what should have been done long ago so we wouldn’t even be in this debate.

Our issue is not strictly the children’s safety in our own yards and neighborhood, which is a concern for us, but it goes far beyond that. We have safety issues just pulling in and out of our own driveways; we have issues with angry drivers passing people over the double yellow line because some people actually drive the speed limit. We have issues with illegal turns. Officer Don Lee was quoted in the Sac Bee that in 4 minutes 18 vehicles made an illegal left hand turn on a blind hill in our neighborhood which is extremely dangerous for them and us. There is also a misconception that this is strictly a Sibley problem and that no one else is affected except us. This is wrong, when Sibley backs up they start spilling off into the rest of our neighborhood, Persifer, Reading, Decatur and Wool are all having problems. We believe there we will have emergency vehicle access issues, especially when the fire station and ambulance are moved from Natoma to Glenn and will be going with traffic instead of against it to reach us. If Sibley, Folsom Blvd and Riley all have Bumper to Bumper traffic on it going the same direction and has a considerable amount of commute traffic on the other side how are they suppose to get to us in a timely manner. Anybody living on this side of Glenn should be concerned about this. If Sibley was closed to cut through traffic and emergency vehicles are provided access, this would allow for at least one street that emergency vehicles can use to get across town with out dealing with bumper to bumper traffic. I don’t know about you but I would like them to get to my family, my neighbors or myself as quickly as possible and not be stuck in traffic. There are more issues concerning safety but there are also issues concerning damage to our neighborhood and our property. Because vehicles get tired of waiting in line on Sibley they drive down our drainage ditches to access another one of our side streets. This has caused sections of our drainage to collapse. Because of this there are sections were we have flooding problems on our streets.

Please keep in mind that we also are in the Folsom Traffic woe’s just like you, the difference is that we are in it from the time we pull out of our driveway to the time we wait in line to get back to our driveway and then in our homes. In order for us to get away from it we have to leave our homes. We do not get to go home to get away from Folsom’s traffic issues. Only a year ago our complaint was speeding, what is happening to us has happened in one years time due to how the city has developed around us with no traffic mitigation and the Dam Closure. I can only hope that there are more people than not that would be willing to take the time to drive around our neighborhood so that we can try and get back to something that is livable vrs those who think we should have to live this way so they can cut through a neighborhood.

[Lembi Resident]

I wholeheartedly agree with the Sibley Resident. It seems that he/she has given this matter considerable thought, and has made some excellent points.

I am likewise disheartened by the apparent lack of community and concern for our neighbors. So many residents have expressed fear or frustration that their familiar travel routes might be altered in order to alleviate what is currently a miserable traffic problem on Lembi, Sibley and surrounding streets. The "quality of life" that our city advertises and assumably strives for should include a concern for the woes of our neighbors, even those in other parts of town. I assure you that when I drive down YOUR residential street, I am very aware and respectful of the fact that I am driving in front of your HOME. I have adopted the attitude that you are sharing "your" residential street with me. They are the main arteries in a city that should be intended for shared and heavier traffic volume. Sadly, I have not seen that many Folsom residents share my philosophy. The speeds of 80% of vehicles on Lembi Dr. make me cringe!

The proposed closure of Sibley is neither knee-jerk nor permanent. A citizen's advisory committee has been working with the City since October, and numerous possible solutions to the traffic nightmares have been explored. Secondly, this proposed closure is a 60-day trial. If it doesn't work, it is easily reversed. -- Am I hearing everyone correctly?! Are Folsom drivers so attached to their driving routines and lacking in neighborly thinking that they will fight against giving a neighborhood the chance to enjoy the same quality of life (in terms of street traffic) that most other Folsom residents possess?! I am puzzled and dismayed!

I do not wish to offend anyone. Perhaps some citizens have not fully experienced the Sibley Parking Lot/Lembi Freeway. I urge you to make an opportunity to drive on these streets during peak traffic times, including Sat. afternoons. And remember that this is what we live with each day. Our homes do not provide refuge!

[bordercolliefan]

I am not one of those who say that "you should have known about this when you moved in." I believe that long-time residents probably have seen traffic on Sibley increase in the past few years -- though I will also note that many of us have seen substantial increases in traffic in our own neighborhoods, too. As you seem to acknowledge, a good portion of this is simply caused by development.

My point is that, unfortunately, there is no good substitute for Sibley to reach certain places that Folsom residents need to go. From parts of Natoma Station (where I live), going down to Folsom Blvd or up to Riley is not a reasonable alternative, especially since (as Folsom's traffic engineer was quoted in the newspaper as saying) those roads are already totally congested.

I also think closing Sibley would set a poor precedent. If Sibley should be closed due to increased traffic, then why shouldn't other roads that have seen substantial increases in traffic also be closed? There will be no end of other Folsom residents wanting their roads closed, too.

Please don't think I am insensitive to your concerns. Ever since residents began posting hand-made speed limit signs on their mailboxes, I have tried to be very respectful, careful, and always observe the speed limits on Sibley. --But it really does bother me that now you want to take away my ability to drive AT ALL on your street. Please consider the concerns of people who need to reach schools and churches in that area.

[Sibley Resident]

We are sharing the same traffic burden you are and are not asking you to do anything we will not have to do ourselves. Ask yourself why it is we should have to share your same burden around town and then we should have to go beyond that and share our neighborhood, our homes, the damages both of these incur, our quality of life and the hazard to our safety with emergency vehicle access being impeded by traffic. As a resident within the Historic District our homes and roads were not built to handle this type of traffic congestion. Natoma has already been destroyed. We are trying to preserve our community and these homes for generations to come and not have it sacrificed because people want to cut through and destroy it.

[Terry]

As for setting a precedent, the City Council did traffic diversion in the historic district - Sutter/Coloma, Riley - so the precedent has already been set.

Again, while the volume of traffic is an issue, the bigger issue is failure to obey traffic laws, littering, and the verbal abuse of Sibley neighbhood residents.

[EDF]

Dear Folsom Neighbors...

I haven't taken the Sibley street route in a long time.. the road in parts of it are very narrow... but it is conveneint sometimes to take a :country in the city" sort of route....

Its too bad and shamefull that some folks don't show respect for the speed limits on some of the streets and roads of their Folsom Neighbors... I don't blame residents along this street for being upset...

However ya'll..... The people to get mad at are not the commuters...

Its the stinking government we allow to control our lives...

Start with the folks who run Folsom Dam... their little "feifdom" that impacts so many peoples lives... and the Federales' back in DC who don't have to live with this crap everyday... When is the new bridge going to be done...? how many years before we get relief....? because of what... Red Tape and "enviromental impact" studies... ? Give me "le break"....!

But you folks who "b i t c h" about traffic impacts are losing sight of the Big Picture"...

What you are witnessing is just one of the ADVERSE EFFECTS OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION.... !!!!!

Oh... yea... call me a racist and bigot... but the facts are..... When you get over 600,000 people a year moving into this State... you in fact create 10 cities the size of Folsom each and every year...

Other examples.....? Schools are crowded.... our hospitals are overloaded and underfunded and because of this we pay for it in higher taxes and health care premiums...

And what about the quality of roads and congestion... Aren't you foks sick and tired like I am of the pot holes and the constant construction that never seems to "catch up" to the growth...? We are always behind...

and what is their answer...? WE NEED TO DEVELOPE SOUTH OF 50.....? just more sprawl... more adverse impacts on our lives....

So maybe if you started looking at State and National politics more closely... you would get the big picture instead of the narrow focus of your street being overloaded...

Please folks... get a clue here.... wake up and see the big picture... !!!!!

Or you can just keep on voting in the same people to public office that cause this to happen...