125 replies to this topic

[Lembi Resident]

I will agree to the extent that there is always a bigger picture to look at. I believe that we all need to keep in mind that for the City of Folsom the important "bigger picture" to look at regarding the possible Sibley closure is how is the City going to grow. Are we going to grow in a planned and graceful manner? Are we going to be proactive in our planning? Or are we going to go through awful gowing pains with reactive attitude toward planning, which often results in citizen in-fighting and general dissatisfaction?

Growth is inevitable. This single traffic issue is but one end-result of this growth. Unlike other by-products of growth, this particular traffic issue has a rather simple and logical solution. It is right in front of us, and we are just asking that a 60-day trial period be granted. In the bigger picture, what really will be lost with a trial? If it is not successful, which I doubt, we can look for another solution.

This matter is very important to me as a resident, but I believe my time can be better spent with my family, or if I choose, addressing bigger issues in local, state, national and international arenas. (Let's not forget the millions of people going to bed hungry every night.)

Perhaps you do drive the speed limit and respect our residences. I challenge you to take it one small step further by adding a few minutes of travel time to benefit a greater common good.

The status quo is not working!!! Let's give a solution a chance!

[Sibley Resident]

The precedent for this also includes new developments. There are new developments that Folsom is putting in that will have breakaway emergency access. The developers and the city have decided to make break away emergency access in these neighborhoods vrs making it an accessible street to the masses because they are concerned about cut through traffic in those new neighborhoods. Why is it that these new neighborhoods get that consideration and planning and we do not. Is it because those homes are worth more than ours, or is it because the city officials now see the mistakes that were made in the past. I can only hope that the city will also take in consideration the past mistakes made in our neighborhood and give us the same courtesy they are giving to new residents and correct them.

[Stephen]

I really don't see what the problem is. Clearly we all agree that Folsom has a major traffic problem. Why are we all wasting time arguing hypotheticals and what-if situations? The only way anyone will know if closing Sibley will help the problem is to do it, observe, and THEN come back and have discussions about its effectiveness.

Let's all be less emotional and more logical. I say go ahead and close Sibley for 60 days. It's ONLY 60 days.

[bordercolliefan]

I think the point above about Natoma St. being "ruined" proves my point. They have REALLY seen an increase in traffic. Why shouldn't they clamor to have their street closed or altered in a way that discourages through traffic? Likewise any of the other number of Folsom streets that have seen an increase in traffic. Perhaps we could close ALL the through streets and make traffic go down to 50 to get to the other side of town...

My understanding is that where the City has already closed streets, the purpose of that was to aid the traffic flow by preventing back-ups as traffic on numerous side streets tried to merge into the Riley mess.

This is a totally different scenario - the purpose is not to FACILITATE the flow of traffic -- but rather to worsen the congestion on Riley and Folsom Blvd. in order to benefit a few residents who want a quieter street than they have had in many, many years.

If the City Council approves this closure, then I have a couple streets in my neighborhood that I would like to talk to them about...

[Sibley Resident]

Unfortunently, Natoma is classified as a Main arterial road and because of that there is nothing we can do to help them. However, Sibley is not classified as a main arterial road and is not a Main arterial road, so there is a significant difference. We are not talking simply about an increase of traffic we are talking about an increase level of traffic that exceeds an acceptable level for residential neighborhoods.

When 6000 vehicles come down our street to turn onto Natoma to reach Folsom Blvd, they are still another 6000 vehicles on Folsom Blvd. How is it that the congestion on Folsom Blvd is changed wether those people get on Folsom Blvd at Iron Point Rd, Blue Ravine, Glenn or Natoma. It is still the same additional 6000 vehicles on the same road trying to get over the same bridge. I can say the only difference is that they would not be using a stretch of Residential Neighborhood to get to the same point.

This also is not about a few residents wanting a quiter street than we have had in years (maybe this point was missed but Sibley is not the only street in this neighborhood effected). Again, it was less than one year ago that we had less than 1600 vehicles a day and even with this closure we probably will not even reach that low of a level again. However, there is a belief that we may be able to bring it down to an acceptable level for a residential neighborhood.

And if you have residential streets that are not classified as main arteries and are in excess of 5000 vehicles a day concentrated in specific hours of the day that causes bumper to bumper traffic on your street than you should address it with the city.

[Stephen]

Sarcasm is not constructive. Of course the city will not begin a rash of street closures, requiring drivers to use 50 to cross town. It is also my understanding that Sibley is not a main arterial, although it is being used that way. I believe neither is Bidwell or Lembi designated as a main arterial, but they are also being used for too much cut-through traffic. Folsom Blvd., Glenn, Blue Ravine, Riley are examples of main arteries in town. Are they congested during peak hours? Yes. But so is Hwy. 50. Drivers should anticipate delays during peak hours.

It seems the City is aware that the aforementioned main arteries are congested. That is why they have worked so hard for a new crossing in lieu of the Dam Road, and have planned for the widening of Glenn, etc. So why are so many Folsom drivers pushing so hard to keep cut-through traffic routes open in residential neighborhoods? Have patience when you get behind the wheel. And if you think you have some problem streets in your neighborhood, I kindly suggest you focus energy on addressing the matter with the City, rather than complicating the Sibley St. problem.

[So 95630]

This 60 day trial is SOOOOO not gonna work it's not even funny. I would hate to be a resident of the areas around Sibley Street - guess what, where there's a will, there's a way. Somebody said earlier "Traffic flows like water - to the area of least resistance". People will not just "wait patiently" on Folsom-Auburn, waiting 30 minutes to get from 50 to Greenback. You're dreaming if you don't think drivers will find another way.

Sibley is a main artery... it's unfortunate if you live on it but surely you knew it was when you moved there. This closure is just a knee-jerk reaction from the city council. "Let's make everybody happy!" Guess what, it's not possible.

[Stephen]

Guess what.... Sibley is not a main artery according to the Folsom City General Plan. People are just trying to use it that way.

To clarify another point, this is not a knee-jerk reaction. It is a thoughtful response to residents' concerns for the past 2 - 3 years. It is the result of over 3 months of numerous and lengthy meetings between the City and a Citizens' Advisory Committee.

Be open-minded about a trial. Change CAN be good!

[CataBird]

Hhhhmm, this is funny (but I'm not laughing).

I was a cop for several years (not here), and we used to get reports about specific roads in our district that had problems with speeders and other offenses. We were required to run "selectives" on those roads at random intervals to catch as many of the offenders as possible.

We would park our marked vehicles out of the way of traffic, yet in clear view of drivers, and either watch an intersection for a while, or use our trusty radar guns to catch speeders. Doing this alone could keep me busy all day.

This sort of thing WORKED! If folks--the regulars, at least--knew they could be ticketed for their offenses but didn't know when or where the cops would be at any given time, they would drive better.

However, for this method to work, the police must let their presence be known. As for me, I have not seen much enforcement out and about around town. Have any of you?

Perhaps they are just busy. Too busy to monitor traffic on their city streets? Sounds like they may need reinforcements.

How many officers do we have anyway?

[Sibley Resident]

I greatly appreciate your well thought out response with recommendations and solutions to try and solve our problems. Believe me when I say that we are all in agreement with your statement and agree that more law enforcement is needed. Unfortunately, we have been fighting for this for years and still have not received it and it has been made clear to us that they cannot patrol our neighborhood on a 24/7 basis and because of the sheer volume of problems with this, it will help but will not solve it.

As a former police office I would appreciate a response in regards to our safety concerns. Our neighborhood is bordered by 2 main arterials. 0ne that is always congested and the other during commute hours. We have our collector street that is now being used as an arterial road and is now also congested with bumper-to-bumper traffic during commute time. Each of these roads is also carrying a significant amount of commute traffic going in the opposite direction. From our understanding response time is measured in seconds because every second counts when a life is at stake. Objectively, wouldn’t you as an individual responding to and emergency prefer to have a way through that is not congested?

I could go on forever about additional issues but since you have experience in this I would appreciate your opinion.

Thank you

[john]

the thing is, the problem as I see it is not speeding. If people are speeding, damn skippy they should be getting ticketed.

The problem as I see it is just the sheer volume of people. If you cut off Sibley, people will find another road, guaranteed. Then another neighborhood's going to be up in arms. You can't cut off access to all the streets, it just doesn't make sense.

It's impossible to make everybody happy. I think the best solution is to minimize the amount of people that are affected. It's just my humble opinion, but the city council needs to realize this problem only gets worse by making the city inaccessible. It not only hurts residents and commuters, but businesses too. Look at Sutter Street.

I'm definitely willing to give it a chance, but I am extremely skeptical. I don't think it's going to work... it may appear so at first, but the traffic will divert to another area.

[Sibley Resident]

I appreciate the fact that you are atleast willing to try it. From studies done the majority not the minority are using this to access Folsom Blvd. One of our arguments is that by forcing those vehicles on before they get to the residential portion rather than using the residential portion, they are still getting to the same place and the congested Folsom Blvd is still congested. It doesn't change that. We are adding the same cars to the same road just at a different point. We don't believe we are wrong but we may be. The only way we will know is if we try it. That is all we are asking for. If we are wrong then it goes away and we have to go back to the drawing board. Again thank you for atleast being willing to try it.

[bordercolliefan]

If the problem is cars using Sibley to access Folsom Blvd. then why wouldn't you simply block the cars from turning down Bidwell, and maybe prevent left turns onto Natoma during rush hour? I'm not recommending these measures -- I'm just saying that they at least seem more targeted to the problem you say you are trying to solve.

It seems like your proposed solution accomplishes too much -- it blocks ALL cars from using Sibley, including cars that are legitmately using it to access streets in the historic district (where their schools and churches may be located -- speaking from my personal situation).

I haven't seen a problem with emergency vehicles. I've been on both Natoma St. and Sibley St. when ambulances had to get through. In both cases, the drivers politely pulled off to the side and the ambulance went right down the center.

[Lembi Resident]

But people are speeding!

There is horrible speeding on Lembi, speeding on Bidwell, and when traffic is not at a standstill on Sibley, they speed there too! And there is virtually no enforcement. We have called the police department repeatedly over the past two years. The only response is an occasional electronic speed trailer. The law prohibits the police from using a radar gun on this type of residential street, and the City just doesn't have enough traffic officers to properly enforce the law.

It sounds like the Mayor doesn't want to close streets. Does the Mayor want to see laws enforced? Or do we have to see blood on the streets?

Speed kills! 47.4% of speeding-related fatalities occur on local/collector streets! (US Dept. of Transportation statistic, 11/2000) Wow!

[bordercolliefan]

Sounds like the speeding issue is one we can all agree on! We have terrible speeding in our neighborhood, too. I just can't understand how people can know that a neighborhood is full of children (in our Natoma Station neighborhood, groups of kids frequently play out front) and go speeding down the street at 40-45 mph! --Don't they think about how horrible it would be to ever hit a child -- or even a dog??

As you know, I'm opposed to closing Sibley, but I can definitely support more speed enforcement in Folsom.

Maybe if the Folsom police would do a more serious job controlling the speeders, then the (alleged) "commuters" who think they can rush down Sibley and beat the Folsom Blvd. traffic would get discouraged and go back to using Folsom Blvd. Then, Sibley can be used for its intended purpose -- for Folsom residents to access the historic district.