us 101 the cuesta grade and san luis obispo, ca

[the city]

Originally Posted by .highnlite

I find it somewhat incredible. You really really like concrete. Look, Los Angeles exists, it exists 200 miles south of San Luis, leave it there. There is a term used throughout the west for the kind of growth you like, it is called Californication. That has to do with the proliferation of freeways, big box malls, cookiecutter subdivisions, tearing the heart and soul out of communities so that developers can bring in more people and make more money.

There is an old guy from Montana that summed up Californication quite well. I am going to quote his poem to you, it applies to San Luis Obispo, Morro Bay, Atascadero, Templeton, Paso Robles.
All city/county/regional planning should have one goal, to preserve the culture of a town.

My first quote is from Ed Abbey, if you have not yet read his books, you should:
"Growth, for the sake of growth is the ideology of the Cancer cell."

Poem

I just don't like traffic congestion....

Listen, I agree we don't need anymore big box centers in this county. Paso is pretty much anti growth now. Atascadero might not need Wal-Mart if Colony Square can generate enough cash. SLO will probably prevent Dalidio from putting in any big box centers.

We have an outlet mall in this county, so we don't need any more malls. Were getting a Whole Foods and new development in downtown and that's all I care for. Mr. Copeland did a good thing for SLO ya know when he put in the Downtown Center. Downtown was not doing good because everyone was going to the Central Coast Mall and Madonna Plaza to shop. Then Downtown Center went in with the movie theater and other shops started to open up near it. Copelands selling out his local sports store for Sports Authority was bad for local businsesses, but that was Copelands choice. Then we got Court Street and that is attracting Whole Foods into Garden Street Terraces. Court street did bring in 7 chains, but they are higher end chains. I don't see the damage of Garden Street or Chinatown. Both are at 5 stories, and are replacing parking lots and going in less active parts of downtown. Two hotels in downtown, an upscale organic grocery market, and new buildings for local businesses to go in. This plan is similar to the Village at Claremont. They added new street retail with only one chain store-American Apparel, a hotel, and new local businesses went in.

I agree big box centers are bad and do take away character and that larger freeways take away land. But if we don't add another and you get gridlock do you really think people will want to live in that part of the city? And you can't expect people to ride the bus or bike. I am certainly not going to do that it's not convenient coming from Templeton.

Okay, well I am done with my rant.

[trixie09]

Thanks for the video. I've driven that Grade hundreds of times... it's nice to just enjoy the view.

THe 101 could use some help in the area of the curve near Shell Beach -- that's where another lane would come in handy. Those that think there isn't a gridlock issue on the 101, haven't commuted in that mess every day. Doesn't mean I love concrete or big box stores, but would rather not have the congestion there...

[.highnlite]

THe 101 could use some help in the area of the curve near Shell Beach -- that's where another lane would come in handy. Those that think there isn't a gridlock issue on the 101, haven't commuted in that mess every day. Doesn't mean I love concrete or big box stores, but would rather not have the congestion there...

A third lane southbound was just added, curiously, it did not affect the 5:00 slowdown at all, a bit of a stretch to call it congestion. And, if you do not like driving in congestion, don't. You can adjust your life to avoid that, heck ride a bicycle.

Anyone who thinks our roads are congested, have apparently never driven in LA.

[the city]

Originally Posted by .highnlite

A third lane southbound was just added, curiously, it did not affect the 5:00 slowdown at all, a bit of a stretch to call it congestion. And, if you do not like driving in congestion, don't. You can adjust your life to avoid that, heck ride a bicycle.

Anyone who thinks our roads are congested, have apparently never driven in LA.

The Cuesta Grade is now a six lane freeway. This is true. Which was needed because of the all accidents that used to occur.

And I can not avoid when I go to my classes. You can only take what's offered. It needs be six ways from Santa Rosa all the way to Cuesta. That area is horrible and getting worse as each year more people go both Cuesta and Cal Poly.

The 101 everywhere else in our county is OK. Leaving SLO around 5 can be congested, but its still moving.

[.highnlite]

Actually, it needs to be plowed up, that would slow people down, relieve congestion and make people move to some "enlightened" state, like Texas.

I found a speech my grandfather wrote and presented to the local Rotary Club in 1935, he talked about driving to San Francisco, taking his wife and son to see her parents. He commented that the road was almost all paved, only a few unpaved sections. My wife's grandmother was on her way to US Berkeley sometime in the 1910's, the road north from Atascadero was the riverbed of the Salinas. They broke down near Bradley and had to camp for a few days waiting on a part.

The county was certainly uncongested in those days.

The three lane hiway ! from SLO to Morro Bay was a hoot, people going either way could pass using the middle lane, problem was, folks going either way tried it at the same time, that cut down on congestion!

Now, admittedly the local roads are crowded, if you ever spent any time in Nevada, not the cities, but the real Nevada (and you should if you are a young man, go east my friend go east, be a cowboy) you would see that these roads are congested at 3:00 AM compared to Nevada (I once drove from Caliente to Tonopah, saw 6 cars in 200 miles, and 11 low flying fighter jets. But, it is a small price to pay for not having to shovel snow.