Atascadero parents voiced concerns on Facebook regarding back-to-school traffic and safety for students on foot during the standard school pickup and drop-off times.
Anissa Hedges, a parent of two students in the Atascadero Unified School District, believes the crosswalk at El Camino Real and East Mall is a safety hazard for students crossing on their way to and from school.
“You have four schools within a mile of each other so we’re talking thousands of children that walk on these streets every day,” Hedges said. “There [are] the flashing lights which is great but in the middle of the day when it’s sunny, you can’t see them. There’s no one there to control the flow of how many kids walk across.”
Hedges said she wasn’t sure where to direct her concerns.
“I don’t know if that’s the city’s responsibility, the school’s responsibility, the police. I’m not really sure,” Hedges said.
Atascadero Police Chief Dan Suttles and Public Works Director for the City of Atascadero Nick DeBar both said the crosswalk is within the city’s jurisdiction. However, Chief Suttles said the responsibility to ensure students’ safety falls on the entire community.
“Quite honestly, it’s everybody’s responsibility to keep your head on a swivel as you’re driving to make sure your roadway’s clear and no pedestrian’s crossing,” Chief Suttles said.
While Atascadero Middle School and Atascadero Fine Arts Academy both have crossing guards to help with traffic, the intersection along El Camino Real is farther away from campus and does not have one.
“When it comes to providing crossing guards, that’s something we can look forward to coordinating with the school district again,” Chief Suttles said. “Nothing’s been brought to my attention as far as asking for that, specifically."
DeBar shared that there’s a longer-term solution on the way to address concerns about that particular crosswalk.
“As part of the Downtown El Camino Project, we did extensive traffic analysis. We looked at many things to substantiate just dropping a lane in each direction on El Camino,” DeBar said. “A major one was at El Camino [Real] and East Mall and the crossing during school drop-off and pickup.”
Part of the construction on El Camino Real will include a new traffic signal at East Mall.
“The solution we came up with was a hybrid beacon HAWK which is basically a pedestrian traffic signal that will allow students to cross all at the same time while holding traffic,” DeBar said.
Construction on El Camino Real is expected to be complete in Spring 2025. Until then, Chief Suttles says community members with safety concerns can contact the Atascadero Police Department directly.
