The most recent city improvement in Paso Robles is a crosswalk at Niblick and Appaloosa roads, along with a button that informs drivers when pedestrians have the right of way.
A $13.8 million grant received by the City of Paso Robles is helping improve the Niblick corridor from Creston Road to Spring Street.
City officials say the project will focus on improvements to Niblick’s four lanes while providing protected travel pathways for bicyclists and pedestrians.
“We picked this one because it's the most volume of pedestrians and it's adjacent from our high school and low and behold, we were approved to get the grant,” said Ditas Esperanza, Capital Projects Engineer for the City of Paso Robles.
According to the city, the development includes paving, infill sidewalk, signage, and a bicycle and pedestrian path along the north side of Niblick Road.
While the latest crosswalk is now complete, other work is still taking place.
“Many of our crosswalks don’t have the pedestrian push buttons, so we’re trying to do that at all our crosswalks, and so we’re just trying to check off each crosswalk and provide these pedestrian buttons,” Esperanza said.
With the grant required to be spent as soon as possible, the city’s project is aimed at keeping the flow of traffic steady.
“It’s wonderful to see that there’s more crosswalks that are being put up. I think we definitely need more stop lights and stop signs, especially in downtown, because Paso is this growing community,” said Carrie Becks, Paso Robles resident.
“It’s for the health and safety for the community, as well as it will slow down traffic, obviously, and less tickets,” said Carlos Adams, Atascadero resident.
The new crosswalk features updated ramps in order to keep up with the current ADA-compliant standards, creating a safer walkway for everyone.
“I would like to encourage people driving along Niblick to please pay attention and when that blinking light is on, they should really stop and make it safe for pedestrians to cross,” Esperanza said.
Esperanza says Niblick Road has some of the heaviest traffic in the city.
“I think it's nice that we can do this for our pedestrians and maybe parents will feel safer to allow their kids to walk to school so that they don’t have to drive them, which is what causes congestion,” Esperanza said.
Construction for the Niblick Corridor Plan is expected to begin in 2025 and should be wrapping up by 2027.
