Windsor is embarking on a program to make the Old Redwood Highway, or “Old Red” as some call it, accessible to all modes of transport, safer and friendlier for pedestrians and cyclists.

Through the Old Redwood Freeway Corridor Improvement Plan, the City Council also hopes to generate activity that benefits businesses along the old main freeway to boost Windsor’s economy. The recommended improvements cover 3.6 miles between Starr Road and Shiloh Road.

The first draft of the plan and the recommendations were presented by a representative of the engineering and architecture firm GHD to the council last week. Council members made suggestions and praised the project, which will be brought back for approval at the February 16 council meeting.

“The Old Redwood Highway crosses our town diagonally; almost every neighborhood touches it at some point, so it’s widely used,” longtime Windsor councilor Deb Fudge said in a phone interview. “It is important that we design the highway in such a way that pedestrians and cyclists feel safe using it as well, rather than being limited to vehicles.”

Vice Mayor Esther Lemus is excited about the project plan.

“I think it’s really exciting and I can’t wait to make these improvements,” she said.

The city’s goal has long been to revitalize the road, which was first paved in 1915 and eventually replaced by the 101 freeway.

The latest plan builds on previous planning efforts and the goals of the city’s Master Plan 2040, according to Alejandro Perez, Windsor’s chief engineer. It is funded by a 2019 Sustained Communities Transportation grant from Caltrans.

It requires the creation of distinctive walkways and street layout, as well as cohesive landscaping. The plan also recommends filling sidewalk voids and adding crosswalks.

It “went a lot further than the last plan, ‘Old Red Goes Green,'” Mayor Sam Salmon said at last week’s meeting.

Deputy Project Manager Kendra Ramsey for GHD, Inc., said the company has completed field observations and analysis of collisions on various segments of the road, virtual and contextual workshops, and interviews with executives and community actors, as well as an online survey. .

“Most cited a lack of sidewalks, traffic jams, a lack of bike lanes and a lack of safe and proper level crossings,” Ramsey said. “They said there was no cohesive environment for pedestrians and cyclists.”

According to the GHD report, “Recommendations include point improvements to cycling approaches and areas of conflict (between vehicles and bikes), new or improved pedestrian crossing locations, improvements to motorized transport, including roundabouts -points, and new or improved bus stop locations.

Included are the latest urban planning techniques such as buffered bike boxes, which are hatch painted boxes that may include plastic barriers called bollards to create space between bikes and cars for safety.

Corridor improvement recommendations are divided into the north end, Starr Road to Joe Rodota Drive; center: Joe Rodota Drive to Bluebird Drive; southeast: Alden Lane to Pool Creek; and south: Pool Creek to Esposti Park.

Go here to see the project plan: https://windsor-ca.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=1363&meta_id=83361

The first plan, called “Turning Old Red Green,” was completed in 2008. It began with a Sustainable Design Assessment Team (SDAT) coming to Windsor to examine the freeway, Fudge said.

“It was a long-lasting team of experts who came and did these assessments,” she recalls.

Made up of volunteers committed to sustainable communities, the team held a three-day workshop and made recommendations for a host of things such as painted green bike paths.

Fudge said the city has referred to the SDAT plan frequently since then “but…planning is changing; every few years there are better techniques and new tools in the urban planning toolkit to make communities more multimodal.

Using these tools will allay parents’ fears when children walk or cycle to school, she said.

The final improvements will have to be made gradually, especially the larger and more expensive ones. The plan will give the city’s public works department a list to choose from when applying for grants, Fudge said.

“We are in great shape to move forward,” she added.

You can reach editor Kathleen Coates at [email protected] or 707-521-5209.