Other Voices: Logical planning needed for traffic, parking problems

It's amazing how shortsighted this county is about its traffic problems. The Idaho-Maryland and East Main Street intersection is the only four-way stop in the area that really works. The roundabout on Sierra College Drive is great - as long as there aren't many cars. At the beginning and end of the workday, the traffic piles up behind the yield signs, and it's a nightmare.

The problem is not the Idaho-Maryland and East Main intersection. The problem is that both East Main Street and Idaho Maryland are too narrow to accommodate the number of cars traveling on those streets. Instead of encouraging redevelopment, the county should be taking property by eminent domain on East Main Street and Idaho-Maryland Road so the streets can be widened. This is the real solution. Putting in a roundabout at the intersection will worsen the problem, not resolve it.

The county has made a nightmare at Sierra College Drive and Hughes Road by creating a maze of confusion with all of the in and out lanes, sudden left turns, bike lanes, etc. Putting a light at the corner of Sierra College Drive and Ridge Road is costly and entirely unnecessary. A light isn't going to solve the 7 to 7:30 a.m. and 2:30 to 3 p.m. traffic jams caused by Nevada Union High School traffic. The rest of the day it's useless as there is very little traffic.

And finally, the downtown traffic is outrageous. I used to go to Grass Valley for lunch but no more because there is nowhere to park. If Walsh Street were extended through to South Auburn Street, then Neal and Walsh could be one-way streets with no parking on the sides, which would accommodate many more cars.

How Grass Valley can even consider increasing the area's population through development is crazy because the traffic is unbearable as it is. And what is the city's solution? Condemn several buildings to build a parking structure. There is already a parking area at the corner of Neal and Church streets. Why doesn't the city just add a couple of stories to the existing parking structure so that businesses can have more parking without closing their doors.

This county needs to hire a non-bureaucrat to do some logical, good-sense planning. So far, the efforts to ameliorate the parking and traffic problems have only made them worse. Not only are we losing businesses, but we're losing patrons. Nobody wants to shop locally if it takes them as long to get there and find a parking place as it does to go to Roseville or Yuba City and pay less, gas included.

Sandra Stanley lives in Grass Valley.