SLO County city reducing its main drag to 2 lanes in major downtown redesign. Here’s the plan

Since 2017, the city of Atascadero has wanted to slow the speed and volume of traffic along El Camino Real through downtown.

After years of planning, construction will soon start on an ambitious effort to transform the downtown section of the busy former highway into a corridor that invites people to park their cars ad explore the area on foot.

“That’s been in the works for several years (and) now it’s actually, finally, happening,” said Phil Dunsmore, the city’s community development manager. “We have the funding. We have all the approvals. We’re drafting construction drawings.“

Construction on the downtown corridor, which includes improvements to El Camino Real, is set to start in the spring, he said.

Locals may have noticed work happening downtown, but that is related to repaving streets separate from the El Camino Real Plan, Dunsmore said.

Atascadero plans to make downtown El Camino Real corridor a destination

The plan for the El Camino Real corridor was borne from community input solicited during the Colony Days events of 2018 and 2019, according to the city website.

Local said the width of El Camino Real and speed of auto traffic discouraged visitors from crossing to explore the downtown restaurants and businesses separated by the busy road, according to a description of the El Camino Real Plan, a concern that has only grown as the La Plaza development fills out on the east side of El Camino Real.

The downtown section of El Camino Real also lacks parking, making it difficult for visitors to stop and browse nearby stores, the plan said.

Dunsmore said the city plans to begin work on the area by redesigning the roadway across two or three central blocks near Sunken Gardens.

It will reduce car traffic from four lanes to two, using the space for new parking spaces, trees and bike lanes.

The parking change will add about 130 to 140 angled spaces, similar to East Mall and Entrada, he said.

At the same time, the uses for El Camino Real will broaden.

“Instead of being this sort of former highway that goes through our downtown, it’ll make it a place where there could be activities,” Dunsmore said.

There will still be interactions between cyclists, pedestrians and cars, but at much slower speeds, he said.

The added foot traffic coupled with the many events hosted at Sunken Gardens should make it a bustling space for commerce, and will hopefully attract more restaurants and small businesses to the area, he said.

“I think it’ll set a precedent in our county for what can be done with a big, wide, former highway like El Camino Real that goes right through our city,” he said.

The El Camino Real plan involves more than just work on the roadway in downtown Atascadero, but the city will start with improvements to the road as part of their efforts to improve infrastructure downtown.