This SLO County city is redesigning its downtown to add parking and bike lanes. Here’s how

The main drag in downtown Atascadero is about to get a lot narrower — but that’s to make way for new bike lanes and more parking as the city kicks off a long-awaited streetscape project meant to revitalize the downtown core.

After years of planning, Atascadero officially began the El Camino Real Downtown Safety and Parking Enhancements Project — what’s being referred to as the ECR Project — on June 10. The Atascadero City Council unanimously approved the project May 28.

The most significant change from the project will be narrowing El Camino Real through downtown from four lanes to two with the addition of angled parking.

The construction work, contracted through Souza Construction Inc. and Filippin Engineering, will provide more crosswalks, accessible parking and sidewalks along the 0.6-mile stretch of the historic route between Highway 41 and Rosario Avenue.

In a city news release, Atascadero Mayor Heather Moreno said the project has been a long time coming.

“We are thrilled to start work on the downtown streetscape and turn seven years of community vision into action,” Moreno said in the release. “Economic and community vibrancy is a top priority for the Council, and this project will foster economic revitalization, increase the availability of free parking downtown and above all, improve public safety, especially for our local students attending nearby schools.”

Pandemic slowed progress on longstanding plan to update El Camino Real

Plans to enhance El Camino Real downtown are not new. They’ve existed in some form for at least 20 years.

Since 2017, however, the city of Atascadero has been actively engaged in planning for a smaller road where people can safely and easily park their cars to tour the historic area on foot.

Ryan Hayes, Atascadero’s deputy director of Public Works who’s been overseeing the project, said the pandemic slowed progress down.

“It kind of put everything on hold,” Hayes told The Tribune. He also added that the design itself took a year as they gathered public input and feedback from the City Council.

Atascadero city manager Jim Lewis added that with generational projects like this, it’s important to take the time to engage with the community and use resources wisely. Lewis said the city is a “fiscally healthy” community but not a wealthy one.

“When you’re doing something of this nature, you have to get it right,” he said.

Other downtown improvements like Lewis Avenue Bridge and Sunken Gardens were funded through the Community Redevelopment Agency, a funding program given by the state to give a portion of taxes toward reinvestment in urban communities.

Lewis said many of these initiatives have stopped, making it more difficult to secure funds for city planning.

“There just wasn’t money for urban renewal and urban development of blighted or underutilized areas,” Lewis said. “And so the city didn’t have the dollars, frankly.”

The project —which has a budget of almost $12 million — is funded by a combination of state, federal and other funding mechanisms, including transit and wastewater funds.

Lewis said the plans to turn some lanes into parking would improve safety and accessibility and make it a more cohesive downtown.

“We want people to be safe walking across the street as they enjoy dining and drinking and shopping in the evenings, especially on the weekends,” Lewis said.

Construction is expected to last through summer 2025.

Community members can sign up for construction news by visiting Atascadero.org/News-List or learn more at Atascadero.org/ECRProject.