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City Council Meeting Minutes July 7, 2020 <br />citizens simply for driving on it. If the San Marcos Police Department (SMPD) <br />is ticketing motorists simply for driving on Belvin because it's a closed street, <br />then they should do the same for inbound traffic on San Antonio Street, since <br />it is technically "closed" where it meets Hopkins near Jack's Roadhouse. <br />Motorists regularly drive past the detour barricade at the South end of San <br />Antonio St. and turn onto Olive, Bishop, or Pitt, and proceed to San Antonio <br />St. completely bypassing the detour. Then they speed down San Antonio Street <br />on their way across town, unimpeded by police or, as noted above, even stop <br />signs. Belvin is a residential street, but so is San Antonio. In fact, San Antonio <br />Street is home to many families with children and retired/older residents. San <br />Antonio Street experiences significantly more foot and bicycle traffic, and <br />collectively represents a broader demographic with a larger property tax base, <br />voter base, and census base. Yet it is Belvin that remains traffic free—and <br />SMPD officers are working to ensure it stays that way. We realize the traffic <br />has to go somewhere, but it's both unfair and unnecessarily dangerous for San <br />Antonio alone to shoulder this burden (and let's face it ... it's not realistic to <br />expect any motorist to drive all the way to Bishop to Craddock more than <br />once before seeking an alternate route). A more equitable solution would be to <br />divert traffic headed into town onto San Antonio St., and outbound traffic <br />onto Belvin. Use signage to route commercial truck though traffic onto <br />Bishop. I would like to add: This significant increase in traffic makes pulling <br />out of one's driveway extremely dangerous. Most driveways on San Antonio <br />are one directional and require residents to back out into a steady stream of <br />traffic coming from both directions, and often approaching at an unsafe speed <br />for a residential street. This is often complicated by the fact that as a <br />residential street, vehicles are regularly parked along San Antonio Street, <br />obstructing the view for both street traffic and those backing out of driveways. <br />The traffic load on San Antonio Street frequently includes large, heavy trucks <br />from the Hopkins construction and a wide variety of commercial trucks of all <br />sizes, also moving hastily along W San Antonio. These are also compounding <br />the risk of interaction with through traffic. I respectfully request that the city <br />provide equitable enforcement of compliance with the prescribed detour <br />routes. <br />Carl Furry: <br />We're in the early stages of a two-year construction project on Hopkins St. The <br />stresses that the detour of highway -level traffic has placed on San Antonio <br />Street have become untenable. We've counted at least two injury accidents, <br />while daily witnessing cars blowing straight through stop signs as if they don't <br />exist. A neighbor recently was run off the road by a delivery driver headed to <br />CVS. And a speed limit warning sign had to be removed when a through traffic <br />City of San Marcos Page 6 <br />