City, County and Neighborhood News

For years, levee lovers have known the offensive fences that block people from walking on the Sacramento River levee would disappear during the major levee repairs now underway.

State and city authorities told me (and anyone else who asked) the fences would be removed by construction crews and not replaced. The construction removal was strategic. It was designed to avoid arguments with a few people who live along the river and insist they need fences stretched across the levee for security and privacy.

Turns out City Hall cares about motorists who fly down the Florin Road West ramp from Interstate 5 and speed through the wide intersection at Greenhaven Drive. There are high-level concerns about access to schools such as Martin Luther King Jr. K-8, which lacks easy access to bike trails and forces kids to cross Rush River Drive.

After years of promising to improve traffic conditions and connectivity in Greenhaven and Pocket, the City Council has decided to act. Prodded by Councilmember Rick Jennings, the city hired a consultant to examine the community’s unique traffic culture—the architecture, landscapes and engineering that allow people to move from Riverside Boulevard to Pocket Road and points in between.