Lee Vining Sidewalk Project
For the most recent developments on this project, please
see the Mono Lake Newsletter or
contact Lisa Cutting (
) at (760)
647-6595.
Project History
As early as 1997, conceptual plans were developed through the collaboration of three Lee Vining community groups: the Mono Basin Regional Planning Advisory Committee (RPAC), the Lee Vining Hwy 395 Improvement Project Task Group, and the Lee Vining Chamber of Commerce. Two project goals were identified:
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Make Highway 395 through Lee Vining a more inviting and attractive place to visit, walk, live, and work.
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Make Highway 395 through Lee Vining a safer and easier place to be a pedestrian.
From these community discussions many innovative ideas emerged that would help to visually improve the streetscape of Lee Vining and calm traffic as it entered town. Suggested design features included:
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Colored and textured sidewalks
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Trees and shrubs planted along the sidewalk
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Attractive trash and recycling bins
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Decorative street lighting
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Additional crosswalks
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Improve school crossing areas (crosswalks and lights)
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Bury utility lines
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Incorporate "bulb outs" at crosswalks to improve pedestrian safety
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Reducing lane widths
Our Perspective
Since 1997 many, many meetings have been held and there has been much heated discussion about this project. The Lee Vining community and Mono County have worked diligently to incorporate the original conceptual plan ideas into Caltrans' project. Unfortunately, many of those ideas do not fall within Caltrans' accepted guidelines - and therefore are not part of the current plan. The County has helped offset this disappointment by securing grants that will fund sidewalk trees and decorative street lighting in town. And while the project will improve the appearance of Lee Vining, it falls well short of the original goal envisioned back in 1997.
CalTrans
Website: 1998 STIP Projects Page
Back to CalTrans Projects Page
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