About four out of five people who responded to an Argus-Courier online poll Sept. 4, 2008 said they will be affected to some degree by the two-month closure of the D Street bridge for repairs.
Nearly half (47.7 percent) said they would be affected “very much” and more than one-third said they would be impacted “somewhat.”
Asked how they would deal with the bridge closure, nearly two-thirds (65.9 percent) said they would find a different route, with 9.1 percent saying they would stay away from the area during the closure.
Here are some of the comments by those who participated in the survey.
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“While inconvenient, there are many ways and routes to get around the D Street bridge. It’s only temporary and the bridge needs the work.”
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“It’s very difficult even with the D Street bridge closed to make driving around Petalu-ma any worse than it already is.”
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“San Luis Obispo residents use their access to Highway 101 to move up and down the length of the town. As a westsider, I will use the Boulevard South, then cross back over 101 to get to Kaiser or other eastside locations. My concern is that we don’t have a Rainier crossing. The (D Street) bridge is and shall always be a two-lane bridge. Stuff needs to get repaired, we have to adjust. Life goes on.”
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“This has caused gridlock at certain times. The city should have shut it down during the summer months. Businesses are suffering. Sometimes I think the city has no clue.”
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“As a community, we speak of impact on the whole and the benefit of few. Having a business located at D and First Street, the closure of the bridge grossly impacts my employees who come in from the east side of town. They have added 15 minutes on to their morning. The contra is the number of boats that are hindered from the closure. How many responses to this survey are river-centric versus road-centric. Those numbers will tell you the impact.”
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“Perhaps its closure will re-invigorate discussion of the promised Caulfield Lane crossing over the river. Petaluma needs another crossing.”
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“It is a tolerable inconvenience.”
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“I walk from Old East Petaluma to the Post Office via the D Street bridge a couple of times a week. I just hope that Petaluma Transit will be able to help me.”
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“I live within a block of the bridge (and not at yuppie Theatre Square) hopefully people will drive safely and construction will not keep me away as did Basin Street’s.”
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“I’m disabled and it’s real difficult.”
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“How about we find a way to get from the east side to the west side in a civilized manner? Caulfield Lane is almost all the way there, already. Oh, I forgot, we need to build roundabouts on McDowell Boulevard so we can have more accidents and avoid public transportation on the main route through town. That’s where the money should go.”
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The only purpose of that bridge is so that rich SOBs can play with their toy boats. Why should 99 percent of the people be screwed so that 1 percent can show off? It should be replaced with a fixed-position bridge.”
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“Ugh!”
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“Oh well, what are you going to do? How about a more exciting survey? How about the new plan for the Petaluma riverfront or the Belarusian girl; Should she be allowed to stay? Is it selfish of her to stay knowing you jeopardize the entire program for everyone else?”