STOCKTON, Calif. — In Stockton, community members living near the Pershing Avenue offramp are asking Caltrans and the City of Stockton to help make the area safer through traffic control amid larger traffic volumes and speeding drivers.
Members of the Midtown Stockton community group hold signs at the base of the ramp, asking for people to slow down or 'drive like your kids live here.'
Miguel Guillen is a part of the community group asking for traffic control in the area. He says there are roughly 60 members involved in the group's efforts to support public safety on Pershing.
"In a perfect world, Pershing Avenue should be a two-way road, [have a] bike lane, and traffic control at exits. We’d love to see more crosswalks in place," said Guillen.
Janette Rossell grew up on West Flora Street just one house down from the corner where cars come off the ramp. Her parents have lived there for 50 years and she's watched how traffic has changed.
She says there's now a lot of commercial traffic, more cars, and plenty of people speeding off the ramp and onto the two-lane residential street.
"They come down so fast and they miss the turn and they run into the hydrant, signs, poles, and other cars," said Rossell.
She says speed isn't just an issue here, but all over Stockton.
The group of concerned residents brought these issues to the city of Stockton and Caltrans. Caltrans District 10 spokesperson Skip Allum says Caltrans met with the group last fall.
"They wanted to know ways we could improve traffic safety for folks that were making the transition from northbound I-5 to Pershing Avenue. Since then, we have several new traffic safety measures to help address that," said Allum.
Since the meeting, Caltrans has replaced a 40 mph sign at the top of the ramp with a new one and a pavement marking -- both say 30 miles per hour. They also refreshed traffic lines, re-paved pavement on the transition ramp, and removed graffiti along the ramp that could distract drivers.
Next, they plan on replacing the yield signs there now with flashing ones. Guillen says it's still not enough.
"Vehicle traffic is still coming down fast. Once we get the beacon flashing lights, I'd like to see how that comes into play, but this is just a band-aid," said Guillen.
The city of Stockton has also installed multiple large 30 mph signs along the road, improved crossing signal timing, and has more improvements in the works for pedestrian safety near Victory Park.
Stockton police increased their patrols to look for speed violators in that area too.
Caltrans is planning a project for 2026 that would essentially reconstruct lanes on the Stockton channel viaduct. It's not fully funded yet, but it would impact lanes leading to the Pershing offramp and possibly reconstruct the ramp into a new shape that would help slow traffic. Caltrans would also put a traffic signal at that ramp as part of that project.
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