The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Paradise narrowed main road despite warnings of gridlock
PARADISE, CALIF. — After a fast-moving fire swept into town a decade ago, burning more than 200 homes and trapping thousands of fleeing residents on gridlocked mountain roads, a grand jury called on officials to improve evacuation routes.
But six years later, the city decided to narrow a portion of the main road through town from four lanes to two as part of an effort in the downtown area aimed at boosting commerce as well as traffic and pedestrian safety.
Two other roads in the city were also narrowed, records show.
The so-called Skyway “road diet” slowed traffic, and a local civic group donated benches and landscaping to beautify the zone.
Nearly, two weeks ago, Skyway was the scene of unspeakable horror when the worst wildfire in California history besieged Paradise. Up to 27,000 residents trying to escape the flames instead were stuck in traffic, the buildings around them burning. Some died in their cars when the fire roared over them.
The destruction — at least 81 people dead and nearly 700 missing — has placed intense scrutiny on the efforts to evacuate resi- dents and raised questions about whether there was more that could have been done to get people out.
It’s far from clear whether the narrowing of Skyway — the largest of just four routes out of the foothill town — worsened the chaotic delays in getting out.
Mayor Jody Jones said Tuesday the evacuation of Paradise, begun at 7:46 a.m. Nov. 8, was complete by 3 p.m. Residents who arrived at a shelter in Oroville said the 16-mile exodus took 2 hours, better than the three- hour evacuation in 2008 that sparked the Butte County Grand Jury’s investigation.
“I don’t believe that it really mattered,” Jones said of the changes made on Skyway. “I don’t think there’s any town in the world prepared with a roadway infrastructure that could evacuate their entire town all at once. They’re just not built to do that.”
The decision to narrow Skyway came amid safety and business concerns from residents. Some criticized it as an “expressway,” sending speeding traffic through the small downtown, depriving merchants, and imper- iling any who tried to walk across. Traffic engineers told the city: “This situation has limited the town’s ability to realize its potential as a cen- ter of commercial and cultural activity.”