To the north of the recommended 3rd Street bridge and library gateway, Deodar Avenue and Palm Drive offer a different type of gateway to A Street. They were originally configured as the northerly access to A Street, mirroring the South Oxnard Boulevard straight shot into A Street at Six Points (now Five Points). The 1993 Downtown District Master Plan recommended enhancing these existing assets to provide another way to entice motorists to enter the Downtown, and that is still a good idea.
Existing Condition: The intersection of Oxnard Boulevard and Colonia Road look like exactly what it has historically been – a road for trucks to get to and from packinghouses and the gateway to the poorest neighborhoods of Oxnard. It can be transformed to be a beautiful pedestrian and bicycle connection from a neighborhood with many pedestrians and bicyclists to the rebounding city center.
And there is an additional opportunity at this location. Immediately to the north of Deodar is Colonia Road, and connecting from Oxnard Boulevard to A Street and aligned with Colonia Road is a largely unused public alley. This looks like an opportunity to address, in a small way, the long-standing perception, and reality, of a lack of connection between the La Colonia community on “the wrong side of the tracks” and Downtown Oxnard and it’s historically more advantaged neighborhoods.
We recommend the following:
Extend the Class I bikeway on the east side of Oxnard Boulevard and the railroad from it’s present southerly terminus at the future Camino del Sol, to Colonia Road. This would require a right of way agreement with the railroad and/or owners of the adjacent packing house property.
Construct a two-way cycle track along the north side of Colonia Road from the Class I bikeway to Oxnard Boulevard, expand the crosswalk there to include bike lanes to the west side, and improve the unused alley as a multi-use trail from Oxnard Boulevard to A Street.
Modify the curb extensions and improve the crosswalk at A Street to connect the alley trail to new Class II bike lanes on A Street, connecting south to Downtown.
Optionally, improve the landscape and signage in the curving sections of Deodar and/or Palm, to make it plain that these are gateways to Downtown Oxnard. There are many routes to Downtown, and making them appear more promising to passersby on the Boulevard may be the most effective single strategy for revitalizing the Downtown.
