City to Experiment with Old Town Roseville Street Closure During Weekends

This weekend, it will be pedestrians only in part of Historic Old Town Roseville — an experiment to see if it improves safety during the weekend nights.

From 8:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. Friday and Saturday, parts of Lincoln and Church streets will be blocked to all non-emergency vehicles to make bar-hopping safer. This weekend will be the first weekend of enforcement and could lead to more permanent street barricades for weekend nights in Historic Old Town Roseville, according to Roseville Police Lt. Maria Richardson.

The idea is to “test drive the idea to see if it makes a positive difference,” Richardson said.

Although, there haven’t been any pedestrians hit in the area, there is an unsafe mix of vehicles and pedestrians during the peak nightlife hours, Richardson said. Many pedestrians mingle in the streets and move from bar to bar on the weekends and creates potential dangerous situations — situations the Roseville Police Department hopes to avoid by making it pedestrian-only access.

Church and Lincoln streets are home to many bars and clubs including , , and .

According to city documents, the street closure would cost approximately $800 per weekend in overtime of Public Works employees to set up and take down the barricades. The costs would be covered by the Public Works Department budget.

Roseville City Council approved this street closure trial run for the next three weekends in Historic Old Town Roseville. If all goes well, a more permanent resolution will be brought before Council.

Although 42 on-street parking spaces will be lost with the street closure, there are 256 parking spots within the district and Roseville Police don’t foresee parking being an issue, Richardson said.

Church Street between Washington Boulevard and Lincoln Street, and Lincoln Street between Main and Pacific streets will be closed off to vehicles.

Do you think this is a good idea for Historic Old Town Roseville? Is driving an issue during weekend nights in the district?