The Solvang City Council on Monday abandoned plans for a multi-purpose trail along Fredensborg Canyon Road following disapproval from residents.

The project would have installed a walkway for pedestrians connecting the Viborg and Chalk Hill bike paths, and it would have turned parts of Fredensborg Canyon Road into a one-way street.

Both the trail and the one-way road were intended to ensure safety along the corridor by adding walking space and minimizing speeding.

Following a community survey with responses from more than 10% of Solvang’s population, about 90% of respondents opposed converting the road to a one-way. The survey also showed that 62% of respondents opposed the trail, with 48% responding they would never utilize it. About 65% of respondents said they use the road exclusively as a bypass to avoid traffic for commuting.

Bridget Paris, Public Works director and city engineer, noted the opposition was largely focused on fire evacuation, as turning the road into a one-way may delay emergency vehicles.

Solvang resident Hank Comberg spoke in support of the multi-purpose trail but opposed the one-way road. He noted that the city should prioritize improving speeding enforcement over modifying roads.

“The speeding is all over town because we don’t have speed enforcement. We have one deputy, and he’s not certified to issue any speeding tickets,” Comberg said. “We have absolutely no speed enforcement in the city right now.”

Solvang resident Ron Jones, who’s lived on Fredensborg Canyon Road for the past 26 years, spoke on the traffic issues along the road. He said his “greatest fear” is that the council would view any project minimizing speed as too difficult, and therefore “let it slide again.”

“I’m one of the residents in those 12 homes,” Jones said. “Imagine living in a place here within the city limits where you asked yourself each and every time that you wanted to take a walk out of your own house onto the street whether it’s safe.”

Dennis Bales, another long-term resident of Fredensborg Canyon Road, also requested that the city “do something sooner” about the road’s safety.

The council also discussed alternative options to reducing speeding in the area, such as narrowing the driving lanes to 10 feet or installing speed bumps.

“There are studies that say if you narrow the road to, say, 10 feet per lane, it reduces miles per hour by a few magnitudes,” Mayor David Brown said. “And we can point to examples in Santa Barbara and Santa Maria that have done that with good effect.”

The council then voted to terminate the project and redirect the remaining $15,440 in the project budget to explore alternative safety measures.