Even with the taco truck pulled as far from the road as possible, Unique Shepherd couldn’t help but feel exposed standing on the unprotected street in Thornton. Especially when agricultural machinery as big as some buildings in town roll by.
“They could just hit you, man,” said Shepherd’s partner, Nikco Miller, as the two waited for their food.
“You never know what could happen,” Miller added, gesturing to the gap of less than two feet between them and the town’s busiest road. “A lot of safety issues with not having a sidewalk, especially being this close to the road.”
As residents in San Joaquin County’s unincorporated areas know all too well, sidewalks are badly needed.
Of the nearly 1,600 miles the county oversees, more than 700 of them lack sidewalks, according to a new study released by the San Joaquin County Public Works Department. Half of that distance runs alongside homes, schools and residential areas, forcing pedestrians to share the road with traffic.
According to one unidentified resident quoted in the study, “Residents should be able to safely walk to parks, schools, local businesses, and community events without feeling like they are taking a risk every time they leave their neighborhood.”
Of the 377 residents surveyed, 81% said they would be “very likely” to walk more if new sidewalks or crossings were built.
The risk of walking without pedestrian-friendly infrastructure shows up in crash data. While pedestrians account for a small share of the county’s reported crashes, county findings show that 61% of fatal pedestrian collisions happened when a person was walking on the road or crossing it.
Just last month, a man was killed after being struck by a vehicle in north Stockton.
There’s a reason so many roads in unincorporated neighborhoods lack sidewalks, said Sam Chrun, the department’s deputy director of engineering. His department has been working on the project since it launched in June 2024.
In incorporated cities, which are generally denser, developers are usually the ones that come in to build new neighborhoods, he said. And it’s the city and county that requires them to build basic street features like sidewalks, curbs, gutters and storm drains.
In unincorporated areas, the process is a bit different.
“When folks build out in the rural area — in an unincorporated area — they’re building like one house. Their personal residence, right?” said Chrun.
That can mean the person isn’t required to build curbs, gutters and sidewalks – it could be more costly for the property owner to take on that expense, rather than a developer, he said.
But that hasn’t stopped residents from pushing the county to address sidewalk gaps.
Further down from where Shepherd and Miller stood in Thornton, some sidewalks are visible. But even where they exist, most are cracked or uneven, with sections of pavement pooling into deep depressions.
Even though they’re not from Thornton, Shepherd and Miller know the lack of sidewalks all too well. In their Manteca neighborhood, where the two live, sidewalks are also nowhere in sight.
Shepherd has lived there since 2019, a few years longer than Miller. Just a few weeks ago, she said, her neighborhood road was finally fixed; she and her mother, who lives next door, made multiple complaints to the city. The city’s response, Shepherd said, is usually an email saying they’re looking into the issue — and nothing else.
Before it was fixed the road was covered in potholes, she said. It had gotten so bad that they had to replace their tires at least every three months.
Instead she’s seen “all the resources” going to fixing other housing developments.
“They’re making these new areas look so nice and stuff, and that’s great,” she said. “But the people that live there right now, we can’t afford to move into those areas. We’re stuck where we’re at, and we’re stuck with what we’re given. We feel like we’re being told just to take it, accept it.”
Her neighborhood isn’t new; she estimates her house has been there for about 30 years. But that doesn’t mean the area isn’t busy. It’s packed, especially since it’s near an ACE Rail commuter station where people arrive by car, on foot or by bike to catch their train.
Because of the poor road conditions and the lack of sidewalks, even after it was recently repaved, Shepherd and Miller have gotten to the point where they’re considering moving. And wherever they go, it needs to be a place with sidewalks.
“We want to walk around the neighborhood! Take a stroll with the kids,” said Miller, adding that their 2-year-old daughter had just gotten into riding her bike and using her scooter. “You can’t do it on streets like this.”
Gerardo Guzman Rico, principal at French Camp Elementary, said the lack of sidewalks has been a challenge for the community, especially his students.
At least 50 students live west of French Camp Road, the township’s main road that is just across from the school. It has no sidewalks, much like the roads surrounding the school.
And traffic has gotten heavier, he said, mostly from agricultural machinery and large semis from trucking companies that have set up shop in French Camp.
Students walking to and from school have to stay as close to the side of the road as possible, he said. Since he started working at the school, he’s heard of at least two close calls where a student was nearly hit by a car on roads without sidewalks.
The students are used to it, he said. But it doesn’t make it safe.
Sidewalks would bring not just “perceived safety” but “real safety,” he said.
“People drive differently when they see sidewalks,” he said. “They drive slower.”
Alexis Jackovic has lived in French Camp for years; she was once a student at French Camp Elementary, where her daughter is now in sixth grade.
But she’d never noticed the lack of sidewalks around the school; it’s something she’s gotten used to, and she thinks her neighbors have, too. They’re extra cautious, she said, watching for people walking through the neighborhood or near the school. It’s become part of their routine to stay aware of their surroundings, especially when people have to walk along the side of the road.
When she drops her daughter off at school, Jackovic said, “I don’t look at people’s faces in the morning. I look at their bodies – where they’re at – because I just want to make sure I’m keeping tabs on who’s where and making sure I’m not gonna hit anybody.”
She sees the need for sidewalks near places like the post office or markets. But at the school, she worries sidewalks could worsen an already congested morning drop-off.
Sidewalks could narrow the road, she said, which has one lane going in each direction. Or parents could start dropping their kids off wherever they find the closest sidewalk to the school, rather than at the designated drop-off zone.
But while sidewalks at the school might not benefit her, she can see how they would help students walking to school.
The lack of sidewalks isn’t the only pedestrian issue. The school also needs crosswalks. It’s even down a crossing guard, Jackovic said. The longtime guard, who she’s known since she attended the school, retired last year
Guzman Rico added that the school needs a crosswalk in front of the school and another about 50 feet west.
There’s no timeline for when the crosswalks will be installed. The county’s plan, in its rendering of what the school could look like with added pedestrian infrastructure like sidewalks, also includes crosswalks.
It’s a slow process, Guzman Rico said. But he’s encouraged that the county is working on it.
“I’ve been working with them, and I’ve seen some results,” he said. “Slow, but they will be coming.”