Dear Honorable Menlo Park City Council Members, Correction: ? (Many residents who live on Chester seem to be more vocal and community organized than many residents in the Willows Neighborhood, and those who live near the intersection of Willow Rd and the streets where the No Right Turn restrictions are in place are very motivated due to the reduction of traffic near their homes, so you are hearing mostly from those residents and I suspect the surveys also reflect that.) Don't forget about the rest of us in the Willows! Dear Honorable Menlo Park City Council Members, Please VOTE NO to making the "No Right Turn Restrictions" weekdays 3-7pm permanent onto Chester Street, Durham Street and O'Keefe Street to Willow Road. ? The data collected from the Parisi Transportation Consulting Group DID NOT show an overall reduction of cut-through traffic in the Willows Neighborhood, instead it shows a redirection of the cut-through traffic to now be concentrated onto Woodland and Gilbert streets. The root cause of the cut-through traffic and elimination of the cut-through traffic, is not actually being addressed by the "No Right Turn Restrictions." Spring 2017 --> Spring 2019: -28% NB Chester Street; -14% NB Durham; +10% NB O'Keefe; +20% NB Gilbert; +52% EB Woodland Ave. from Middlefield to Pope; no measurements along Woodland from Menalto to Euclid (which is now gridlocked). ? Residents on the streets with "No Right Turn Restrictions" have experienced an improvement in their quality of life, understandably, while other residents in the Willows neighborhood have experienced a reduction in quality of life. Some of us who are residents need to exit the Willows neighborhood during evening commute hours. (Many residents who live on Chester seem to be more vocal and community organized than many residents in the Willows Neighborhood, so I suspect the surveys reflect that.) In the 20 years that I have lived here, I liken the "traffic calming" efforts that have taken place (or been studied via hired consultants several times) in the Willows Neighborhood to "Rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic." Due to the location of our neighborhood bordered North/South by Willow Road & University Avenue and East/West by 101 and Middlefield, we are boxed in and subject to increasing traffic volumes on all of these roads, particularly during commute times with cars traveling to 101 and the Dumbarton Bridge. Instead of addressing the root cause issues of alleviating the rising commute traffic volumes with resulting cut-through traffic, closing off interior streets within the Willows Neighborhood merely serves to push cars from one street to another. Instituting No Right Turns onto Willow Road from Chester, Durham and O'Keefe, has not proved, via the empirical data, to do anything to reduce cut through traffic, although that was the conclusion for some reason in the Complete Streets Commission meeting on July 8th in which these restrictions were recommended to be made permanent. In fact, by the measures of the Parisi Transportation Consulting group themselves, the only streets that resulted in a decrease in traffic volume weekdays between 3-7pm were Chester and Durham streets, with the No Right Turn restrictions in place. All other streets in the Willows Neighborhood showed increased traffic volumes. In fact, the increase in traffic volume onto Woodland from Menalto to Euclid since the No Right Turn restrictions were implemented is immense, however, it was not measured in this study! Essentially, the No Right Turn Restrictions have resulted in re-routing traffic to primarily Chester Street (to access Willow), and Woodland (to access University). There is no data that shows cut-through traffic was actually reduced. Although I feel compassion for residents who live on Chester, Durham and O'Keefe Streets who are directly impacted by the evening weekday commute traffic, and understand their elation at having traffic redirected off of their streets during commute hours, improving their quality of life, others of us in the neighborhood take on the added burden. I, for one, need to drive to work at 6pm each weekday evening from my residence on O'Keefe Street. The medical clinics where I work are all located off of 101, which requires me to exit the Willows Neighborhood during the height of commute hours each evening, either onto Willow Road or University Avenue. Before the No Right Turn Restrictions were implemented, there were times that it took me up to 15 minutes to exit the Willows Neighborhood onto Willow Rd. or University Ave., however, that was the exception, not the rule. Once the No Right Turn Restrictions were implemented, pre-COVID it took me anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes (on the worst days) to exit the Willows Neighborhood onto Willow Rd. or University Ave. Traffic on Gilbert Road was often backed up for multiple blocks after the No Right Turn restrictions were implemented when I was exiting at 6pm. The backup on Woodland from Menalto to Euclid was made even worse and became gridlock! There seemed to be a continual train of cars coming from Chaucer/Pope, onto Woodland to exit onto University Ave. at 6pm weekday evenings despite the signs saying "No Thru Traffic." My quality of life in the Willows has significantly lessened after the implementation of the No Right Turn restrictions. In our neighborhood, the traffic calming efforts, in this case the No Right Turn restrictions weekdays 3-7pm, seem to make some residents happier at the expense of others, since the core problem of increased volume of commute traffic, and resulting cut-through traffic through the Willows, is not addressed by these efforts. If the No Right Turn restrictions are made permanent, what is the City of Menlo Park going to do to appease those who live on Gilbert and Woodland who have taken on burdens of the re-directed traffic, while still allowing those of us who need to exit the Willows Neighborhood during evening commute time a way to do so? I feel like I am getting suffocated and trapped in our neighborhood during evening commute hours. (I have attempted to change my work hours and have not been able to do so.) I appreciate your consideration. With Kindness, Julie Forbes, O'Keefe Street Received on Tue Aug 11 2020 - 09:34:29 PDT
