Dear City Council,
College Avenue is a City-designated bicycle boulevard used by roughly 200
people on foot and bike every day. Lacking continuous sidewalks, our street
is shared by pedestrians, children heading to Nealon Park or school,
students and commuters traveling to Stanford from Middle Plaza, and
neighbors pushing strollers or using mobility devices.
Because of this shared use, the current traffic conditions are demonstrably
unsafe. Recent daily data shows unacceptable vehicle speeds on a corridor
filled with vulnerable road users:
• 85th-percentile speed: 29 mph
• 95th-percentile speed: 35 mph
• 99th-percentile speed: 42 mph
• Top speeds recorded: up to 52 mph
Most concerningly, peak pedestrian times in the morning and early evening
align exactly with the highest traffic volumes and speeds, drastically
increasing the risk of serious or fatal collisions. Residents have reported
numerous near-misses, and we have already seen an injury collision on
Partridge Avenue.
The National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) states
that when a street lacks dedicated infrastructure for people walking or
biking, it functions as a "shared street" where the target speed is 20 mph
or less. We are grateful that the Slow Streets draft is up for approval
tonight to help us reach this safety standard.
I am requesting that you approve the Slow Streets Program tonight, and
include a clear directive to staff to immediately launch a pilot on College
Avenue. I fully support implementing a low-cost, reversible test case here
and on surrounding network streets (like Partridge and Arbor) which also
have heavy bike and pedestrian use. By using proven quick-build tools—such
as signage, delineators, and gateway narrowing successfully demonstrated by
the SFMTA and other Bay Area cities—we can immediately take real action to
protect our entire community.
Thank you for your time and your commitment to our safety.
