Dear City Council Members, Commissioners, and Public Works Staff,
I would like to suggest consideration of a “No Left Turn” restriction from
westbound Oak Grove onto Maloney, particularly during peak traffic hours.
When traveling west on Oak Grove and crossing El Camino Real to continue on
Oak Grove, traffic frequently backs up because a single vehicle waiting to
turn left onto Mahoney can block the entire lane. The difficulty is that
there is often no available gap for that left turn due to cars queued at
the El Camino Real intersection, including vehicles waiting to turn south
onto El Camino Real and vehicles traveling straight eastbound across the
intersection.
As a result, traffic heading westbound on Oak Grove becomes backed up
through the intersection, which can then prevent northbound and southbound
traffic on El Camino Real from moving when their light changes. I regularly
observe this during morning commute hours, afternoon commute periods, and
school dismissal times, though it also occurs throughout the day.
Given the congestion and intersection blocking this creates, I wanted to
suggest evaluating whether a no-left-turn restriction onto Maloney could
improve traffic flow and reduce backups at this already busy intersection.
Thank you for your consideration.
Julie Hartstein
