NOTE: A PDF of this letter (which may be easier to read) is attached at
the bottom of this email.
Dear City Council,
As Chair and Vice Chair of the Menlo Park Complete Streets Commission, we
are writing to thank you for the time and effort that you have invested in
Coleman Avenue, and for moving to make the pilot permanent last week. It
has meaningfully improved the safety of the many kids, families, and adults
who bike on Coleman without creating an onerous situation for drivers.
*Wed like to use this opportunity to explain exactly what convinced the
members of the Complete Streets Commissiom to vote unanimously to add
bollards as another level of protection to the bike lane on Coleman.*
However, we want to be clear that our concern here is city-wide. We
believe *there
is a compelling case for Menlo Park to utilize bollards* on other acutely
space-constrained and safety-challenged roads like Coleman, as many other
cities do, and that it can be done in a way that addresses staff’s
concerns.
As Menlo Park faces increasing traffic and growth, the City benefits from
having multiple, effective means to accommodate bikes and cars on our
roads. As we continue as a Commission to work with staff on this, we thank
you for your support and consideration.
>The case for bollards - Physical separation matters
1 - Protected bike lanes are safer. They also feel safer and perceived
safety makes people choose to ride a bike instead of driving a car. We
heard from residents who still will not let their kids bike on Coleman
because the bike lane is unprotected.
Given the City’s ever-increasing problem of traffic on Willow Road, we
should be doing everything we can to enable parents to let their kids bike
on Coleman, instead of getting in a car and driving them to school.
-
Resident comment: “In practice, (the pilot) has not created a level of
safety that the intended users trust...Parents riding with younger children
often still use the vehicle lane, positioning themselves between their
children and traffic. That behavior matters. When families do not feel
comfortable using the bike lane as designed, especially with children
riding single file, it suggests the infrastructure is not meeting its core
safety objective.”
2 - Physical separation benefits drivers: As Councilmember Combs pointed
out at the meeting, bollards can increase driver attentiveness and
awareness, by providing a visual “heads up” that a bike lane exists.
Knowing theres a barrier between their car and a cyclist removes the
guesswork.
3 - Physical separation is especially helpful on narrow roads like Coleman
where bikes and cars are very close together - and even more so when the
riders are young children and families on cargo bikes, as is the case on
Coleman. As one resident put it, “it’s a tricky road for young kids to
navigate on bikes.”
Coleman is the key route for kids to reach Laurel Elementary School Upper
and Lower Campuses, and a major route for M-A students as well. A LOT of
kids bike on Coleman. At the same time, it’s also a popular cut-through
street for the many drivers who are looking for a faster route to and from
the Willow Road exit to Highway 101.
-
Resident comment: “Drivers still dont understand how to drive safely
behind or around young cyclists. The level of patience of local drivers
towards young cyclists is simply unacceptable. ie. honking, or speeding
with extreme accelerations past.”
Also - the feedback we got from residents is that extending speed bumps
into the bike lane has made Coleman even trickier. We were struck by how
many residents had negative things to say about extending speed bumps into
the bike lane, when it wasn’t even one of the Coleman survey questions.
-
Resident/Parent comments: (1) “The bumps are bad for very young bikers
and are really annoying for cargo bikes.” (2) “Weve had multiple close
calls, however, with the speed bumps that extend into the bike lane. These
create a hazard for cyclists and feel more like a hindrance than a safety
feature.”
>Bollards lower the incidence of other ongoing street safety issues
It is well documented that cars parking in the bike lane on Coleman is
still a daily occurrence - even though the city installed No Parking signs
for the pilot. One resident called it “the most dangerous condition on
Colemen.” Cars parked in the bike lane force young riders to swerve into
the vehicle lane. This is an ongoing safety hazard that bollards can stop.
Second, we received complaints from residents about cars encroaching into
the bike lane. As Councilmember Schmidt (who lives on Coleman) said in the
meeting, “Driving this every day, I have seen people drift into that bike
lane more than makes me comfortable.” Bollards provide both a strong visual
signal and a physical structure that prevent drifting.
>Why we recommended intermittent bollards to Council
There were 19 pages of comments from residents in response to the Coleman
Pilot survey. We read them all.
At the Complete Streets meeting, the Commission considered, but decided not
to recommend to Council, that the City install bollards along the entire
Coleman bike lane, which would have afforded the most protection to young
cyclists. Instead, given staff’s concerns about street sweeping, we
proposed that the City install intermittent bollards on the painted bike
lane stripe at targeted locations: the speed cushions and crosswalk.
-
Bollards positioned at speed bumps would dramatically improve
safety by preventing
cars from driving into the bike lane to avoid speed bumps, which has
been a persistent problem in Menlo Park.
-
Bollards positioned at crosswalks would increase visibility and improve
the safety of crosswalks - which is where many bike/ped collisions in
Menlo Park occur.
We believe bollards are an approach worth testing in Menlo Park -
especially at speed bumps. Instead of extending speed bumps into bike lanes
(to stop cars from driving into bike lanes to avoid speed bumps!) - why not
install sturdy bollards that would physically prevent cars from driving
into the bike lanes to begin with?
>Staff’s expressed concerns about bollards on Coleman have been about
installation space and maintenance
-Is there space for bollards on narrow roads like Coleman?
Yes. The average width of the white paint line that separates a car lane
from a bike lane is 4 inches. The average base diameter of a standard,
flexible surface-mounted bollard is 6-8 inches. Can we bolt in bollards so
that the car lane loses two inches? That sounded to us like a reasonable
trade-off, and a reason to pilot intermittent bollards on Coleman.
-What about street sweeping?
The debris/sweeping issue that staff has raised is a great point, and it
wont be limited to Coleman. The City needs to find a solution for
maintaining Class IV protected lanes as they are included on Laurel Street
in the approved Parkline plan, and on Willow Avenue in the City’s plan. For
example, Commissioner Rascoff offered Council information about the Bike
Lane Sweeper which looks like a viable,
low-cost option for maintaining any protected bike lane in the City.
There’s also been concern that bollards are flimsy and need to be replaced.
However, bollards are being utilized successfully today in our own
community, including Bryant Street in Palo Alto and more recently by the
City of Menlo Park at two spots along the bike route that students use to
get to Oak Knoll Elementary School: at the Olive/Middle intersection, and
at the Oak/Oak Knoll crosswalk, installed this summer. (See photos). San
Mateo County has installed bollards on their side of Coleman Avenue which
seem sturdy as well. (See photo).
The point is, we’d like to work with the City to find ways to address these
concerns rather than see Menlo Park abandon space-saving, inexpensive, and
effective road safety measures like bollards. As one resident wrote to the
Commission, “Street sweeping shouldn’t prevent bike protection.”
>The bigger question
We think this is the right moment for the city to move toward protected
bike lanes on streets serving vulnerable populations — children, seniors,
and others who cant safely share a lane with car traffic.
Ultimately, this comes down to making our city streets accessible to all
users -- including those who aren’t able to drive cars, and those who can’t
afford one. There are some streets where a protected lane is exactly what’s
needed to ensure the safety of all.
Sally Cole, Chair, CSC
Meredith Bergin-Bailey, Vice Chair, CSC
