Dear City Councilmembers,
As a longtime resident of San Mateo Drive and a bike commuter to Stanford University for almost 9 years, Ive been following the Middle Street Complete Streets project with keen interest.
I’ll be out of the country at the time of the meeting (on a cycling vacation - read we DO care a lot about cycling) but I want to write in with my concerns.
The proposed four-way stop sign on Middle at San Mateo Drive is an excessive action that is completely unwarranted and proposed by people who do not use the intersection.
* I write this as a cyclist whos crossed that intersection twice a day for nearly 9 years (year-round, rain or shine), and oftentimes on weekends as well since I try to bike over driving whenever possible.
* Our kids biked to all public schools, using Middle twice a day while at Oak Knoll and in the morning while attending Hillview. When they took the bus back from Oak Knoll in the afternoon (until 4th grade), they crossed Middle and waited for traffic to clear, or yield. Later, they also biked to M-A, traveling east on Middle.
* At the March 3 meeting, Menlo Park staff (I believe Nikki Nagaya) told attendees that the San Mateo Drive intersection was about to get a lighted beacon "within a couple of weeks." That was approved by the Council in January 2022.
Who would this potential 4-way stop sign supposedly protect?
* Clearly not north-south traffic, and definitely not cyclists on the Peninsula Bike Trail.
* Pedestrians on Middle have one continuous sidewalk on the north side.
* Cyclists using Middle are not currently stopping for people in crosswalks, especially younger cyclists with or without adults in tow on their way to school (am commute). Definitely wont stop at a stop sign.
* Motorists on Middle: To reduce car speed and not penalize everyone else, try enforcing the speed limit, with cameras if needed, and fines!
Why is staff considering a four-way stop sign at San Mateo Drive? The Oakville Terrace tract (SMD and Wallea and the many cul-de-sacs) serves just over 100 households, as I recall. This action would penalize SMD residents unduly, would increase exhaust and noise for those residents, and would privilege San Mateo/Wallea as a cut-through, like Olive or University. Being curvy, SMD wasnt designed to be a University Drive or Olive Street. Wallea is straighter than SMD but involves two (essentially) unprotected intersections on either end of Wallea, where Ive been nearly hit by cars several times. Very recently, a car had to veer completely off course to avoid hitting me (on my bike, when I had right of way) because she didnt know or respect the "yield" sign. Our son, home from college, had a very similar experience in August, also on his bike. Adding more cut-through traffic will only increase those potentially fatal situations.
I do wonder what data staff use when making recommendations: real data, guesses, perceptions? If they even record data, is it over the course of an hour, a week, a year? Its mind-boggling to me to read about recommendations that appear so blind to the experience of people who use the intersection. Were residents or users even surveyed? I’d be curious to hear from the Bicycle Commission and/or the bicycle commuters and get their reaction to a stop sign on Middle at SMD. Has staff ever traveled on the Bryant Street bike boulevard and observed how it’s designed?
Looking forward to a better iteration,
Catherine McMillan
680 San Mateo Drive
Menlo Park, CA
