Dear City Council members -
Regarding the draft proposal for Middle Avenue modifications:
MINI-ROUNDABOUT
-- The pilot for the mini-roundabout at Middle and University has, as far as I can tell, no analysis of potential pedestrian, bicycle and traffic safety issues. The roundabout may be ‘mini’ in size but what matters is traffic flow and pedestrians.
— University & Middle is a well-used crossing for pedestrians, who would now have to rely on cars knowing to stop when signaled. Bicyclists are now to be mixed with a continuous traffic flow, and they too will not be able to rely on full 4-way stops. University with its bike lanes has bikes most of the day.
-- At commute hours, traffic flow can be significant from all directions. Its unclear just whats expected at those times. With a four-way roundabout intersection, its helpful if there is low flow along one axis, but that doesnt happen at Middle & University, certainly at commute hours. I would think there are some engineering guidelines for situations which work well and which to avoid, but nothing is mentioned in the staff report.
—The staff report provides no explanation of yield control so as a resident I cannot know if that means flashing sidewalks on all four crossings or what. A pedestrian needs assurance cars opposite are stopped from turning into them. A 4-way flasher sounds confusing.
— Flow speed would be increased on University right in front of residential homes. On the northeast side, there is no sidewalk. Its unlike the 4-way San Mateo stop which increases pedestrian safety and stops traffic, rather than speeding it up. University & Middle would seem to meet the 4-way stop standard described in Section G of the staff report.
-- Ive asked for a rationale for this pilot and was told it works well elsewhere. Thats not an adequate response. Roundabouts work well in some places and not others.
-- For example, in the 90s, a roundabout was tried on Santa Cruz Avenue because, as said now, they work well elsewhere. It was a total fiasco leading to public outrage and removal of the roundabout.
BIKE LANE WIDTH:
- I cannot tell how wide the bike lanes are. Do not design them to be super-wide and encouraging two-aside riders. Thats a bad habit to encourage especially for younger riders.
NEW COMMUNITY CHURCH PARKING:
- The staff report says nothing about the significant parking needs of the New Community Church (Arbor & Middle) on Sundays, and other meeting times. Im not stating this to be against no parking on Middle. But, with Sunday parking on Middle today, there is regularly considerable overflow parking on side streets, particularly west Arbor and Claire Place across the street. From my own observations, there can easily be two dozen cars or more parked on Middle.
-- So its likely that additional parking will go to the side streets. That includes College Avenue, where I live. There is now cut-through traffic speeding through unmarked intersections at College & Arbor, and College & Princeton. The project could include lane markings or lane bumps of some kind at these intersections to keep cars in place. Parking on east Arbor will likely increase, pointing east, and on College pointing north. The only exit routes are into Allied Arts, and not directly onto Middle as there is from west Arbor (parking only on the south side). So be prepared to deal with that outcome. It may be fine, but you might check with neighbors. Again, nothing is mentioned about this possible outcome in the staff report.
- As a heavy pedestrian area mostly without sidewalks the parking change mixes more cars with walkers, especially on Sundays.
-- I brought up church parking and side streets at two meetings, and wrote by email to the Transportation Department. No response on the issue at all.
SPEED FEEDBACK SIGNAGE
-- If installed, these should be low to the ground or otherwise as unobtrusive as possible. Do not make these permanent. Given the several traffic calming measures it’s unclear why these are needed.
SHELL STATION DRIVEWAY
-- I use this station a lot. It is often crowded as theres also the useful repair shop. Cars often have to maneuver in and out of the fueling area, and its often tight and crowded. Eliminating the Middle driveway means cars now entering via Middle will use ECR, which forces them to enter into that half of the station. This may be unsafe during busy times. For cars leaving the station otherwise using the Middle driveway, they might be trapped in the station in confused ways if that driveway is closed. They might be forced into the alley.
—I know thats a troublesome area, but Id have real concerns about eliminating Shells Middle driveway. Id be interested to hear from the station managers, including the repair shop.
-- Historically, a focus group was once formed with the city to study this small area, including the Safeway driveway, and well before todays higher traffic flows. My recollection of the groups conclusion: We appreciate all the ideas the facilitators have presented and discussed. Our advice is to leave it alone. That is, there’s no clear solution here.
Sincerely,
John Kadvany / College Avenue.
