Dear City Council -
My recommendation for proceeding with the Middle Ave bike lane project is: Option 2 + Time-of-Day No Parking signage for commute hours. My focus here is only on Middle Ave from around Fremont to Olive.
First, Why not Options 1 or 3?
Option 3 leaves considerable parking where it is used most, while restricting parking (west of Arbor to Olive) where parking is light all day. Hence the safety equation changes little for bikes encountering parked cars. In addition, Option 3 removes all parking from both sides of a 100% residential street 1/2 mile long. Its difficult to see No Parking continued further along Olive, Oak Dell or Oak as Safe School Routes. Those streets typically have some but only a few parked cars in their bike lanes, similar to Middle west of Arbor.
Option 1 similarly removes all parking from Middle west of Fremont. Participants (not me) at both the Wednesday and Saturday meetings called this option Overkill. One resident on Saturday asked What problem are you solving? With Option 1, Sunday parking for the New Community Church leads to some couple dozen of parked cars relocating to side streets mostly lacking sidewalks. That parking change seems possible, but awkward, and introduces new pedestrian safety concerns.
Option 2 balances a dedicated bike lane with parking on one side for all of Middle from Fremont to Olive.
Time-of-Day signage could be added to Option 2 so that at commute hours, bikes have their own lanes on both sides at the most critical times. Middle Ave from Arbor to Olive has few parked cars for most of the day outside of commute hours.
One senior resident at the Zoom meeting indicated they could handle Time-of-Day limited parking, with a total parking ban being onerous. The city should in any case understand all such needs, including drop-offs at the New Community Church pre-school and at Rosener House.
Time-of-Day signage could also be introduced on both sides of Middle while the dedicated bike lane is designed and implemented. Cyclists could quickly experience a much improved biking environment along with traffic calming. City staff confirmed at the public meetings that Time-of-Day options could be considered if Council requested. The simplicity and relative low cost of signage makes it a good pilot option. Time-of-Day signage is used elsewhere in Menlo Park including at Oak Knoll and La Entrada schools.
Some have said Time-of-Day signage doesnt work. With Option 2, signage only makes biking better, since there will be fewer parked cars, hopefully zero, at commute hours. In addition, cyclists at commute hours may likely alert parked cars (e.g. informal tickets) they are violating signage. A pro-bike, respect the signage, ethos could be motivated through Option 2 plus signage. Some Wednesday and Saturday meeting attendees expressed support for Time-of-Day signage.
Finally, Option 2 plus Time-of-Day signage could provide a model for extending bike improvements to other streets. Residents may see Oh, we can have signage, or One dedicated bike lane looks workable, and so on. Neighborhood buy-in is essential for proposed changes. Option 2 plus Time-of-Day signage provide neighborhoods with different routes to their own complete streets.
Sincerely,
John Kadvany / College Avenue
