Dear City Council members,
I live a stone’s throw from the intersection of Menlo Ave. and University Drive.
I frequent this area, sometimes as a pedestrian and sometimes as a driver, and have been intentionally observing cars as they negotiate the turns at this intersection where bollards have been placed to test for the feasibility of installing sidewalk bulb-outs.
I can tell you that most cars, including nearly all SUVs, cross well over the yellow line dividing the lanes when making a right turn from Menlo Ave. onto University Dr., which means that side-swiping collisions are extremely likely.
By the way, while walking across Menlo Ave. after shopping at Draeger’s earlier today, I tripped over a broken, jagged exposed brick sticking out in that very crosswalk! That needs to be fixed asap before someone gets really injured and sues the city.
Back to the bollards: Just as in the first round with lighter weight bollards, several of them have been hit and bent by cars that find this construction too tight to navigate. And someone wrote a word on one of the bollards: DUMB. I heartily agree!
In addition, this new configuration makes it really dangerous for bicyclists! And bicyclists, if forced to move out of the way quickly, can hit pedestrians, too.
So even if, and that’s a big “if”, it this construction would make it safer for pedestrians, it makes it more dangerous for drivers and for bicyclists.
Instead of trying to micromanage this intersection, Council members, please end this project and drop the idea of bulb-outs here, and please turn your attention where it is actually needed: on preventing the shocking massive skyscraper Sunset project a Russian oligarch seeks to inflict on our city!
Sincerely,
Cherie Zaslawsky
