Hello,
I am a Menlo Park resident living downtown since 2014. I bike to work in Palo Alto and take my daughters to school and preschool at Oak Knoll and preschool at the VA medical center.
I have been taking the Middle Ave route most weekdays this Fall during the school year I also take the bridges across San Francisquito Creek on a regular basis.
I want to say THANK YOU for the improvements in cycling safety.
The removal of parking has nearly eliminated the need to move into the lane. The addition of the stop sign has slowed traffic speeds (subjective measurement) along Middle and also made the lefthand turn toward the bike bridge safer. I feel much safer taking Middle with my daughters to school and Lyle and Nealon parks. The improvements around Nealon are also welcome and I feel safer riding down Middle to Safeway, making cycling for grocery runs a viable option. Once the tunnel under Caltrain is there, I will be using the route to Burgess Park on a regular basis as well, to avoid riding home up Menlo Ave (not the safest given the narrow lane with cars parked, and cars coming in and out from Trader Joe’s parking lot and side streets) as I commute home from Palo Alto on the bike path on Alma near Burgess on my route home from the bike bridge on Alma.
I understand you have the needs of many different constituents to balance but I wanted to add in my 2c in strong support of all of the thoughtful improvements in the current pilot. Truly, improving safety on main connecting routes like Middle improves the network to make the full day of cycling safe, so it becomes much more viable as a regular, consistent way to commute and get around town. The parking removal and other improvements, from my perspective, have been a big success.
Sincerely,
John Leikauf
