Dear City Council,
College Avenue is a City-designated bicycle boulevard used by roughly 200 people on foot and bike every day. Lacking continuous sidewalks, our street is shared by pedestrians, children heading to Nealon Park or school, students and commuters traveling to Stanford from Middle Plaza, and neighbors pushing strollers or using mobility devices.
Because of this shared use, the current traffic conditions are demonstrably unsafe. Recent daily data shows unacceptable vehicle speeds on a corridor filled with vulnerable road users:
• 85th-percentile speed: 29 mph
• 95th-percentile speed: 35 mph
• 99th-percentile speed: 42 mph
• Top speeds recorded: up to 52 mph
Most concerningly, peak pedestrian times in the morning and early evening align exactly with the highest traffic volumes and speeds, drastically increasing the risk of serious or fatal collisions. Residents have reported numerous near-misses, and we have already seen an injury collision on Partridge Avenue.
The National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) states that when a street lacks dedicated infrastructure for people walking or biking, it functions as a "shared street" where the target speed is 20 mph or less. We are grateful that the Slow Streets draft is up for approval tonight to help us reach this safety standard.
I am requesting that you approve the Slow Streets Program tonight, and include a clear directive to staff to immediately launch a pilot on College Avenue. I fully support implementing a low-cost, reversible test case here and on surrounding network streets (like Partridge and Arbor) which also lack continuous sidewalks and have heavy bike and pedestrian use. By using proven quick-build tools—such as signage, delineators, and gateway narrowing successfully demonstrated by the SFMTA and other Bay Area cities—we can immediately protect our community.
Thank you for your time and your commitment to our safety,
Sylvia Tejen Shim
Allied Arts
