Dear Menlo Park City Council,
I am a longtime resident of Bay Road who lives four houses down from the intersection with Ringwood Avenue.
While safer school routes for cyclists and pedestrians are needed, I am concerned that reducing or eliminating car trips on Coleman Avenue will simply shift the safety problem from Coleman to busy adjacent city and county streets like mine. Streets and intersections like Bay & Ringwood are already heavily impacted by school and commuter traffic from 101 and Redwood City on weekday mornings.
In addition to the potential impact on my street, I am also concerned changes to Coleman will create greater vehicle cut-through traffic on smaller streets within the Flood Triangle and Menlo Oaks neighborhoods, jeopardizing safety for all those who use those streets.
I would strongly urge the traffic study committee to seriously consider the ramifications of restricting Coleman Avenue on regional roadways and on the larger traffic patterns given existing realities and future impacts to the Bay Road corridor, including the approved apartment complex in Suburban Park.
For concerned parents and school superintendents, I sympathize as a retired teacher and parent, but there is one clear answer to student safety and significant vehicle traffic like ours: the old-fashioned school bus.
Regards,
Jane Garratt
