As a long-time Menlo Park resident, I am commenting on this disastrous experiment. Theres no way to make any road 100% safe unless you ban all cars, bikes, pedestrians and scooters from it. The stop sign at San Mateo has significantly slowed traffic and there is no need to slow it more.
Your experiment posted "no stopping" signs, which means that the Post Office letter carriers cant stop their jeeps to deliver mail. The Amazon trucks cant stop momentarily to drop off a package. Roofers cant park their truck at the sidewalk while unloading pallets of heavy shingles. Uber and Lyft drivers cant stop to pick up a passenger standing at the curb. To be legal, all those folks need to park around the corner and walk to the house on Middle. Someone clearly wasnt thinking.
Last week, I was meeting a friend at the playground at Nealon Park. There were ZERO parking spaces. The spaces on Middle were full. The spaces by the pickleball courts were full. The spaces in the back at Little House were full. Parents of toddlers need street parking immediately adjacent to the playground so they dont have to worry about losing their toddlers while hiking from the car to the playground. My friend has three preschool-age children and she cant get them from the car to the playground alone any more. She has to have a friend with her to help shepherd the kids all the way from the parking lot to the playground.
In an attempt to make Middle safer for a handful of bicyclists, you have made it MUCH less safe for toddlers and preschool-age kids.
While at Nealon Park with my friend and her kids, I have watched the users of bike lane. Very, very few people pass on bikes. Most of them dont use the dedicated bike lane, but continue straight in the traffic lanes, as they always have.
Theres another problem with the westbound bike lane. I have seen several cars turn into it, thinking that its a curbside drop-off lane for the preschool or for the playground. When they drive to the west end, its blocked off so cars cant exit. So those cars then need to back up for the entire distance of the lane, and attempt to merge (backwards) into the traffic on Middle Avenue. This is a sure-fire way for a little kid to get run over.
If you significantly reduce the speed limit, you risk having more idiot drivers passing the slowpoke cars by driving in opposing traffic. A truck did that to me about a year ago, passing me on Middle Avenue at about 50 mph.
Please undo this disastrous experiment before a preschool kid gets hit by a car while trying to get to Nealon Park.
Sue Kayton
kayton@alum.mit.edu
650-853-1711
Menlo Park
