Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report 1552City of Palo Alto (ID # 1552) City Council Staff Report Report Type: Study SessionMeeting Date: 5/9/2011 May 09, 2011 Page 1 of 5 (ID # 1552) Council Priority: {ResProject:ClearLine} Summary Title: Study Session: Bicycle and Ped Plan Update Title: Bicycle Tour and Study Session: Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation Plan Update From:City Manager Lead Department: Planning and Community Environment Recommendation Staff recommends that Council: 1.Receive the staff report outlining planned and prospective pedestrian and bicycle transportation projects and programs, and 2.Participate in Optional Bicycle Tour of the Future Park Blvd Bicycle Boulevard Project and Provide discussion and input to Staff and Alta Planning + Design related to the 2011 Bicycle & Pedestrian Transportation Plan. No action by the Council is requested. Executive Summary The Bicycle Transportation Plan serves as the City’s guide for identifying and prioritizing bicycle transportation projects and programs in the community. The last update to the Bicycle Transportation Plan occurred in 2003. The 2011 update provides for a new Pedestrian element to the Bicycle Transportation Plan, allowing a unique opportunity to include more robust projects, programs, and general policies and recommendations to encourage alternative transportation mode uses, including trail projects, for both commute and recreational purposes. Recommendations from the Bicycle & Pedestrian Transportation Plan will be included in the upcoming Transportation Element of the City’s Comprehensive Plan and will form the basis for future Capital Improvements Program (CIP) projects. An up-to-date Bicycle & Pedestrian Transportation Plan is also essential for accruing funding from regional grant sources. The City’s design consultant for the project, Alta Planning + Design, in conjunction with staff, has held study sessions with the Palo Alto Bicycle Advisory Committee (PABAC), the City School May 09, 2011 Page 2 of 5 (ID # 1552) Traffic Safety Committee, and the Planning & Transportation Commission. A citywide community workshop was also held on March 24th, 2011 with over 75 participants, and community input is still being collected through an active on-line survey available at www.cityofpaloalto.org/bike. Background In December, 2009, City Council directed staff to proceed with the update to the 2003 Bicycle Transportation Plan with the added Pedestrian element as required by regional policy mandates from both the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA). Following the Request for Proposals process, the City contracted with Alta Planning + Design in the Fall of 2010 to assist the City in preparation of the new Bicycle & Pedestrian Transportation Plan in 2011. The general framework of the new Plan will include the following categories: ·Existing Conditions Analysis ·Future Needs Assessment ·Recommended Program Network ·Best Practices and Design Standards ·Local Policies for Encouragement ·Implementation Strategies, and ·Funding Alta Planning + Design has submitted working papers periodically throughout the Plan development as each of the above sections are developed. Discussion To date, City staff and Alta Planning + Design have met with the PABAC, a working group of the City-School Traffic Safety Committee, and the Planning and Transportation Commission (PTC). Input from the PTC focused around enhancing connections on and along arterials and transit facilities (Attachment B). Input from PABAC has helped to frame recommendations for new on- and off-street connections in the recommended draft plan (Attachment C)). The working group of the City-School Traffic Safety Committee input was focused mainly on highlighting connections to schools, including recommendations to highlight trail connections that may not be known to the public at large or youth (Attachment D). Staff also briefly presented the update to the Parks and Recreation Commission and will return to them for a more complete session in late May. On March 24th, the Consultants and Staff held a citywide community workshop at Terman Middle School that included design interaction opportunities for various related community topics of interest, including: Safe Routes to Schools (Attachment E), Trails, Downtown Project Opportunities, and Bicycle Boulevards. The community workshop also served as an opportunity to inform residents and users of the city’s existing bicycle and pedestrian networks, to discuss May 09, 2011 Page 3 of 5 (ID # 1552) project progress, and to allow an opportunity for residents to highlight areas of focused interest for the plan. An online survey for the Bicycle & Pedestrian Transportation Plan 2011 is available online at: www.cityofpaloalto.org/bike. As of mid-April, the City has received over 250 responses to the online survey including input from the city’s student population through an aggressive outreach effort with the local high schools and the City-School Traffic Safety Committee. Development of the Plan also includes data collection efforts regarding current policies, bicycle and pedestrian traffic volumes, infrastructure/facility information, collision records, and field data gathering. May 09, 2011 Page 4 of 5 (ID # 1552) Preliminary Strategy and Implementation Recommendations for the City Council to consider and provide input on include: a.Bicycle-friendly roadway design features, such as: ·Custom Wayfinding Signage ·Green Bicycle Boxes and non-intrusive detection alternative at signalized intersections ·Colored Bicycle Lanes b.Pedestrian-focused design features, such as: ·Citywide Pedestrian Countdown Signals ·Trail connections to Schools, Parks, and Communities ·Downtown Pedestrian Safety Enhancements c.Preliminary Infrastructure Project Recommendations: ·New Bicycle Boulevards –Webster St., Amarillo Ave.-Moreno, Wilkie Way-Miller Ave. ·Cycletracks –Fabian Way (Class I bicycle trails adjacent to streets) ·Regional/Multiple Agency Projects –Rail Corridor, San Francisquito Creek, Matadero Creek The consultant and staff will present these concepts to the Council and public at the study session and would like the Council to respond to which of these potential enhancements or programs are most desired or what further information is needed for evaluation. Next Steps Following the City Council Study Session, the Draft Final Program, Policy, and Project recommendations for enhancing the Bicycle & Pedestrian Transportation Plan will be finalized and presented at the following community meeting opportunities before returning to the City Council for final adoption in July: ·May 19, 2011 City/School Traffic Safety Committee ·May 24, 2011 Parks and Recreation Commission ·June 7, 2011 Palo Alto Bicycle Advisory Committee ·June 22, 2011 Planning & Transportation Commission Public input through the City’s online survey available at: www.cityofpaloalto.org/bike will continue to be available through the end of May. Resource Impact Development of the Bicycle & Pedestrian Transportation Plan 2011 is funded through a combination of capital improvement program fund sources ($25,000) and a grant from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) -Transportation Development Act (TDA) program ($55,000). Future projects that receive partial grant funding will be evaluated in the context of available General Fund resources and other infrastructure priorities. May 09, 2011 Page 5 of 5 (ID # 1552) Policy Implications Development of the Bicycle & Pedestrian Transportation Plan 2011 is being implemented at the direction of the City Council and will follow policies consistent with the most current Comprehensive Plan and/or will update the policies identified in the 2003 Bicycle Transportation Plan. The Bicycle & Pedestrian Transportation Plan will be incorporated by reference into the City’s update of the Comprehensive Plan. Environmental Review Upon completion of the development of the Bicycle & Pedestrian Transportation Plan 2011, and prior to Council action, environmental review pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) will be prepared for evaluation concurrent with Council review of the Plan. ATTACHMENTS: ·Attachment A: Palo Alto Proposed Bikeways Map -DRAFT (PDF) ·Attachment B: Excerpt Minutes of the P&TC Meeting of Feb. 23, 2011(PDF) ·Attachment C: Jan. 4, 2011 PABAC Meeting Notes (PDF) ·Attachment D: Map with notes from City School Traffic Safety Committee Meeting on February 9, 2011 (PDF) ·Attachment E: Meeting Notes from the March 24, 2011 Community Workshop regarding Safe Routes to School (PDF) ·Attachment F: PA BIKE PLAN STUDY MAY 9th LTR from Pamela Radin (PDF) Prepared By:Jaime Rodriguez, Chief Transportation Official Department Head:Curtis Williams, Director City Manager Approval: James Keene, City Manager !! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !!!!!!! !!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ! ! ! ! ! ! !!!!!!!!!!!! ! !!!!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !!! !!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!! !!!!!!!!!! !! ! ! ! ! !! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !!!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !!!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !!!!!!!! ! ! ! " " " "b "b "b "b !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ! ! ! !!!!!!! ! !!!!!!!!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !!!! ! !! ! !! ! !! ! !! !!!!!!!!!!! !! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !! ! ! !! ! !! ! !!!! ! ! !!!! !!! ! ! ! !!!!!!! ! ! !!!!!!!! !!!!!!! ! ! !!! ! ! ! !!! !!! ! ! ! ! ! ! !! !!! ! ! ! ! ! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!! !!!! !!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ! !!! !!!! !!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!! !! !!!!!! ! !!!!!!! !!!!!!!!! !!!!! !! !!!!!!!!!!!! !!!! ! ! !!!!!!!!! !!!!! !!!!! !!!! !! !!!!!!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !!!!!!!! !!!!!! £¤101 Stanford University Unincorporated Santa Clara County San Francisco Bay Baylands Preserve Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge City of Mountain View City of East Palo Alto Ci t y o f L o s A l t o s Santa C l a ra San M a te o CastillejaSchool EscondidoElementarySchool Lucille NixonElementarySchool Town of Los Altos Hills GreendellSchool/Cubberly City of Los Altos ·|}þ82 Ca m pus Dr TermanMiddleSchool Walter HayesElementary AddisonElementary OhloneElementarySchool Palo VerdeElementarySchool Juana BrionesElementary School Barron ParkElementarySchool Palo AltoHighSchool Jane LathropStanfordMiddle School Jordan MiddleSchool El CarmeloElementarySchool HooverElementarySchool DuveneckElementarySchool GunnHighSchool C o w p e r S t E l C a m i n o R e a l M i d d l e e l d R d L o u i s R d R o s s R d Page Mill Rd P a r k B l v d W e b s t e r S t Fo o t h i l l E x p y C h a n n i n g A v e Oregon Expy A l m a S t Meado w D r Sand Hill Rd Stanford Ave Hamilton Ave E m e r s o n S t U niv ersity Ave B a y s h o r e R d Br y a n t S t San An t o n i o R d New e l l R d Linc o l n A v e Palm D r College Ave Charle s t o n R d H a n o v e r S t Colorad o A v e G r e e r R d Aras t r a d e r o R d M i r a n d a A v e Homer Ave Lasuen S t Loma Verde A v e Everett Ave W i l k i e W a y Galvez S t Welch R d Churchill Ave Matadero Ave California Ave Cent e r D r Barron Ave Los Robles Ave Hil l v i e w A v e Old Page Mill Rd E s c o n d i d o R d Fabi a n W a y A r b ore tu m Palo Alto Oak R d E m b a r c a d e r o R d Coleridge Ave D e e r C r e e k R d C o y o t e H i l l R d A s h S t Amarillo Ave Em b a r c a d e r o R d S e r r a M a l l E m e r s o n S t S e a r s v i l l e R d H a l e S t A l v a r a d o R o w S a n t a T e r e s a S t Fremon t R d Lom i t a D r P a n a m a S t L a g u n a A v e P o r t e r D r N e l s o n D r Serra St Del Medio Ave B i r c h S t Hansen Way Gr e e r R d A m a r a n t a A v e K i p l i n g S t El Carmelo Ave Man u e l a A v e Ge n g R d Em b a r c a d e r o W a y G e o r g i a A v e Maybell Ave Ol d A d o b e R d Arguel l o W a y Matadero Canal Lasuen M a l l Clark Way Hea t h e r L n D o n a l d D r California Ave R o t h W a y Mi d d l e e l d R d Monroe Dr M a c k a y D r Creekside Dr Fa b e r P l C a s e y A v e Santa Rita Ave G o v e r n o r s A v e Old Trace Rd G u i n d a S t J a r v i s W a y Al m a S t Melville Ave B r y a n t S t Addison Ave Ca s t i l l e j a S t Quarry R d El Camino Real F o o t h i l l E x p y Palo Alto A ve Lytton Ave E m e r s o n S t Co w p e r S t Colorad o A v e Hanover St Park B l v d Kingsley Ave Moreno Ave Matadero Creek Ado b e C r e e k Montr o s e A v e Bol P a r k P a t h Boyce A v e University Ave E l C a m i n o W a y R a m o n a S t Channing Ave 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 See reverse side for explanatary notes City of Palo Alto Proposed Bikeway Network City of Palo Alto Proposed Bicycle Facilities !!!!Class I Multi-Use Path !!!!Multi-Use Path or Trail (Multi-Jurisdictional Project) Class II Bicycle Lane Enhanced Bikeway (Class II) Class III Shared Roadway (Sharrows) !!!!!Bicycle Boulevard Across Barrier Connections (VTA) Across Barrier Connections (East Palo Alto) Bicycle Accommodation To Be Determined " Existing Bicycle Facilities Class I Multi-Use Path Class II Bicycle Lane Combination Bicycle Lane/Opposing Sharrows¢ Class III Bicycle Route Bicycle Boulevard (Class III) Pedestrian/Bicycle Grade-Separated Crossing Private Paths Park Paths b Caltrain Station Schools Trip Attractors andGenerators Commercial Neighborhood Commercial Mixed Use Employment District Parks and Open Space !I 0 10.5 Miles Source: Data obtained from MTC,Santa Clara VTA, Santa Clara County,San Mateo County. Author: Tony Salomone INITIAL DRAFT NETWORK RECOMMENDATIONS Discussion Purposes Only / Future Revision(s) to Include Spot Improvements 1. Long-term vision is San Francisquito Creek Trail, shorter-term improvements needed at Sand Hill/El Camino/Alma/ Palo Alto Ave; Need more focused attention on Stanford Hospital Expansion package in terms of relationship to plan implementation. 2. Homer/Channing is one of the highest priorities and needs further analysis (best chance for dedicated facilities approaching downtown); Explore some combinaton of contraow bike lane(s), traditional bike lanes, and sharrows to east to Guinda/Channing (see #4); Seek extension of contraow bicycle lane on Homer to at least Emerson for improved downtown access; Remove the substandard Lytton bike lanes but improve downtown with intersection treatments, bicycle parking, and shared lane markings to encourage on-street commercial access. Locate future potential bicycle share stations. 3. Work with Stanford University to complete El Camino frontage trail and crossing to Homer underpass, and to upgrade Stanford Ave with Class I path (Bay to Ridge Trail); Improve connections to and along Churchill at Paly High and between Coleridge on Bryant Blvd. 4. School Commute Corridor/Civic Park Campus Concept: Explore making 7am-7pm bicycle lanes permanent with upgrades on Channing and Newell, and work with PAUSD to widen existing sidewalk at Walter Hayes; Designate Webster as bicycle boulevard and consolidate Addison/Melville bikeways on Kingsley for better network spacing (also allows for returning daytime parking to Addison). Work with PAUSD on connecting to Ross bicycle boulevard through Jordan campus in the long term. 5. Explore extending Bol Park Path through Stanford Research Park parking lot along historic railroad way; Widen and connect existing sidewalks on Page Mill and Hanover Streets to yield Class I path through major employment center toward California Ave and future El Camino Real bus rapid transit station; Work with private TDM programs to promote/invest in the forthcoming bicycle share program; Further south, connect the Bol Park and Hetch Hetchy/Los Altos Paths with a short o-street path segment along Arastradero Rd and Gunn High frontage. 6. Rene and integrate Matadero Creek Trail concept with future Caltrain/Alma undercrossing proposal; Develop the Margarita/Matadero Ave bicycle boulevard with a focus on improving the El Camino crossing; Explore bicycle lanes on Alma Street and the reorganization of the Alma/Meadow intersection(s) with future repaving; Reconsider opportunities on Alma Street when High Speed Rail future is determined. 7. Further study feasibility of bike lanes on El Camino Real from Page Mill to Maybell through limited parking removal and lane reduction (as proposed in 2003 El Camino Master Plan) for improving commercial access; Potential to improve safety and comfort of El Camino Way/Los Robles crossing of El Camino Real by upgrading/converting substandard bike lanes to protected cycletrack/Class I path segment; Major intersection improvement needed further south at Charleston/Arastradero. 8. Continue to prioritize and advance a year-round Hwy 101 crossing improvement at Adobe Creek; Improve connections along Adobe Creek to Meadow St, and/or along Fabian Way by reducing the number of travel lanes and providing buered bike lanes or a two-way cycletrack. 9. Prioritize better bicycle access to Midtown Shopping Center along Middleeld Rd, Moreno/Amarillo bicycle boulevard, and Matadero Creek Trail; Initial exploration indicates implementation of Matadero Creek Trail in segments is highly feasible here, while lane reduction on Middleeld Rd requires further environmental analysis; Upgrade the informal highway underpass at Matadero Creek to formal Class I standards. 10. Improve the existing overpass at Embarcadero/Hwy 101 and connections to Bay Trail; Consider on or o-street improvements on Embarcadero Rd from Hwy 101 to airport. Initial Discussion Notes: Page 1 Planning and Transportation Commission1 Verbatim Minutes2 February 23, 20113 4 EXCERPT5 6 Study session to review progress on Pedestrian and Bicycle Transportation Plan Update 7 and provide input on policy, funding and implementation.8 9 Mr. Jaime Rodriguez, Chief Transportation Official: Good evening Chair Tuma and members of 10 the Commission. Yes, we are very excited to be here tonight. After a lengthy period of waiting 11 we are excited to be here and hope that you still have the energy to give us the feedback that we 12 really need from you tonight. This is the first of two opportunities that we will have to come 13 before you to solicit your input regarding the development of the Bicycle and Pedestrian 14 Transportation Plan for the City of Palo Alto. Today we are going to have Casey Hildreth from 15 Alta Planning and Design kind of walk you through some of the existing conditions that he has 16 kind of gone though in identifying the existing inventory within the City of Palo Alto, and really 17 kind of focus his presentation around some of the best practice standards around the industry, 18 and really solicit your input regarding guidance that you would like to see the plan move forward 19 over the next few months. With that I will hand it over to Casey so we can kind of keep moving 20 quickly.21 22 Mr. Casey Hildreth, Consultant: Thank you, Jaime. Thank you Commission for having us. I 23 will move in directly to the presentation so we can move along.24 25 So the City of Palo Alto hired Alta to update what is a 2003 Bicycle Plan. So we are certainly 26 not starting from scratch. We have a great comprehensive plan to build upon. A lot has 27 happened since 2003 from a policy perspective, particularly at the state level with SB 375, and at 28 the national level with a lot of innovative new treatments for particularly bicycle facilities as well 29 as just non-motorized planning and design in general. So we want to bring some of that really 30 updated information and design focus into this plan. Also, we are expanding the plan to include 31 a pedestrian component as well.32 33 You see here some of the bullets. We also think that in addition to the best practices treatments 34 we really want to focus on bringing more of an online presence to the information that is 35 presented in the plan. The old plan has a lot of good information that is quite buried and we 36 want to make sure that is more open and transparent to the public.37 38 We are coming to you as short of a shift in sort of the phases of this plan. We have taken a lot of 39 time looking at the existing policy framework for the city, obviously the past plan, as well as 40 several other plans, gathering data. We are really sort of at the stage now moving into compiling 41 that into a report and really giving our assessment of need for the city. So it is going to be a lot 42 of heavy lifting from here on out. So before we do that we wanted to get your input before 43 coming back to you with more of a draft of a more fully developed plan.44 45 Page 2 So we have touched base with PABAC, the advisory committee, as well as the School-Traffic 1 Safety Committee, and we will be going to City Council later on in the process. As far as 2 broader public engagement we will have one public workshop. We have a scheduled date of 3 March 24, which is a Thursday. Then think when we get towards the end of the plan, more the 4 final draft products, really do want to take advantage of the online presence that we just 5 mentioned as well as a new bike plan specific website.6 7 We realize the Comprehensive Plan is being updated at about the same time so we really don’t 8 want to be reinventing the wheel or creating a separate set of goals and objectives, at least goals 9 anyway. The Comprehensive Plan actually does provide very specific guidance on pedestrian 10 and bicycle facilities so we are really wanting to insert ourselves into that process using the 11 Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan Update to really feed the Comprehensive Plan Update. So we have 12 developed this policy framework. I am not going to go through it in detail. Essentially we think 13 where we want to get to is a list of policies, programs, and actions, and how we are going to 14 organize that is through what we know as the five E’s of Transportation Planning. These are 15 Engineering, Encouragement, Education, Enforcement, and Evaluation. I will note that those are 16 the categories that the City will be critiqued on as far as from the American League of Bicyclists 17 as far as a bicycle-friendly city. Currently Palo Alto is a gold city, and I think it is widely known 18 that we want to take that to the next level and become one of the very few platinum bicycle-19 friendly cities across America. So wanting to sort of really make sure we are hitting those 20 criteria points that will be looked at down the road.21 22 I mentioned that a lot has happened since 2003 from a design perspective. Probably the greatest 23 advance has been the focus on facilities that really speak to a broader set of the public. We 24 typically breakdown the categories of cyclists into the strong and fearless, the folks who are 25 vehicular cyclists, they don’t really need a bicycle lane per se, and they feel comfortable in 26 mixed traffic. There is another level of that where you are not sort of the strong fearless going 27 30 miles a day, but you do feel comfortable on sort of medium traffic streets. Really the majority 28 of potential cyclists, and for the city to really expand the number of cyclists, we call this group 29 the interested but concerned. They understand that it is fun, that it is good for the environment, it 30 can be more convenient, but they have a lot of fear about mixing with traffic. So across the 31 country we are seeing a lot of unique design treatments. This sort of gives you a range from 32 sharing the road, and this really speaks to an arterial street not necessarily a bicycle boulevard 33 where there is some different design treatments. You see a lot more sort of in that yellow and 34 green category and even the blue category now across the country and in North America. Where 35 very different than in the past where sidewalk riding was and still is if you don’t design for it 36 properly is really discouraged. There is this sort of unique middle ground where you actually do 37 design specifically for separating that bicycle traffic from both pedestrians and traffic. So these 38 are the kinds of treatments for the larger streets, or the more heavily trafficked streets that we 39 will be looking at. 40 41 Here is a good example. This is Loma Verde east of Alma. You see the parent riding in the 42 bicycle lane, which is a nice wide bicycle lane, but still the children are riding on the sidewalk. 43 This is just a good example of sort of reiterating what we know from national and local data.44 45 Page 3 One of the other themes that we really want to stress is integration. I think from a sustainability 1 standpoint sort of working in silos and having sort of single purpose projects as much as possible 2 we want to be asking what else, or how many multiple objectives can we be meeting with one 3 project and one design? These are two examples, a raised crosswalk can serve as traffic calming 4 the street as well as providing a nicer facility for pedestrians travel across the street. This subset 5 image here is called a two-can crossing because both bicycles and pedestrians can cross. These 6 are typically valuable where you have a median crossing like you see here, or where you have 7 trails sort of dead ending or starting on roadway facilities. I think Palo Alto actually has quite a 8 few of. So we are looking at these sorts of best practice treatments within the city. 9 10 So our Next Steps, as I mentioned, the heavy lifting comes from here producing a lot of the maps 11 that will be used for making sure the plan is compliant with Caltrans standards, setting up the 12 public workshop. We will also be having an online survey that will hopefully go up before the 13 public workshop. Again, just tools trying to get input as much as possible. Then through March 14 and April are really the heavy lifting months, and we will come back in May with sort of a draft 15 plan for wide review from the public as well as this body.16 17 So our initial assessment, we are looking at the existing conditions map. Generally speaking we 18 have a really good network with good coverage throughout the city, at least proposed and 19 existing. So I think our focus is not going to be a lot on expanding this network it is going to be 20 refining it, making key connections within in this. So making sure that the quality of these lines 21 that a bike lane has a consistent amount of quality across it, that there aren’t gaps, that there 22 aren’t substandard lanes. So that is going to be one of our main focuses.23 24 One of our other takeaways is that it is not really an intuitive network. You have a lot of left 25 turning and right-turning streets, or you have to jog over to a different street. So I think things 26 that pop out from somebody who is now ridden the network several times but is not intimately 27 familiar with it I think wayfinding will go a long way for improving this network. Just making 28 sure folks are aware that hey you just one street over from that connection that is going to get 29 you across town. We will talk about Bicycle Share Program, the VTA program that is coming to 30 Palo Alto in the Caltrain corridor. When you are asking folks who are not riding every day, who 31 are novice riders giving them that encouragement that hey, you are almost there, you hop on the 32 network and you will figure it out through wayfinding. Those are going to be key points for the 33 plan.34 35 So we are going to propose some focus area, these are the areas where we are really looking at as 36 we get into project prioritization and development. I think the goal tonight is to just make sure 37 that we are going to give you sort of representative sample projects. These are not necessarily 38 the highest priority projects, just sort of giving you a litmus test of where we are headed,and 39 wanted to get your feedback. So we are throwing out a variety of projects to give you a sense of 40 the breadth.41 42 So the first focus is the school commute corridor. This is where we have a lot better data than 43 we have sort of on a citywide scale. There is a lot of good planning that has gone into this 44 network identifying both corridors and intersections. We believe that a lot of the work on 45 Page 4 prioritizing –a lot of this network actually is represented in the 2003 plan. So this does represent 1 the bulk of the network. 2 3 One project idea that came out of some early recommendations and the past plan is looking at –4 this is Embarcadero right in front of Walter Hays. Currently we have a sidewalk that is adjacent 5 to the facility. Again, this is sort of the new wave of looking at segregated facilities. We think 6 this is an opportunity. We have a sidewalk with very few curb cuts, lots of room to expand 7 without having to move the curb, and a lot of sort of funky connections to this site coming at 8 different angles, different parts of town. Adding what we call a side path to this, widening the 9 sidewalk potentially putting a separate path for cyclists versus walkers helps provide access to 10 the school and makes some key connections across the north-south part of town.11 12 When you do that, when you sort of stack a facility to one side you have to really focus on the 13 connections at the intersections. My understanding is that there already is a pedestrian scramble, 14 which is essentially an all walk phase, but it is only for a slight AM morning period. These two 15 images represent sort of treatments that you can do to heighten the visibility of those kinds of 16 traffic signal treatments. These are things, again, that we are going to be looking at, things that 17 have become more popular in the last couple of years even since the plan from 2003 was 18 developed.19 20 Another issue that we see on this network, the school commute network and throughout the city 21 is wider residential streets, some with no curbs and sidewalks at all, others with rolled curbs. 22 Building out new sidewalks and gutters is very expensive and not really a practical solution 23 throughout the city. Looking at key corridors where there are proposed bicycle boulevards I 24 think these are images of chicanes. I think a lot of this is not new ideas. I think it is the 25 application to the bicycle boulevard network. I think there is a lot of opportunity to do these sort 26 of lower cost treatments, give a sense of priority for pedestrians and cyclists, while still 27 accommodating through traffic for motor vehicles. So we want to be making sure that we are 28 prioritizing the streets and these kinds of treatments on the school commute corridor.29 30 Here is an example of taking that chicane concept to the next level and having what we call 31 bicycle pinch points. This is in Portland, Oregon. Where you sort of move that chicane off the 32 curb a little bit more giving space for cyclists and potentially, if you can imagine that rolled curb 33 sidewalk scenario, having pedestrians and cyclists sort of use that buffered area.34 35 I mentioned wayfinding, very important for sort of your mental map of the city being able to 36 travel from one part to the other. Again, not having an intuitive straight shot connection this 37 becomes more important. There are various ways. The top images are things that the City has 38 already been planning and implemented or is implanting. Bottom, there are some different ways 39 approaching how you can differentiate the street signs for bicycle boulevards, things that have 40 been done in Berkeley. Roadway markings indicating directions, as well as looking at the Bay 41 Trail and some more graphically oriented or more branded trails and seeing how that integrates 42 with the citywide network.43 44 Another focus area will be an active transportation, really trying to align and link up some of the 45 open space access goals of the City and the bicycle boulevard network. Trying to get a better 46 Page 5 conceptual framework on what is really the core network if you are a novice rider or if you want 1 to go out and really experience the more scenic aspects of the city. Portland again has done this 2 well. This is not coming out very well, but the idea of the Bay to Ridge Trail. It is a line on a 3 map. I am not clear sort of what the steps are to implement it and take it to the next level. I 4 think we want to really engage this concept of the Bay to Ridge Trail, potentially add some spurs 5 to it. Again, it is a good organizing principle for the network. I think again, because it is not 6 intuitive this is something I think will be helpful to the city. 7 8 Accessing not only open space but the commercial centers doing a great job prioritizing key 9 areas, the California Avenue project is a wonderful opportunity for the city. I am very excited 10 about it. Making sure that because you have a lot of sidewalk riding issues a lot of that is the on-11 street network and the on-street bicycle parking is not readily available. So looking at key 12 strategies that will help sort of improve access to these commercial areas. Again, if you want to 13 be expanding bicycle trips and walking trips you really have to focus not on just the commute 14 periods but focusing on those discretionary trips, making it convenient to run to the store and 15 back. 16 17 El Camino Real, I think obviously everyone knows it is a barrier. That subset image there is 18 Stanford and El Camino. The broader image is at Matadero Margarita, which is part of that 19 school commute corridor network. This particular intersection has a jog intersection, which 20 makes walking across El Camino even longer than it is just as a straight shot. So looking at 21 opportunities, what is the next generation of Stanford and El Camino projects? I think this is one 22 area that we are particularly interested in, again, looking at a skewed intersection,a key access 23 point to the Barron Park neighborhood and school from the Ventura neighborhood. Is there 24 something we can do here at what is not a heavy lifter intersection, frankly it is a smaller 25 intersection, but important for pedestrians and bicycles. Can we do something that is a little 26 more aggressive? This could actually improve operations for transit and traffic along El Camino 27 since we are simplifying what is a more complicated intersection. So we think there are 28 opportunities to do something aggressive from a pedestrian and bicycle standpoint that could 29 actually be quite favorable to the BRT that is being planned for El Camino, and is not going to be 30 impacting the capacity of El Camino.31 32 I mentioned Bicycle Share, the VTA will be doing a separate outreach and planning for the 33 Bicycle Share program, but we can’t help but be excited about it, and well positioned to get a 34 head start on some of the other municipalities in the VTA in terms of planning. So my firm, and 35 myself, we both bring expertise on bicycle share. We have seen this across the country. It is an 36 emerging market. There is a lot of –there is a huge learning curve whenever it is being 37 implemented. We think we can bring some of the best practices that we have taken from across 38 the country and apply them to Palo Alto.39 40 In terms of access to Caltrain we do have this large CIP project, the Multimodal Transit Center. 41 A grand vision. A wonderful project, but really there have to be other steps that we are taking in 42 the interim to improve access before that project is fully funded. Here is an example at Lytton 43 and Alma where we can introduce some of those new concepts that we talked about. The green 44 lanes, a bicycle box, which looks like this on the ground. Essentially you allow cyclists to get 45 ahead of the queue of vehicles. This is going to be helpful where you have a lot of right turning 46 Page 6 vehicles. So folks are less likely to get hooked by a right turning vehicle. Or if you have a 1 bicycle wanting to make a left hand turn it really facilitates them getting in front of the queue, 2 feeling much more comfortable taking the lane. So if you can imagine, this is now looking 3 south. If you are coming down Lytton and wanting to go underneath and access the other side of 4 the tracks you have to make a left and then a left. So these kinds of treatments a bicycle box, a 5 green lane leading into that bicycle box, so that puts you in front of the queue, and then you have 6 just a short distance to go before you can access going underneath the tracks. We have these 7 shared lane markings, which the city has a few today, but these are something where you can’t 8 quite fit in a full bike lane really helps alert motorists to watch out for cyclists, give cyclists more 9 encouragement that they actually have the right to take the lane, and also provides wayfinding, 10 again, at a relatively low cost.11 12 Then the last focus area is just making sure that all the policy work that has been passed 13 pertaining to complete streets hits the ground. What does that mean for actually planning, 14 designing, and scoping projects? So what we would like to do is we are trying to get as much 15 data as we can on other capital projects, the paving program is one that comes to mind. Try to 16 look at some of the utility work that is being mapped out for the next several years and try and 17 overlay those and see where the opportunities are so we can really use our resources most 18 efficiently and get more bang for our buck. 19 20 Here is an example of how you could complete a street. This is Bryant coming through 21 downtown between Lytton and University. You have a parking garage. I don’t know the exact 22 numbers but I imagine it is a quite heavily used facility. Maybe that is a conflict point you want 23 to call out with some green treatment and some signage. That is one level. There is a mid-block 24 crossing maybe you actually want to make that a raised crossing. Again, what that also does 25 now it alerts motorist to pedestrians but also calms Bryant Street. So if you are on the bicycle 26 boulevard, you are coming through downtown it still has a feel that you can take the full lane. 27 Then with Bicycle Share in the future maybe this becomes a node where you can park and bike, 28 or park and walk, and really the street takes on a much different character than it has today.29 30 So those are just sort of broad-brush examples. I think at this point I will stop and see if you 31 guys have questions.32 33 Chair Tuma: Okay, great. Thanks. Before we get to questions from the Commission we are 34 going to go to the public. We have three members of the public here tonight so we will go at five 35 minutes apiece. Penny Ellson can get us started followed by Cedric de La Beaujardiere.36 37 Ms. Penny Ellson, Palo Alto: Hello. I am here as a member of the Palo Alto Council of PTA’s 38 Traffic Safety Committee. First I want to say thank you to Staff and to Alta for their outreach to 39 the City School Traffic Safety Committee. Although, one of these days you are going to get the 40 name right, City School Traffic Safety Committee.41 42 The physical and developmental abilities of school commuting children are very different from 43 those of experienced adult road users. We really appreciate that you are considering those 44 differences in the planning process. I was glad to see the fantastic numbers, that big jump in 45 bicycling we saw this year again at both Gunn and Paly. It was very exciting to see that chart up 46 Page 7 there today. Our programs are really working and I think the engineering components that are 1 starting to be outlined in this planning process are going to help us along some more.2 3 There are some general items that I wanted to just talk about really quickly.One, I think it is 4 important to extend the school commute corridors network to integrate areas with new housing. 5 An example of that might be East Meadow Circle’s and the BUILD projects need school 6 commute corridor connections to bring children into the schools. Once the school commute 7 corridors network is updated then I hope that we will be including language in the revised 8 Comprehensive Plan that refers to the network, and the policies associated with it relating to 9 prioritization for safety improvements.10 11 We want to make sure that all the PAUSD sites are represented on the map because they are not 12 presently. That Los Altos Hills school commute routes are included up to the city boarder, 13 because right now they are not.14 15 It might be wise to require new housing developments to identify school commute routes for 16 their sites, and provide mitigations before they build that serve future school commuting children 17 who will live there. So we won’t be doing this backpedaling so to speak that we are doing right 18 now with East Meadow and the BUILD project.19 20 I really love that they are going to be looking at regional bicycle and pedestrian transportation 21 collaboration. One of the areas where I hope from a Safe Routes to School perspective we can 22 do that is with the Town of Los Altos Hills to more coordinate better school bicycle/pedestrian 23 connections between our two communities. A lot of Los Altos Hills parents drive their kids to 24 school and that creates some of the impacts that we see on Arastradero because they don’t feel 25 like their connections are safe.26 27 I personally hope that you will be giving priority to the El Camino Real-Arastradero intersection 28 improvements that were recommended in the Charleston-Arastradero Plan, and complete this 29 very long awaited school commute corridor project.30 31 We are thrilled about the suggested routes to school maps that the City is going to be working on 32 for use at school sites district wide and for the web page materials. This has been a gap that we 33 really needed to fill. We want to make sure that all the maps, the city maps and the school 34 commute corridors maps, point people to those secret off-road paths that those of us who ride a 35 lot know about and the rest of the people are like clueless about. The idea of using wayfinding 36 signage to get people there I think is terrific. Our current bike route maps, both the school 37 commute corridors network map and the city map, neither one of them shows pathways through 38 Mitchell Park behind Cubberley Community Center. A gazillion little paths that you and I 39 probably know about but a lot of people don’t.40 41 I am going to take my Safe Routes to School hat off for a moment. As the spouse of a bike 42 commuter who rides to Sunnyvale from Palo Alto every day I would like to ask you to prioritize 43 year-round bike connection at Adobe Creek to the Baylands and the new wonderful regional 44 connections that are there through Moffett Park and the new bike bridges that are south of here. 45 Page 8 I would also like to support at least one grade separated crossing of the train tracks to serve 1 South Palo Alto and Midtown. We don’t have one.2 3 I also want to ask that we look at how treatments like charos are working on school commute 4 routes where we have many concerned parent bicyclists. Charos are one of the road treatments 5 that I am getting some feedback from families about that I would like us to explore a little bit. 6 Kids are smaller, they are less skilled cyclists, there is a lot of space between those icons for 7 them. It doesn’t feel as secure as a bike lane. 8 9 I like the general direction of the plan. It gets us closer to a community where people of all ages 10 and abilities can share the road safely. Thank you.11 12 Chair Tuma: Thank you. Cedric de La Beaujardiere followed by Doug Moran.13 14 Mr. Cedric de La Beaujardiere, Palo Alto: Thank you. Thanks for doing your best on my name. 15 I am the Chair of the Bicycle Advisory Committee and PABAC does support this plan. It is 16 really an essential plan. Having projects on the plan is essential for getting funding for the 17 projects. So it could be that there are more projects in the plan than we could conceivably make 18 all happen before the next iteration of the plan, but it is still important to have all those projects 19 on there. It gives Staff the flexibility to pursue whatever funding or grant opportunities arise. 20 We are looking forward to the plan being more graphical and accessible to the public. We are 21 very supportive of the wayfinding, increased signage, through the city. We are happy that we are 22 getting some of that now already. We are looking forward to reaching a greater percentage of 23 the population and getting those interested but concerned riders to leave their cars at home and 24 either ride or walk the streets. So I am here if you have any questions that Rafael or Jaime can’t 25 address. Thanks.26 27 Chair Tuma: Thank you. Our last speaker Doug Moran.28 29 Mr. Douglas Moran, Palo Alto: I live in Barron Park. Lots of thanks for including pedestrians in 30 this and talking about the interested but concerned riders. I didn’t see a lot of that in the 31 presentation. I hope the Commission would add emphasis for this. Since they do it in State of 32 the Union Addresses let me use personal examples. My own street of Matadero, which is a 33 major connector between the bike paths paralleling El Camino, the Park Boulevard, and the 34 regional bike path to Hanover, which people then connect from one side to the other and then 35 often go onto the Bryant Street bike path. I have been working on bicycle and pedestrian related 36 issues since the mid 1990s, and to this point I have had only one success and that was getting 37 valley gutters on Matadero Avenue for pedestrians and bicyclists. Matadero for improvement for 38 a bike path made it onto the 2003 list as a high priority. It was $20,000 to implement and for the 39 past five years it has been the next thing on the list. It would be very important for the 40 Commission to have the projects, to manage expectations. People know why things are on the 41 list and why not. A lot of people in the community assume that the bicycle project is only for the 42 elite bicyclers, the strong and fearless. Many of the people in my neighborhood look and say 43 there is no provision for us to get out of the neighborhood, to cross El Camino, to cross Page 44 Mill, to cross Arastradero to get to places. That needs to be given more.45 46 Page 9 The old regime had a thing of a lot of decisions were made behind closed doors with certain 1 interests, after rejecting or ignoring what was said in the public workshop. So I think you need 2 to make a stronger outreach to the community to convince them that there has been a change and 3 it is not just business as usual as it has been for the past ten to 15 years. Please, understand my 4 cynicism and a little bit of bitterness.5 6 One thing that was missed was having bike designations oriented towards keeping the pavement 7 in good shape. For example, they showed the illustration of El Camino and Matadero. We have 8 permanent cuts for utilities. Well, semi-permanent. They sit there for months. These are the 9 sort of cuts that plates and other bad fill that Palo Alto has recently had to settle a lawsuit over. 10 We have one that just got filled the last couple of days where it is in the place where people 11 speed up to make a light. It was forcing bicyclists out into the road, out into the speed cars. 12 Before this, and Commissioner Tuma can tell you about this because he travels it every day, was 13 another one which forced bicyclists in the middle of the road right where the road narrowed 14 where people were turning off El Camino and still coming up at speed. At night it was fearsome. 15 16 Laguna Avenue has been on the schedule for being rebuilt for 30 years, since Barron Park 17 became part of Palo Alto. The edges of the street have been creeping in and in and in further so 18 that it is not safe for a bicyclist to move to the side. You have to really time what is going on and 19 that makes bicyclists very fearful of taking one of the major parallel streets to El Camino.20 21 I hope the plan takes into account the needs for the full spectrum as I said, because we have had 22 problems where certain groups have had virtual veto rights. For example, for the fix on 23 Matadero there were going to be bike lanes near El Camino but the decision was that those lanes 24 for the adult bicyclists would be too tempting for the elementary school students crossing. So 25 there was no improvement made. Similarly for further up on Matadero for pedestrians.Make 26 better use of local knowledge. Matadero is used by wheelchair people coming down, patients 27 from the VA. You don’t see that in a simple survey. It happens off and on. Sometimes it is 28 virtually every day, sometimes there are months with nobody going by. We tried to get 29 provision for wheelchair crossing but I know ADA can make wheelchair improvements very 30 difficult to do.31 32 I hope there is flexibility in the rules. Barron Park is very different, and a lot of the rules we 33 have had problems with speeding on Matadero where we have situations where cars doing 40 34 miles an hour will brush by a woman with a baby in a carriage. We brought this to the City 35 under the old regime and were told that we did not qualify because our street was different. This 36 makes it very dangerous not just for pedestrians but for bicyclists. We have contractors on the 37 street doing construction projects and their flagmen are appalled at how much speeding and 38 danger there is on this street, yet we don’t meet the criteria. So again, better rules. Thank you 39 very much.40 41 Chair Tuma: Thank you. With that we will close the public hearing and come back to the 42 Commission. I think to reiterate something I had said in the pre-meeting memo and also what 43 we discussed in the pre-Commission the other day is that the Staff is looking for direct input 44 particularly around specific streets, intersections, or sort of projects that could be incorporated 45 into this plan. So with that sort of focus I have Commissioner Keller followed by Garber.46 Page 10 1 Commissioner Keller: So first I would like to thank Staff and Alta for their hard work on this. I 2 also particularly want to express thanks to our new Chief Transportation Official who in a few 3 scant months seems to have accomplished a great deal. If that is what you can do in the first few 4 months of your tenure I am sort of wondering what is in store for you in the future. You will 5 have a hard time having an encore.6 7 Secondly, I would like to thank the members of the public who have been firstly very patient 8 through all the cell phone discussions. Secondly, I know that Penny and Cedric have done a lot 9 in terms of working for the community along with others in terms of bicycle safety and in terms 10 of promoting good practices in bicycle use. I think that the community owes a great deal of debt 11 to both of you.12 13 So with that as a preliminary, a couple of interesting things. I was interested in the idea of the 14 cycle tracks. I am just curious why, maybe I will just throw this out there, but if we ever do 15 anything like Charleston-Arastradero Road again the idea of cycle tracks was not brought up as 16 far as I know with respect to Charleston-Arastradero and placing the cars inside of the roadbed 17 and putting the bike lanes on the exterior as what I saw in one of those diagrams. I myself have 18 been concerned about the problem of people opening car doors and forcing bicyclists out into the 19 street and that issue. It seems like cycle tracks would solve that.20 21 With respect to pinched chicanes which is an interesting thing to consider. It seems to me that a 22 good place for considering pinched chicanes in terms of that is where you have speed tables and 23 rolled curbs. I personally have witnessed cars that try to speed over the rolled curbs on Louis 24 Road between Adobe Creek and Charleston. By going sort of off the rolled curb onto the 25 sidewalk they only have one set of tires bumping up and down rather than the other, and they go 26 pretty fast. Those little metal things don’t seem to work very well to keep them out of there. I 27 have seen those broken often. So it seems like a pinched chicane would sort of –in fact, if you 28 put a pinched chicane there you would actually not require the bicyclists to have to go over this 29 speed table, and it would actually improve the speed table by providing a visual barrier not only 30 to slow down but you have to avoid hitting that pinched chicane. So that seems like an 31 interesting combination to consider.32 33 I am especially intrigued and pleased about the idea of roadway markings particularly if you look 34 at this initial assessment map. A lot of these bike routes seem to wiggle. The roads wiggle and 35 you have to turn left and turn right. So pavement markers to tell you how to get in South Palo 36 Alto from Bryant Street, which goes along pretty straight, and then once you cross East Meadow 37 all hell breaks loose and you have to go in different directions. That I think would be an 38 excellent candidate for that.39 40 In terms of your walk bikes on sidewalks I have noticed people bicycling on the sidewalks on41 University Avenue, which has been particularly dangerous. I yelled at one of the bicyclists on 42 there, and he says, what do you mean? I am allowed to do this. He parked right by the corner, 43 and I pointed at the marking on the sidewalk that says ‘walk bikes on sidewalk here.’ Better 44 signage would be useful on that. Perhaps putting a bike lane on Hamilton as well as Lytton 45 might be a way of directing cyclists who wanted to go around that to be in that. That might be 46 Page 11 also an interesting thing along one of my favorite ideas, and this is converting Hamilton and 1 Lytton to have their lights timed in such a way that people take Hamilton in an eastbound 2 direction, and take Lytton in a westbound direction. Whether you change the lanes or whatever, 3 simply timing the lights in that direction will cause traffic to naturally flow there in that useful 4 way.5 6 Looking at this initial assessment there seems be interesting gaps that I notice. One is that – do 7 you want me to continue or do you want me to stop? Okay. Let me just finish the few gaps and 8 then I will have another turn.9 10 So if you look at Lytton there is a gap from Lytton where it hits Middlefield. It seems to me that 11 it would make sense to continue that to Guinda and have a bike boulevard on Guinda that 12 connects from Guinda all the way to where Channing is in some sense, so that you can sort of 13 make your way to there. That would make sense.14 15 I actually, frankly, am horrified by the idea of encouraging bicyclists to take Lytton to Alma, and 16 then make an unprotected left turn with cars that can’t see them onto University Avenue. I 17 would recommend instead that you consider High Street as a much better route. Encourage them 18 to make a left on High, turn right on University Avenue, or vise-versa and use that route to get to 19 the underpass. The other one makes me fearful of how many splats of bicyclists there are going 20 be with cars that can’t see them. I will continue on with more things later.21 22 Chair Tuma: Could you put the initial assessment slide up on the screen? The next up is 23 Commissioner Garber.24 25 Commissioner Garber: In no particular order let me lead off by echoing Commissioner Keller’s 26 thanks for both Staff’s and public’s participation and work on all of this.27 28 I would agree that as part of the initial assessment wayfinding is probably high on the order 29 there. As you have already noticed, all I see up there is a drunken spider web of lines. It would 30 be very helpful for me to be able to see the hierarchy of the different routes that are going 31 through the city. Presumably there are routes that cut-through the city either from Menlo Park to 32 Mountain View, etc. that should somehow take dominance. I should be able to know and 33 understand implicitly, and I should be able to glance at the map and say yes, that is where I am 34 relative to that line or those lines that get me from one end to the other. I, like Penny have, not a 35 husband or a wife that commutes daily by bike, but I do have friends that commute daily to 36 Sunnyvale and Mountain View, Menlo Park, etc.and I don’t know what their routes are. I know 37 that their routes change a lot. It would seem to me that to be able to identify what those things 38 are and put energy and focus on those things would go a long way to helping not just me but the 39 entire city know and help us organize around those particular routes.40 41 In the same sense, the routes that are going perpendicular to those, that go between the Bay and 42 the hills, I know that when I get on a bike and I am not traveling to get to work or something of 43 that sort, I am going because I want to go to the Bay or the hills. In the same way, seeing those 44 big through routes and knowing how to get there and being able to sort of conceptualize in my 45 brain as well as on a graphic piece of paper what those primary routes are would be very helpful 46 Page 12 to once again creating an identifiable network, identifiable network of how the city is organized 1 around these things. Granted, I have to turn corners. Hopefully there will be an arrow telling me 2 where to go, etc., etc., but I am thinking more of the brand, the idea, the identity of this network, 3 which doesn’t really exist anywhere.4 5 One of the key issues I have whenever I bike, as was pointed out by Mr. Moran, is the condition 6 of the paving. That is by far the most constraining aspect on my behavior. I don’t like going 7 through the dips. I have thin tires on my bike. I am trying to avoid cracks that have the same 8 width. I am avoiding all the stuff that is on our streets. There is needless to say a lot of it. I 9 know that I am not the only one that is weaving around the street trying to find the smoothest 10 route so I am not thrown from my bike, or my bike isn’t getting screwed up in some way as a 11 result of that. So I don’t know if there is a way to associate for instance with these big through 12 routes, or the big boulevards, or hierarchaly opportunities to create different types of pavement 13 or a greater focus in terms of our public utility and how those streets are paved, or how they are 14 organized to keep them from getting cut up, or when they are cut up there is a higher level of 15 attention put into those particular routes even if it is just along the bike path itself. I don’t know 16 what that is but having that sort of synergy would be an extraordinarily helpful synergy. 17 18 One of the other things is, again, this is just another way of thinking about this. That is, we are 19 talking about bicycle paths, but there are places in our community where we tend to gather and 20 we like to focus a lot of that energy into neighborhoods and the zones that we describe as 21 neighborhood centers. As has been described over a variety of different circumstances be they 22 different projects, and different items that have come before us the neighborhood center has three 23 characteristics. There is a synergy between adjacent housing, some retail, and then an open 24 space that you can gather between those two. So the analogy here is that you are coming from 25 your home, walking or bicycling, to get a cup of coffee and then hanging out with your friends. 26 So the pedestrian circumstance/experience is well supported typically by having chairs or 27 benches and things of that sort. I wonder if there isn’t a way to sort of brand them more so that 28 bicycling is supported in there as well. Is there a cluster of bicycle stands? Is there a way in 29 which you can stand with your bike? I don’t know what it is but it seems to me that there is an 30 opportunity there, a synergy that we could take advantage of that really focuses us and the 31 relationship that we have with the bike that isn’t us being on it. I bicycle to get coffee. I go and 32 get the coffee and I usually just lean my bike against the storefront of Starbucks or something 33 because I pretend I can keep an eye on it. It there, occasionally it falls down, you go over and 34 you pick it up, or you wait until you get your cup of coffee and come back out. I don’t know 35 what that interaction is but it seems to me there is a great opportunity there. I know lots of my 36 friends that go out and bicycle with groups of friends. They will go out, they come back, and 37 they will end up 20 people at Pete’s and all the bikes are everywhere. They are coming back to 38 Starbucks or whatever. Those sorts of opportunities are another place for us to be able to brand 39 how it is the city involves bikes and the use of bikes in our community.40 41 There is some more, but that is enough for now.42 43 Mr. Rodriguez: I have comment in response to that. It does exist at I believe in at least one 44 location in Palo Alto, but on-street bike parking has been sort of a really wave of popularity 45 recently. It is great because it does two of the things I think directly speaking to your point. 46 Page 13 One, it provides just a typically located where there is high retail or next to popular open spaces. 1 It brings not only more parking but it brings more visibility to those facilities. You can be on a 2 roadway and very easily see it versus pockmarked racks here and there. Then secondly, when 3 you do have those moments where you have a lot of riders coming and parking they are not 4 impacting the walkway for pedestrians. So you sort of get the double advantage there.5 6 Commissioner Garber: The one caution that I have with some of the new bicycle racks that are 7 existing, the ones that you sort of ride up into things is although they look cool it requires a good 8 bit more effort to use them as opposed to just leaning it against something, which is a far more 9 convenient way of utilizing something.10 11 Chair Tuma: Okay, Commissioner Tanaka.12 13 Commissioner Tanaka: I wanted to thank Staff for this work. It looks pretty good. I also want 14 to thank members of the public for staying so late. I certainly appreciate that.15 16 I also want to echo some of the comments said earlier about connections to other cities. I 17 actually now recently bike to Sunnyvale and I am still trying to figure out the ideal route. So I 18 think having stronger connections to other cities is important, not just because of myself but also 19 because Palo Alto is a destination for a lot of employees. Having very easy ways to bike to the 20 city is important. Especially the nearby cities like Menlo Park and Mountain View because it is 21 not really worth it if you add up the cost for Caltrain to take Caltrain and then try to bike or walk 22 into your work. I think what you are trying to do to collaborate with the other cities is really 23 important and really making those networks strong and obvious, and having it well marked so 24 you are not having to pull out a map as you bike to figure out which is the right way, or have 25 people try figure it out themselves. It looks like you guys are working in that direction already 26 so that I great.27 28 One area of particular focus is the California Avenue area. We are going to be doing some 29 streetscape work there, perhaps even wider sidewalks, and making sure that elementary school 30 kids or junior high kids going from College Terrace to Jordan have a good path. That tunnel is 31 also a little bit problematic for various reasons. I realize that is a lot of money to fix. The vise-32 versa where the kids from Evergreen going over to Escondido as well so we are making a really 33 strong and easy path for young children to be able to go to school. I think this is very important 34 because as we all know we have increasing school population and there are more and more kids 35 in our schools. If we could have more kids biking to school instead of being dropped off by their 36 parents I think that is a really good thing for the environment and for the city’s congestion.37 38 I appreciate Penny’s comments about school map and making sure they all match up. I think that 39 sounds pretty obvious, and hopefully it is actually being done. Beyond that just in terms of 40 maps, when I try to go somewhere I use Google Maps. Google Maps has how walk, how to 41 bike, how to take public transit. Unfortunately a lot of these bike routes are not necessarily in 42 Google Maps. I don’t know if there is a way to do that because that is actually very convenient 43 for a lot of people who have PDAs or smart phones. They are able to look up how to get from 44 here to there. I don’t know how many people actually carry them. I actually carry a map but it is 45 very inconvenient. I would rather use my phone because I have it with me all the time. So 46 Page 14 having strong integration with that or equivalent services, it doesn’t have to be Google Maps, 1 would be really, really helpful.2 3 Actually on the California Avenue discussion one of the examples that Chair brought up was 4 AOL in terms of how they give bikes to workers to bike down to California Avenue. I think that 5 is a great thing and if there is something the City could do to promote that so that it is not just an 6 exception that AOL does that. I am not talking just for California Avenue but maybe also for 7 other parts of the city like University where there is some sort of incentive or encouragement so 8 that during the lunchtime hours there is not such a crunch for parking. Make it very easy and 9 make it a positive experience but also make a strong enough incentive for them to do that, for the 10 employees to actually do that versus jump into the car and drive down half a mile. I think that 11 would be a great thing. So I think overall it looks like great work. Thank you.12 13 Chair Tuma: Commissioner Martinez.14 15 Commissioner Martinez: I had a question about Portland. Portland you know has all these high 16 marks on bicycles but they have crummy streets. I think they don’t have sales tax. They don’t 17 have very many signs and markings and like that. Some of the neighborhoods are kind of 18 challenging for bikes like the northwest side is real hilly. How do they get such high marks for 19 their bicycle program?20 21 Mr. Hildreth: I came from Seattle just recently and we have a lot of Portland envy in Seattle. 22 They got a lot of things right early on as far as not necessarily the bicycle network but as far as 23 committing to transit over highway expansions in the 1970s so that helps. They are a much 24 flatter city than at least other major cities. They really did take a concerted effort in the late 25 1990s or early 2000s. Back in the mid-1990s they were not known for what they are today. 26 They really expanded, went beyond the minimum standards for a lot of bike facilities. So they 27 just took streets and they put in six-seven foot lanes versus five-foot lanes. They went to these 28 green treatments and these experimental treatments much sooner than other cities. 29 30 Once you get that sort of critical mass, and I think Palo Alto is really has it or can improve upon 31 it, is that you start building the culture of cycling. I think once that sort of sets hold that really 32 takes off and has its own character. I think Portland just for a number of reasons their bike 33 culture really took off, and I think that just really feeds the fire. I think the last couple of years 34 they have seen a lot more facilities. I don’t when your experience up there has been. I have seen 35 some of their facilities and I have been very impressed. I think like everywhere else they have 36 more need than funding to improve upon it. 37 38 Mr. Williams: I was going to say I was in Portland not too long ago for almost a week. The first 39 few days I had similar feelings but then I started coming across quite a few areas where they 40 actually had the curb with the separated bike lanes. They of course have a lot of the bike share 41 parking, bike parking, or areas in some of these, as you were talking about, in the street. You 42 would have six or eight spaces in front of a restaurant or something like that. 43 44 I think Portland intrinsically has a lot of what Palo Alto has, which is a lot of streets without a lot 45 of traffic on them. A grid in many places, which like Palo Alto I think many people ride here 46 Page 15 regardless of the facilities just because you have that street, nice shady streets that are residential 1 but they connect through to places. So that makes a lot of difference compared to a lot of 2 suburban type cities where you get cutoff in a cul-de-sac or something, you always have to have 3 some special facility to make a connection. So yes, I think they were doing those kinds of things 4 before we were or others.5 6 Mr. Hildreth: One other thing they do quite well, and I think has direct relationship to Palo Alto 7 is they looked at their bicycle boulevard network and they really made a concerted effort to bring 8 in some of their other citywide goals so that it is a green stormwater infrastructure. So they 9 really actually call their bicycle boulevard network their neighborhood greenway network. So I 10 think the slide that I had that pointed to sort of how can we take some of the conceptual 11 frameworks of the beta, the hills trail, and really expand that to include some of those key 12 bicycle boulevards. I think there is a lot of opportunity here in Palo Alto to do a lot of the same 13 thing.14 15 Commissioner Martinez: I am kind of bike-light so pardon me when I say this. In some places 16 kids riding on the sidewalk are okay with me. I think like Midtown in front of Safeway and 17 those stores headed towards Jordan. I would rather see kids on the sidewalk rather than the street 18 because the streets have no place for bicycles. Same with Alma, I would rather see people 19 charging down Alma on the sidewalk than fighting people driving 40 or 50 miles an hour down 20 the street when there is no place for them. I don’t know whether there is in the works some ideas 21 about how, especially in the south part of the city,to make Alma safer for bikes, but I am hoping 22 that there is something in the works that will address that. As I mentioned in the pre-23 Commission meeting it is the most dangerous street in the city. I think I said in the world but I 24 was exaggerating. Then hopefully we do something about that.25 26 Then finally, I am not a big fan of a lot of signs. I hope that we pick them strategically. 27 Wayfinding is great but too many signs and charos and this and that, but really are not that 28 effective I think we should really be sensitive to.29 30 One last thing, and I am not going to count it as my time but I would like to hear from Jaime 31 about some of the things you had to say about the City process that you were talking about in our 32 pre-Commission meeting.33 34 Mr. Rodriguez: When I think about the City process, we started to make a lot of changes 35 already. I think the biggest thing that we are taking advantage of probably more now than we 36 have in the past is really our resurfacing program. That is where we get really some of the 37 biggest bang for the buck in trying to get our bicycle improvements implemented really quickly. 38 We are actually very fortunate that come the completion of this plan we actually have set aside 39 funds for the next upcoming fiscal year there is going be a lot of bicycle programs and projects. 40 That will tie in line with other say school projects that are coming up at the same time. So in my 41 mind, the fiscal year 2011-12 and 2012-13 will be a very exciting time for the City of Palo Alto 42 to be implementing a lot of very innovative projects and programs that will be very unique 43 within the Bay Area. Like Casey was mentioning Seattle envies Portland, I think the rest of the 44 Bay Area is going to envy us and we will be up in line with San Francisco about bicycle activity 45 within our community. So it is the policies that we have to take advantage of as far as making 46 Page 16 sure like Casey mentioned that the resurfacing program prioritizes more bike boulevard projects 1 and we do that with PABAC already, making sure that we coordinate with Utilities that when 2 they are going to do significant work in that area that we also take advantage of that project to 3 put things back. 4 5 The biggest thing that we do now that we didn’t do in the past, I think I might have mentioned 6 this to this committee in the past, is that we now in Transportation take the lead in telling Public 7 Works how they have to sign and stripe the streets. That didn’t happen before. So if we wanted 8 to get a bike boulevard we were scrounging in the past, or a bike lane. Saying hey you just 9 resurfaced a street but don’t put it back the way it was put it this way instead. That causes a lot 10 of problem during construction but we plan ahead now, and that is one of the biggest benefits I 11 think we have started to see. It is a simple issue but it didn’t happen in the past.12 13 Commissioner Garber: You are really asking for a lot there.14 15 Chair Tuma: Okay. I want to pick up where Doug left on some of the Barron Park things. First 16 I am wondering whether it is time to revisit some of the Barron Park guidelines with the bike and 17 pedestrian things in mind. I think some of those things have been around for a long time and I 18 wouldn’t try to turn it all upside down but there is a lot of new thinking. That neighborhood is 19 just a beehive of activity, in the evenings and in the mornings people are out walking, riding. 20 There is just a lot of pedestrian and bicycle activity. Because there are not sidewalks for most of 21 it, there are sidewalks in some places, the roads are essentially the pedestrian path. So I think 22 some of the new thinking and things that you guys have been working on could be overlaid. 23 Think about revisiting some of the guidelines within Barron Park and updating some of them 24 based on things that you guys bring to bear.25 26 It is interesting to me, if you get on a bike at let’s say Ramona and Meadow heading towards 27 Barron Park not too far after that you are going to cross Alma Street which is kind of a bit dicey. 28 Fortunately during school hours there is a crossing guard there but maybe it is a place for the 29 grade separation that Penny was talking about. I don’t know it is probably too difficult. This is 30 an issue that I raised at another hearing very recently. Once you cross that and you make that 31 right hand turn onto El Camino Way it is a disaster during commute hours. The reason is 32 because the Keys School is apparently not complying with their use permit, and they have their 33 pick up times a very, very limited amount of time. That area of El Camino Way curves which is 34 dangerous, and then as you come to the intersection you have all these cars backed up from 35 Keys. If you have not done it, ride that stretch during that time. It is bad. But what happens 36 then is staying on what is marked on here on the bike path, you come across El Camino to Los 37 Robles, and the bike path ends. I am wondering sort of why that. 38 39 I will tell you from going from Barron Park to Fair Meadow in the morning I see just a hoard of 40 kids coming the other direction that all look to me to be high school age as if they are heading 41 toward Gunn. So it would seem to me that one way to keep people off of Arastradero and 42 coming through the neighborhood on bikes would be to have a better connection all the way 43 down to Gunn that way. I am sure Penny knows better why that doesn’t happen or whether that 44 should happen or what have you, but my observation there is there could be some benefit there. 45 The other thing is even though that is marked as a bike path, as you are on Los Robles heading 46 Page 17 towards El Camino the interface between the cars that are parked on the side of the road and the 1 bicyclists is terrible. It is very dangerous. So that whole stretch I think could be enhanced as a 2 way to bring kids down to Gunn and connect, because there are quite a few kids from the whole 3 Meadows neighborhoods that do go to Gunn. That is their school. So instead of bringing them 4 down Arastradero if we could make that whole connection work a little bit better I think there 5 could be some real gains there.6 7 I want to echo what Commissioner Tanaka said about incentives for these programs for the 8 businesses. I was incredibly impressed with the program that AOL has put together on their 9 own. But, they are in a location that has good proximity to California Avenue but you have to go 10 up and down Park. That stretch of Park, especially going back to AOL, where there is a bike 11 lane but there are all these turnoffs it is in the context of the plan that we are working on for that 12 area the biking capability could be made better, particularly when the Fry’s site gets redeveloped. 13 Whether you have mixed use, or housing, or more commercial the connectivity to California 14 Avenue is going to be really important. So to the extent that we can make the bicycling more 15 safe through that area you are just going to get a lot more activity.16 17 That covers my comments. Commissioner Keller.18 19 Commissioner Keller: So firstly, with respect to….20 21 Chair Tuma: I’m sorry, let me just say it is almost eleven o’clock so maybe we could do this 22 round at two minutes apiece or so and get us out of here before midnight.23 24 Mr. Rodriguez: Actually, if I could make the offer to you, we are doing regular phone 25 conferences with Alta. Commissioner Keller, we are more than happy to invite you to attend one 26 of those if you can make yourself available. 27 28 Commissioner Keller: Sure.29 30 Mr. Rodriguez: Then you could have some more direct contact with Casey.31 32 Commissioner Keller: I would appreciate that. Thank you. With respect to what Commissioner 33 Tanaka mentioned perhaps that could be considered as a Transportation Demand Management 34 measure and thereby count it that way. It sounds to me like Chair Tuma is complaining that the 35 safety issue from California Avenue to AOL is a particular turnoff. 36 37 So I think that the issue of connectivity is important and Commissioner Tuma mentioned some 38 of those. One of the interesting things particularly for pedestrians is Embarcadero-Cowper. It is 39 a long stretch of Embarcadero before you can cross it, and putting a traffic light at Embarcadero-40 Cowper would make a lot of sense so you don’t have to go all the way around either to Waverley 41 or to Middlefield. That might allow the continuation of the bike lane on Cowper to reach all the 42 way to Addison.43 44 Charleston-Louis is also an issue where it is hard to cross that intersection, particularly as cars 45 have just made the merge in a westbound direction from two lanes to one lane. One thing that 46 Page 18 would help at least is a yield to pedestrians in crosswalk signage.Maybe we should have more 1 signage like that not withstanding the comments of excess signage from the point of view of 2 Commissioner Martinez. But that is a place where I think such a sign might make sense and 3 perhaps those lighted things like they have on San Antonio Road. I am not sure if that makes 4 sense or not, or maybe road enforcement or whatever, traffic enforcement.5 6 Also, the Homer bike tunnel on this map doesn’t go anywhere. You have a Homer bike tunnel 7 and then it doesn’t connect with anything. It should connect with some sort of bike route 8 somewhere to get somewhere, and tell people what to do. So that is kind of odd.9 10 I also think that the discussions by Doug Moran about Matadero and adding that onto the route, 11 adding Los Robles onto the route, and perhaps El Camino way in the other direction to connect 12 with Maybell. The connection from Maybell to Gunn is missing and I am not sure why that is.13 14 Just a few quick things. One is San Antonio Way through to Montrose and connect that through 15 the Greendale School, or if there is a housing development make a condition of that housing 16 development that they provide connectivity to Greendale. 17 18 I am not sure why there is not a bike route over the Chaucer Street Bridge connecting that across. 19 That seems to make sense, telling people there is a way to go on bikes as opposed to going on 20 Middlefield. 21 22 The Ross Road bike boulevard we should rethink whether that is an interesting thing, and to the 23 extent that there is potential connectivity to or through Jordan Middle School. 24 25 Finally, why not allow some part of City Hall Plaza to be used for bicycle parking? It would 26 basically make it a prominent, visible location. It is kind of central to a lot of Palo Alto. It 27 would basically make a way for which there is space to allow people to bike here and then 28 wander around walking downtown.29 30 Chair Tuma: Okay. Commissioner Garber.31 32 Commissioner Garber: A couple of quick comments. I am with Commissioner Martinez 33 regarding the use of Middlefield for Jordan. I live a half a block away from there. Early in the 34 morning and in the afternoon the amount of traffic of kids and bikes crossing Oregon 35 Expressway there is very, very high. Granted it only occurs a couple of times a day, but I do 36 know that when I travel along Middlefield I never bike in the street. I am always on the sidewalk 37 because I don’t feel safe on Middlefield. Walter Hays, the big scramble there, doing something 38 visually probably makes a lot of sense. Right at the moment it is handled really through traffic 39 guards, and that seems to sort of work okay. It probably makes sense to do something visually 40 there to emphasize what that is. Now, granted there are a lot of hours of the day that it is not 41 going to be utilized that way, so I don’t know if there is a tradeoff to be made there.42 43 Alma is another street that I wouldn’t be caught dead on, on a bike. In your spectrum of types of 44 bikers, two weeks ago I was traveling just after twilight south and there was a guy bicycling on 45 Alma headed south adjacent to the railroad tracks. He was off the left end, after fearless, damn 46 Page 19 fool was there. All the cars were backed up behind him trying to get over to the left hand side to 1 get around. That is just crazy. Maybe I don’t understand it or something but it doesn’t make 2 sense to me. 3 4 A couple of just cautions, and they are about sharing the road stuff. That is that a lot of the roads 5 do in fact have a primary function of also serving cars. Be that as it may, I am very cautious. I 6 know that you had offered this image simply as an image of what you can do, but if we were to 7 actually look at this would we really want for instance a raised pedestrian walkway on that 8 particular street in mid-block, etc.? The answer is probably no. Not to say that that isn’t 9 important in some places I just think we need to be careful where they occur and do that sort of 10 evaluation.11 12 Chicanes, I have seen them in a variety of other communities. The image I have in my head 13 right at the moment is Menlo Park close to the Bay. A lot of those small streets back there have 14 many of those. Yes, they do work to slow down traffic. They do help create a more 15 neighborhood feel, but they are not kept up. They clearly look temporary. They have been there 16 for 12 years. They just are not any benefit to the quality of the type of environment that we want 17 to have in our community. Unless they do have the opportunity to pass between them and the 18 sidewalk I don’t really see how they really help us. They help in some things but not in 19 everything, so some cautions there. That is it for me.20 21 Chair Tuma: Commissioner Martinez.22 23 Commissioner Martinez: Really a quick question. What are you all going to bring back to us for 24 the Comprehensive Plan?25 26 Mr. Rodriguez: I am sorry. Can you ask that question again? 27 28 Commissioner Martinez: I was asking what are the suggestions, policies, programs that you are 29 going to be looking at to provide us for the Comprehensive Plan Update.30 31 Mr. Rodriguez: Well a lot of the policy recommendations that get developed out of this plan will 32 roll into the Transportation Comprehensive Plan Element. We are actually very fortunate again 33 because of the timing of this. The end time of this project is the start of the Transportation 34 Element Update. We actually just received a grant to help us actually revise the Transportation 35 Element. So we will take a lot of the recommendations from here, develop a lot more policies 36 and programs when we come back to you probably end of summer or early fall for the 37 Transportation Element Comprehensive Plan Update.38 39 Commissioner Martinez: Does that work for you, Curtis?40 41 Mr. Williams: I don’t know what your schedule is and your reviewing the policies for the 42 Transportation Element, but I think that is probably realistic that we need to get through this, and 43 then the broader Transportation Element and does that feed into the policies for the chapter.44 45 Page 20 Commissioner Martinez: Well, we are starting Transportation next and I imagine that will be 1 sometime in March. So I guess we are just going to have placeholders for you.2 3 Mr. Williams: Okay, I think that is fine.4 5 Chair Tuma: Okay. Thank you all very much, appreciate it. Did you guys get what you 6 needed?7 8 Mr. Rodriguez: Yes, and if I can just very quickly close on our side with a thank you for your 9 participation. This is exactly what we were looking for. We got exactly the specific project 10 concerns that we had wanted. We got the neighborhood areas of concerns that we will continue 11 to refine with Alta. Again, this is kind of where the rubber hits the road for us as far as 12 developing brand new programs and projects. So once we have our large citywide community 13 meeting and that City Council working session meeting in April then when we come back to you 14 you are going to have really first kind of rough cut look at the real final plan, after some initial 15 PABAC feedback as well. So great timing. Thank you very much for your help.16 1 Bike and Pedestrian Plan Community Workshop on March 24, 2011 Comments noted at Safe Routes to School Table General concerns mentioned by one or more participants: • Need way to reduce speed on school commute routes • Countdown timers for ped signals on main arterials or near schools – and education for adults and students on not starting across when red hand starts flashing • Can we have signs for main school commute routes on busy streets, to help make drivers aware? • Drivers dropping off kids in bike lanes • Need to include “Safe Routes from Schools” for students going to sports practice fields or pools, not just going back home. Mainly older elementary plus middle school, high school kids including those who play on club teams • Need safer crossing for kids biking to soccer fields at Page Mill and El Camino Real Specific Locations: • El Camino Real and Charleston Road intersection: o Bike lane marked for WB cyclists going straight, to separate them from right turning cars, current situation a real problem since so many drivers are turning (2) o What about green bike box for WB cyclists? o Sidewalk on Charleston is too narrow, should be for pedestrians only o Vegetation grows out into sidewalk on both sides of Charleston between Alma and El Camino. Ditto leaf and debris accumulation on sidewalk. On pickup days, trash/recycling containers make this area even more hazardous. Should be a priority for enforcement or educating residents. o Pork chop islands are real concerns for EB Gunn/Terman students in afternoon, lots of turning cars o Red light running is serious issue in peak periods, especially turning left • Maybell Bike Boulevard: o South side of street has intermittent sidewalk, fix to reduce kids walking out in the street o Too many drivers use this as alternate route to Gunn, unsafe mixing of peds, cyclists, drivers • Middlefield and San Antonio: Add green bike box • Path behind Gunn: o Needs lights between the school and the junction – many students involved in after school sports practice or drama etc feel unsafe using this path at night. • Bryant and East Meadow: o During commute hours, need bike triggered traffic signal for those crossing East Meadow -- or bike/ped button like they use on Embarcadero near Paly? Kids ride wrong way on sidewalk since they can’t get across street safely • Cowper and Loma Verde intersection: o New problem: International School in the Catholic Church @ 3233 Cowper – parents in a drag race to get their kids to school on time. No concern for safety of others o Lots of kids biking or walking to JLS, Fairmeadow and Hoover via Cowper, also El Carmelo on Loma Verde – very unsafe now o Need traffic circle to slow cars down at intersection o Need chicanes to calm traffic on Cowper 2 • Amarillo and Louis: o Backups for cars in morning on Louis SB and Amarillo WB and in school drop-off area: what about no left turn during these periods? o Could school instruct drivers to turn right only out of front of school, then go NB or SB to their destination at Greer? o Drivers who come from Greer and want to turn left into drop-off area can cause gridlock. What about parking and walking from Greer? • Oregon Expressway and intersections at Louis, Middlefield and Bryant: Add green bike box • Middlefield and Embarcadero Intersection: o Not enough space on sidewalk especially at northwest corner during peak periods. No space for cyclists on street + in morning, WB Paly bound cyclists barrel through without stopping, hazardous for both cyclists and peds. Need safer solution. • Monroe Park students crossing to Los Altos schools on west side of El Camino at Los Altos Avenue (Bullis charter school plus Santa Rita neighborhood elementary, Egan Middle, Los Altos High): o About 50 Palo Alto families who are in Los Altos school district rather than PAUSD live in this neighborhood. o Appreciate City providing adult crossing guard but there’s a problem with which side bicyclists should be on, asking students to dismount and walk across. o Challenging to walk or bike across this intersection at any age. Specific school commute issues include many drivers exiting Los Altos Avenue in the morning. Those making left turns get backed up by students crossing, sometimes no one gets to turn when light is green so they turn left on red. o Cars turning right off of El Camino onto Los Altos, or turning right onto El Camino from Los Altos go too fast, intimidating for those walking or biking, unsafe for children (due to pork chop islands on west side of intersection). o Another problem is that there aren’t real bike lanes on the Los Altos side, and vehicles are often parked in them especially westbound. May 4th 2011    City of Palo Alto  Attn:  Palo Alto City Council Members  250 Hamilton Avenue  Palo Alto, CA  94303    RE:  Make Ross Road Top Priority on the Palo Alto Bike Plan Rev.May 9th Council PA Bike PlanStudy  Dear City Council Members.  The past five years I have dedicated my community work to enhancing bike paths and pedestrian safety.   Both myself and the City have received public input regarding the City’s Bike plan from residents along  the way and I want council to know many of our residents want Ross Road Bike Blvd. as a Top Priority.  For the Council Bike Study I make two requests .  First, the City prioritize and fund Ross Road Bike Blvd  placing it as First Priority on the new Revised Bike Plan Schedule.  Please engineer and fund the Oregon Expressway to Louis Road at Ross Road segment of the Ross Road  Bike Blvd. [This will connect the new Mitchell Park Community Center, Ross Road YMCA, and Jordan].  And  Second, the City evaluate existing bike path easements along the Ross Road Bike Blvd. at:  Louis Court.  By opening this access, Louis Court provides bike access from Ross Road, to an already  existing bike path that accesses Stratford School.  Though circuitous, the same is true with Bryant Bike  Blvd. at the Circles.  This existing access is important. (please see attached photo).  720 Garland Court.  By opening this access, Ross will provide important bike path connectivity from Ross  to JLS, and if it were to connect via Ross to Newell – this bike path access would become a citywide  bikeway with great public benefit.  Ross Road serves several benefits.   Please take school children off Middlefield Road and put them on a safer route.    Provide Residents E. of Middlefield close Bike Boulevard access [as Bryant does W. of  Middlefield Road to residents]   Provide the only Bike Boulevard access from South Palo Alto to North Palo Alto.  Give us bike  path access to business, schools, public buildings, parks.  I have heard hundreds of comments from north palo alto and south palo residents combined and there  is great support.   At the most recent Bike Plan meeting held by the City at Terman, many residents  asked staff that Ross Road Bike Blvd. be Top Priority.    Thank you for Councils consideration,  Pamela Radin