A post I wrote for the local neighborhood group - 29 July 2014
Jonathan Seder from Fulton Street
A large number of collisions shows that dangerous conditions exist at the Everett Avenue / Middlefield Road intersection in Palo Alto. Several changes have been proposed over the years to improve these conditions. The following list incorporates suggestions from replies below:
- Four-way stop: This is inexpensive to install but the colossal backups it would cause on Middlefield Road make it a non-starter.
- Traffic signal: These are very expensive to install and to maintain, and the City is very reluctant to install them. From a neighborhood point of view, they increase noise and congestion and air pollution, and actually will encourage cut-through traffic. Traffic signal synchronization on two-way streets is generally impossible, and closely spaced signals on two-way streets totally disrupt traffic flow and increase congestion - think of the areas around Ikea, and Redwood City Costco, and indeed Middlefield between Homer and Lytton. We do not want to do that to this stretch of Middlefield Road.
- Turn restrictions: Allow only right turns from Everett Avenue onto Middlefield Road. This is inexpensive and would have several benefits: it would smooth traffic flow on Middlefield, reducing noise and air pollution in our neighborhood; it would discourage if not eliminate cut-through traffic. There are a couple of disadvantages: drivers not aware would have to weave through the neighborhood to get back on track; and local residents will have to detour, probably to Lytton Avenue. If this option is implemented only with signage, it will require random police enforcement.
- Turn restrictions enforced with tubular reflective channelizing devices installed down the centerline of Middlefield Road. This would also block left turns from Middlefield onto Everett Ave. It would be more effective than III but require more detours by residents.
- Completely block Everett Avenue on the southwest (Stanford) side of the intersection with a permanent barrier (possibly located at Byron or Webster). This will greatly reduce cut-through traffic on Everett. Downtown North drivers will have a shorter detour via Hawthorne. This change will have complicated effects, not necessarily improving matters overall. [Thanks Dan]
- Completely block Everett Avenue on the northeast (101) side of the intersection. This will require long detours by residents, and would tend to shift traffic onto Palo Alto Avenue. A significant number of motorists will continue to attempt the dangerous left turn from downtown North onto Middlefield. [Thanks Dan]
- Middlefield Road currently narrows to one northwest-bound lane near Palo Alto Avenue. If that narrowing was shifted upstream to the Lytton/Everett block, turning traffic would have to negotiate only three lanes of traffic rather than the present four. This might offer minor improvements at Everett, but would exacerbate congestion generally on the Middlefield corridor.
- Other traffic calming measures, such as speed tables, speed bumps, islands at Fulton / Everett and Fulton / Guinda, four-way stop at Fulton/Everett, radar speed indicator on Middlefield Road, and calming in Downtown North to reduce Everett cut-through traffic.
The City Council is most likely to fund an alternative that has broad neighborhood support and is acceptable to the City staff. Can we all get behind one option? Thoughts?
