Comments for “Palo Alto Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation Plan (BPTP) Update (ARCHIVE)”
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It is confusing for both bikers/pedestrians and cars negotiating this intersection about who has right of way and when. Cars rarely will stop for visible pedestrians and bikers looking to cross Meadow on Park. And sometimes cars coming Westbound on Meadow will barrel through at fairly high speeds - presumably impatient as they just finished waiting for the light at Alma.
Something needs to be done to better indicate the presence of pedestrians/bikers and that cars need to stop and wait for them to cross.Liked 1 time -
4 way stop, but if bike turns left, can be less safe.
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For some reason, drivers really like to run or almost run red lights at this particular intersection. They see yellow lights as a challenge of sorts and would rather accelerate to unsafe speeds than slow down and stop. Recent changes to the timing of the traffic lights have made crossing the intersection feel less perilous as a pedestrian or cyclist using the crosswalks. Adding a few seconds of delay between when the light turns green and when the walk symbol turns on has resulted in less cars cutting off pedestrians entering the crosswalk. However, this change has not incentivized drivers to drive more safely. I'm not sure how we can encourage more responsible driving practices in our city as a whole, but maybe red light cameras or other penalties for unsafe driving might help disincentivize reckless behavior.
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Drivers at the infersection of middle
Field and Oregon express way don’t honor pedestrian sign fully, do not watch for bicyclesLiked 0 times -
There has been many cars that run the red light here because it is not well marked as a pedestrian intersection. Used heavily by students going to Duveneck Elementary and Greene Middle School. There should be flashing pedestrian lights! Also, a dedicated left hand turn signal (or lane) when you’re westbound turning from Embarcadero to Louis.
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whenever anyone tries to turn left from eastbound alma onto northbound hawthorne, the ensuing backup persuades some drivers to try to pass on the right, in the bike lane, which endangers everyone. long ago i got a ticket for doing the same thing, and i haven't forgotten about it. give out a hundred tickets and make it stop. or prohibit left turns there in some way that will work better than the polite little sign that's already there. bollards would work.
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i cross el camino at arastradero on my bike often, and every time i feel like i'm risking death. the intersection is huge, but there's no bike lane, so cars and bikes converge at the far side of the intersection in a deadly game of chicken. if i take the whole lane to try to keep cars away, i feel like i'm one inattentive driver away from the morgue. if i scoot to the right side, i can reach out and touch the passing cars. and the road surface is full of gravel and rocks and potholes, so all my attention it taken simply keeping the bike upright. it's a deathtrap.
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cyclists should be prohibited on alma. i've seen several recently, and it's just insane, there's no room, drivers try to squeeze past them, endangering other drivers and the cyclists. alma is a cyclist deathtrap. do the cyclists not know about bryant?
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there are so many things wrong with the intersection of foothill and arastradero, covered by other comments, but i'll add another: the traffic light causes *all* lanes of traffic to stop for minutes on end. everybody staring at everybody else, nobody moving across acres of asphalt. it's not like this intersection is particularly busy - it doesn't need to be, since it parallels the freeway so closely. why is it so enormous? why do we need a giant expressway in that location? why does it have such an unbelievably slow traffic light sequence? i've witnessed many cyclists give up on the long wait and cross against the light, risking their lives with 50 mph traffic.
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There is a parking lot here and frequent street crossing to access the park and pool. There is no cross walk here or at the Pine St. corner.
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for cyclists, the left turn from eastbound charleston to northbound fabian is dangerous and bizarre. there's a rectangle of green paint on the *right* side of eastbound charleston, and on that green paint is a left arrow. is the idea that a single bicycle should wait in that green box to turn left, surprising and crossing all lanes of traffic? this is a "suicide box."
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Need physical separation for bike lane - cars use it to go around on the right, incurring the bike lane, making it dangerous for any bikes.
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1. Cars rush through from Pope to Chaucer trying to catch the green light - already a danger without bike lanes to segment traffic from bikes - lots of parents use to cross with kids in the AM.
2. And because of the bend on University, bikes on University can't see cross traffic in time.Liked 1 time -
Improve the way high schoolers from Paly who come by bike can cross Alma to Churchill. Right now many of them use the pedestrian traffic light to cross on the wrong side of Churchill and then swerve over to the right side of Churchill. Also, they often keep crossing Alma when the pedestrian light is red, but the car traffic light is green, blocking all the traffic on Churchill.
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Consider putting in speed bumps on Ramona. Cars often come from downtown Palo Alto, speeding towards Addison, along Ramona at top notch break speed when often little kids, pedestrians/walkers and cyclists are also on Ramona
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There is a HUGE OAK TREE that juts out onto Bryant street, so if a biker going east bound on Bryant towards Embarcardero (i.e. Greene Middle school students), they may run into the tree. Consider reflective ribbon or reflective paint on the tree and lights on the tree trunk to ensure bikers do not run into the tree while biking on Bryant at night time or early morning. going towards Greene Middle School
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please do not merge the bike lanes. There needs to be a bike going north east on Stanford Ave, because there are also a huge number of Greene Middle School and Palo Alto high school students who bike NORTH towards El Camino on Stanford daily.
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Please expand this section (west side of Churchil) going south on Churchill as in the mornings, a huge group of bikers clump together. This section of the road should have the curb painted RED so cars can not be parked along Churchill and expand the bike lane to be wider.
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Traffic Light at Ross & Oregon is offensively stupid. Once a sensor on Ross is triggered on either side the request for Green light is latched and remains in place even if the bicycle or car has moved on by turning right, or otherwise leaving. Nonetheless the light will eventually stop Oregon traffic and turn green for Ross eventhough nobody is there anymore. Further there is guaranteed green for Oregon of several minutes without regard to any traffic on Oregon. Once Ross crossing is requested you can wait minutes for a green, even though there are no cars on Oregon. It is frustrating and stupid for everyone involved. If this is to be a successful bike boulevard crossing of Oregon a few things need to happen:
-- Smart sensors on Ross that reset of the sensor is cleared.
-- Traffic sensors on Oregon that can accelerate the green for Ross when there is no Oregon traffic.
-- Shorter minimum holdout on Ross greens, so that there are shorter wait times for people crossing at Ross.Liked 1 time -
No need to change anything here. The parking needs to be there to support park activities and the bike lanes work well even with all the parking being there. Spend the money some place else that really needs it, but no need to change anything here.
Thanks.
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Add traffic calming (eg. speed humps) to discourage cars coming from San Antonio who use this route as a shortcut to El Camino. There are no sidewalks, so pedestrians are always in the street too.
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Trim hedges to improve visibility. Pedestrians cannot be seen when coming out of the bike bridge.
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Should be a 4-way stop or change it so the bike boulevard doesn’t need to stop.
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Median could be improved to allow better bicycle through traffic. Gutter gap is often blocked by parked vehicles and the other path is too narrow for bikes and pedestrians coming in opposite directions.
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Median could be improved to allow better bicycle through traffic. Staying far right in the gutter gap does not provide enough visibility for traffic coming from Chestnut.
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