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A lower speed limit is coming to Manzanita Way, a two-lane byway that connects Sand Hill Road to Mountain Home Road in Woodside. The road is currently posted at 25 mph, but public works staff, after conducting a traffic survey and consulting with local residents, concluded that the road’s curves, narrow aspect and dense foliage combine to warrant a 20 mph limit.
The Town Council, with Councilman Peter Mason absent, voted unanimously on May 9 to introduce an ordinance to lower the speed limit by 5 mph. (The second vote, needed to actually adopt the ordinance, also passed unanimously on May 23.)
In addition to the new speed limits, the town added 15 mph signs ahead of three curves on Manzanita, according to a staff report. A yield sign and accompanying pavement stencil are going in at the intersection with Winding Way, and the equestrian trail will be improved so as to encourage pedestrians to use it rather than the road, the report said.
The council discussion diverged for a bit to address what may be a significant underlying cause: drivers using less congested alternatives to the more traveled routes.
Navigation applications such as Google Maps and Waze could be an issue, council members said, to the extent that they are directing drivers to these alternate routes. One route of particular concern to Councilwoman Deborah Gordon involves Olive Hill Lane, Albion Avenue and Manuella Avenue as a path connecting Canada Road and Kings Mountain Road.
“One of the problems is that people are being rerouted through our smaller streets,” Ms. Gordon said. “Can we do something about that more generally?”
Mr. Rose said he’d contacted both Google Maps and Waze, but not by phone and to little effect. “It’s very difficult to get a response,” he said. “In one case, we didn’t get a response. In the other case … it was kind of canned.” He said he was unaware of any changes to the applications as a result of his contact.
A survey justified raising the speed limit on Whiskey Hill Road to 40 mph, but the town narrowed the traffic lanes to 10 and a half feet from 12 feet. Before-and-after speed surveys showed traffic slowing by 2 to 3 mph after narrowing the lanes. That difference allowed the town to keep the 35 mph limit, Mr. Rose said.
“We have issues all over town,” Mayor Tom Livermore said in wrapping up the discussion. “This obviously seems like a good one to go ahead and implement.”
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Its a simple fact that traffic will go through side streets. These are public roads. Same rules apply. Of course, everyone should obey the traffic rules and they should be enforced. Whether they are automobiles, horses, or bicyclists.
To blame Google Maps or Waze is looking to the past. Asking to block information sources that are public and serve the greater public on behalf of the local residents is against the law. Of course I don’t like it as I live on one of them. But to refuse to recognize the era we live in is to have our heads stuck in the sand. This is not 1950. We do not have a right to stop others from using our public roads as we are a public town. If we want to do that, then the town would need to be privatized. And I don’t know if the residents would want to do that either.