|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Menlo Park will see new lower speed limits along several roads in town, including Middle Avenue, Santa Cruz Avenue, Sand Hill Road, Ravenswood Avenue and Valparaiso Avenue. New limits will take effect on July 1.
A state law passed in 2021 allows California cities flexibility to reduce speed limits in designated “safety corridors,” meaning streets with high concentrations of pedestrians and bicyclists, and “business activity districts.” The new speed limit ordinance was passed unanimously, as part of the consent agenda, by the Menlo Park City Council on Tuesday, May 7.
The speed limits on Santa Cruz Avenue from Johnson to El Camino Real and from El Camino to Merrill Street, on Oak Grove from University Drive to Alma Street, and on Menlo Avenue from University Drive to El Camino Real will be decreased to 20 mph. These streets are part of Menlo Park’s “business activity district.”
The speed limit on several roads including Middle Avenue, Ravenswood Avenue, Bay Road, and a section of Valparaiso Avenue have been decreased to 25 mph, as they are part of designated “safety corridors.”
Speed limits on Sand Hill Road have been decreased from 40 to 35 mph from Highway 280 to Monte Rosa Drive, and from 35 to 30 mph from Monte Rosa Drive to city limits at the intersection of Sand Hill and Alpine Roads. The speed limit on Alpine Road from Santa Cruz Avenue to city limits has also been decreased to 30 mph.
The speed limit on Middlefield Road from the city limit with Atherton to the city limit with Palo Alto will also be decreased from 35 mph to 30 mph.
“I’m really eager to see how this plan for the speed limits will also be combined with other measures to improve road safety,” said Menlo Park City Council member Maria Doerr at an April 16 reading of the ordinance.
Other council members agreed with the sentiment, even mentioning other streets such as Chilco Street and Constitution Drive where they would like to see lower speed limits.
These new limits come as part of Menlo Park’s Vision Zero Action Plan to eliminate traffic fatalities and reduce non-fatal collisions by 50% by 2040.
“Every year in Menlo Park, approximately one person dies and five people are seriously injured due to traffic collisions. These deaths and serious injuries are preventable and unacceptable,” says a city brochure on Vision Zero.
Signage for the new speed limits will be installed in June, and the ordinance will take effect on July 1.
Now all they need to do is to enforce them.
Agree with Janet; there is close to zero enforcement of traffic laws especially when bicyclists are involved.
Agree with Janet; there is close to zero enforcement of traffic laws especially when bicyclists are negatively affected.
Lowering the speed limits again will just push more traffic onto neighborhood streets. This will be great for the people who chose to buy houses (at somewhat of a discount) on these arteries, but their gain will come at the expense of their neighbors whose narrower streets will inherit the redirected traffic.
It would be better to enforce existing laws (and cell phone use bans) rather than rearranging the deck chairs. Simplistic changes like this make it clear that the MP bureaucrats are unable to consider the second-order effects of their decisions. “Good enough for government work,” as the saying goes!
And crosswalks at major intersections are notorious for drivers not recognizing the rights of pedestrians. I avoid them now, but I recall vehicles advancing into the intersection while I’m just a few steps off the curb. They’re powerful, a pedestrian is not. They’re powerful and they don’t understand what’s motivating them or the fact that they’re ensconced in the equivalent of a tank.
Too many drivers in this city operate their vehicles while entertaining an air of impunity.
When I worked in Palo Alto, I resorted to carrying a baton when I walked out to lunch. The effect was immediate. All I had to do was not hide it and drivers kept a respectful distance.
Great news!! Glad to see us taking steps toward safer roads for all users. Enforcement is a very temporary solution to design flaws that encourage speed. If we want slower speeds, we all need to be slower drivers. Our town is full of two lane roads. Every person who drives the speed limit makes the drivers behind them drive the speed limit also. Engaged citizens who do their part to keep speeds down should be part of the solution. Some targeted enforcement in key trouble areas would definitely be welcome. And both cars and bikes probably need some conversations about safe road behavior.
Just add a stop sign at every corner on Middle and Middlefield like they did in downtown on Santa Cruz and people can’t go more than 15 mph..