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Drivers will need to start slowing down a little more as they make their way through Menlo Park, as the city is installing new, lower speed limits on many streets. At a meeting in May, the Menlo Park City Council passed a new speed limit ordinance to help improve traffic safety.
Though the ordinance was passed in May, the new speed limits haven’t been implemented until now. City crews began replacing existing speed limit signs as well as adding new posts and signs at some locations on Aug. 5, according to Kevin Chen, Menlo Park’s senior traffic engineer.
Since work began, new speed limits have officially been implemented on two roads: on Bay Road from Marsh Road to Van Buren Road, where the speed has been reduced from 30 to 25 mph, and on Ravenswood Avenue from Laurel Street to Middlefield Road, where the speed has also been reduced from 30 to 25 mph.
Chen says that the city hopes to complete the signage changes for all streets where a lower speed limit was approved by the council by early fall of this year.
In addition to the two streets that have already been completed, the speed limits will also be lowered from 30 to 25 miles per hour on Santa Cruz Avenue from city limits near Sand Hill Road, to Avy Avenue, on Middle Avenue from Olive Street to University Drive and on Valparaiso from Cotton Street to El Camino Real.
The speed limits will be lowered from 35 to 30 miles per hour on Alpine Road from Santa Cruz Avenue to the city limits, on Middlefield Road from Atherton city limits to Palo Alto city limits and on Sand Hill Road from Sharon Park Drive to Palo Alto city limits.
Speed limits on the section of Sand Hill Road from Highway 280 to Sharon Park Drive will be lowered from 40 to 30 mph.
Menlo Park is lowering speed limits on 11 segments across the city, where signage changes are expected to be completed by early fall 2024. Red lines indicate a drop from 40 mph to 35 mph, orange lines indicate a drop from 35 mph to 30 mph, blue lines indicate a drop from 30 mph to 25 mph and purple lines indicate a drop from 25 mph to 20 mph. Graphic by Jamey Padojino.
In Menlo Park’s “business activity district,” speed limits will be lowered from 25 to 20 mph. This includes Santa Cruz Avenue from University Drive to Merrill Street, and Menlo Avenue from University Drive to El Camino Real.
The city will continue to notify residents of newly implemented speed limits through the its newsletter and through social media platforms, says Chen.
A state law, Assembly Bill 43, passed in 2021 gave California cities more flexibility to reduce speed limits 5 mph beyond the limit that has been determined in prior traffic studies in designated “safety corridors” that have higher rates of collisions, and in “business activity districts” such as downtowns.
According to the text of this bill, drivers who violate the new speed limits are subject to a warning citation for the first 30 days after the new, reduced limits are implemented.
A city news item on the new limits says that the reduced speeds through the city are being implemented as part of Menlo Park’s Vision Zero goal to eliminate all traffic fatalities and serious injuries by 2040.
“When collisions occur at higher speeds, injuries are more severe,” said Chen. “Lower speeds therefore play a critical role in safety. When vehicles travel at lower speeds, drivers have a wider field of vision … allowing them to notice potential hazards. At lower speeds, drivers have the ability to react quickly, avoiding collisions or minimizing the severity of a collision.”
A lot of good it will do. I live along Bay Road and I NEVER see cops around here. People speeding, rowdy kids interrupting traffic, it’s constant.
Terrible, but what can you expect? It’s the Menlo Park City Council.
WTF. If the city is this hard up for cash why not just say they’re broke and have a fund raiser.
I walk, bike, and drive on many of these streets and would like for them to be safe for all. However, it’s foolish to take thoroughfares and lower the speed limits so they are the same as neighborhood streets. People will then rationally choose to avoid the traffic that sometimes exists on these main roads, and instead drive down neighborhood streets. This could easily result in more serious injuries, not fewer.
Also, are there currently a lot of (or any?) serious injuries or fatalities on Sand Hill, Middle, or Valpo? Given how much people talk (here, and on ND) about accidents anywhere around MP, I doubt there have been many. This seems like a policy that is likely to not achieve its stated goal, and cause a lot of headaches along the way. Who were the City Council members who voted for this, so I know whom to vote against this fall?
This is an unwise decisions for streets that are the main traffic arteries through town.