Guest opinion: Alpine Road trail a bad idea Guest opinion: Alpine Road trail a bad idea (October 05, 2005)

By Ted Bache

It appears that Stanfordis about to do a very dumb and unsafe thing -- build a hiking and biking trail along Alpine Road, one of the most heavily traveled commute paths in Silicon Valley.

This trail, known as the C-1, is part of an agreement with Santa Clara County wherein the university received approval to build nearly 5 million square feet of campus buildings and housing.

From the exit off I-280, Alpine Road runs 1.1 miles to the intersection of Santa Cruz Avenue and Junipero Serra Boulevard. Up to 31,000 cars travel this two-lane seemingly rural stretch each day, which has posted speed limits of 45- and 40-mph.

Quite simply, there is no room for a 12-16 foot wide trail along this route. Especially the half-mile stretch between Piers and Stowe lanes. This is Stanford Weekend Acres, which, I suspect, most commuters on Alpine Road have little or no idea exists. Only a handful of the homes are visible. The majority are nestled down slope between Alpine and the San Francisquito Creek -- which is the dividing line of Santa Clara and San Mateo counties.

Stanford Weekend Acres numbers some 255 residents, 120 homes and, surely, up to 200 vehicles. We have a Menlo Park ZIP code, but we are in unincorporated San Mateo County.

There are seven direct accesses to Alpine Road from Stanford Weekend Acres. Four are streets or lanes. Three are driveways that serve four houses. There are also two frontage roads that Stanford very likely would employ as part of the trail, and both would deliver traffic from 37 residences whose vehicles would cross and use the proposed hiking/biking trail.

Now Stanford wants to add bicyclists, runners, hikers, and mothers with baby carriages to the list of cars, people and objects that we now dodge as we enter and leave our homes. It is absurd to place a pedestrian trail in the midst of these already busy intersections. Let's hope Stanford sees the light soon.

Ted Bache lives on Happy Hollow Lane in Menlo Park.

E-mail a friend a link to this story.