The city of Menlo Park and Cal Water are repaving the lanes on Middlefield Road between Ravenswood Avenue and Willow Road, and striping them to become a three-lane road with a turn lane as part of a road safety pilot program.

Middlefield Road in that stretch has been a four-lane road with two lanes going in each direction. The pilot program area starts around Ringwood Avenue and ends around Santa Margarita Avenue, near the Menlo Park Fire Protection District's administrative offices. Under the pilot program, the street is being reduced to three lanes, with two lanes going in either direction and a turn lane between the two.

The road was repaved as part of a project to replace a water main on Middlefield Road, and the city aims to use the opportunity to further its street safety goals. According to Assistant Public Works Director Hugh Louch, most of the time, Cal Water would only repave the area of road that it worked on, but on Middlefield Road Cal Water elected to repave most of the street, which will not happen again for several years.

Louch said that Menlo Park chose to use the repaving work, which will take place in the next year, to collect and analyze data and public input to form a final striping plan. Residents will have multiple opportunities to provide feedback, including presentations to the Complete Streets Commission and City Council.

The city’s website states that the three-lanes configuration will allow Middlefield to maintain roadway capacity, and that separating vehicles traveling at different speeds will increase roadway safety. The city started installing painted pavement markings this month to coordinate with the paving work. The project does not include areas of the road where there are already medians installed. The pilot evaluation will occur over the next six months, and the city anticipates collecting data this fall.