The town of Atherton and construction company are not off to a great start as non-local, through traffic was flowing through the NFO neighborhood off of Marsh/Bay and Middlefield Road entrances with no flaggers (at Bay/Marsh as promised) and no police presence earlier today. Northbound traffic should be turning RIGHT at Florence and Marsh and NOT at Bay/Marsh.
Initial calls to Town and construction were less than satisfactory. I did get a call back a few minutes ago and was told that police are now patrolling and more flaggers have been added but "some people don't pay attention to signs".
Please - use the detours to Willow/5th/Woodside Roads!

Any sign of actually work being done on Marsh?

Nothing will enrage people more than being diverted and then seeing that there is no work being done to justify the diversions.

I live on Fair Oaks and I have not received a resident's placard. Has anyone else received one?

Laurie,

You probably received an envelope last Thursday containing placards but did not realize it because it was poorly designed. The envelope is addressed to "Current Resident," which is perfect. The return address is Granite Construction Company in Santa Clara.

There was no indication that the contents pertained to the Town of Atherton or the Marsh Road closure or the placards. A recipient might assume that it was a sales brochure for granite countertops or for residential remodeling (unless he or she is familiar with this large construction firm) and toss it unopened into the recycling bin.

It has two hangers for your rearview mirror and a half dozen blue squares of lightweight paper. Check your recycling before it goes out tomorrow morning. If you can't find any, ask neighbors if they have extras so you don't have to trek to Atherton Town Hall.

Thanks Bea. I think you are absolutely correct. I found a number to call and left a message with my address and request. I was very pleasantly surprised to receive a voicemail within half an hour from the lead engineer who indicated he left seven placards at my home under the door. It sounds like they are working out the details quite quickly.

Getting from Suburban park to Encinal School in the morning is ridiculous. Too bad we can't use the public roads through Lindenwood to cut the detour distance by two thirds. I realize that would be a tremendous inconvenience to the people of Lindenwood, you know, to see cars driving on the public roads which are meant for...cars.

No worries, I'll budget in an extra 30 minutes in the morning to stay off of Atherton streets for a project being done by the city of Atherton.

Getting from the East bay to work is bad enough without the closure of Marsh, let alone the inconvenient detours through Redwood City and Willow. My commute has increased by 30 minutes, and I am not the only one. All this because the rich people of Atherton can't stand the bourgeois utilizing public roads for their intended purpose? Come on.

Far be it from to drive on your gold-paved roads and disturb your morning coffee and crosswords by passing through. Don't you worry, I'll try my best not to drive through your neighborhoods with my music on full blast.

To "Annoyed At" and others. Nice of you to speak up about closing public roads TEMPORARLY to thru traffic during nearby construction - WHEN IT AFFECTS YOU - but you don't when other places like just down the road on Middlefield as it bends into Palo Alto there are permanent barriers and signs saying no thru traffic at all. Some of those public tax payer streets are even PERMANENTLY blocked off. Tax payer streets Blocked off....!! Oh but I'm sure you're a good man or woman - especially when it comes to yourself.