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Uploaded: Thursday, November 12, 2009, 9:51 AM

Improvements eyed for Oregon Expressway
New bike lanes and left-turn lanes aim to make intersection safer, traffic flow more smoothly

by Gennady Sheyner
Palo Alto Online Staff

Posted by Resident, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Nov 12, 2009 at 10:37 am

Any proposed starting time. While schools are closed would be a good idea.

Posted by Richard, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Nov 12, 2009 at 11:26 am

Starting time will be late 2010 or sometime in 2011. They just have a concept plan now and they need to develop the details, get approvals for those and then go out to bid before they can start construction.

Posted by Council Watcher, a resident of the South of Midtown neighborhood, on Nov 12, 2009 at 11:29 am

Ross Road improvements were designed but funding for those improvements was not necessarily included in the plan budget, as VTA engineering consultants stated in the Council session. The city might have to provide separate funding for some of those proposed improvements. Funding for Ross will be decided separately. Please be careful with your facts.

"It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings."

Posted by Midtown resident, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Nov 12, 2009 at 12:01 pm

Sounds like a nightmare Middlefield Road to me. Getting downtown will become a real hassle. We're already getting metering lights at the 101 onramp that have started to back up traffic on Middlefield. In the hours when schools are opening or closing, Embarcadero from Middlefield to El Camino is impossible, as is Middlefield from Oregon to University. Even a left turn lane from Middlefield to Oregon will become clogged. Furthermore, the Middlefield traffic lanes next to the sidewalks from Oregon to past Colorado are already too narrow to navigate safely. Shopping center traffic making left turns to Safeway and other stores just adds to the problem. If we want better traffic flow, we'd better be prepared to sacrifice a few of our precious trees!

Posted by kfarad, a resident of the Fairmeadow neighborhood, on Nov 12, 2009 at 12:18 pm

Nothing's worse than driving on Oregon Expressway towards 101, starting to gain momentum, then the light unnecessarily turns Red becomes someone triggered the sensors while making a right turn.

ROAD RAGE

Posted by Don G., a resident of the Community Center neighborhood, on Nov 12, 2009 at 2:08 pm

If the light timing for Middlefield stays the same, thru-traffic will get even worse with only 1 lane to cross Oregon Expressway. If that is the case, I'll use Louis Road or Greer to get across when I need to. I can imagine traffic will only increase on those roads if that is the case. Middlefield/Oregon Expressway never seemed like a bottleneck before, but reducing to 1 lane it will become one.

Posted by Gennady Sheyner, Palo Alto Weekly staff writer, on Nov 12, 2009 at 5:22 pm
Gennady Sheyner is a member (registered user) of Palo Alto Online

Council Watcher,

Excellent point. I added a paragraph to address the uncertainty over costs.

Many thanks,

Gennady

Posted by Jeff Weitzman, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Nov 12, 2009 at 5:28 pm

The light timing at Middlefield will not stay the same, and while the approved changes were the least optimized (4 trees won out over better traffic flow) they are still a major improvement over existing conditions, and should significantly reduce the backups at Middlefield during rush hour.

Posted by Resident, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Nov 12, 2009 at 5:36 pm

Parking on Middlefield north of Oregon can be a real problem. The tailback of cars this afternoon at 3.30 would have been much less if cars could move into two lanes opposite Jordan school. Is parking on Middlefield going to be part of the scheme?

Posted by Kenny, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Nov 12, 2009 at 10:27 pm

>but the city's Planning and Transportation Commission

>rejected that plan because it would require removal of trees.

Wouldn't the California Ave workers be willing to "accidentally" remove some trees during the planning phase--problem solved!

Posted by Doris, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Nov 13, 2009 at 9:51 am

Yes, keep a lookout for more "accidental" tree clear-cutting.

Posted by Marvin, a resident of the Charleston Gardens neighborhood, on Nov 13, 2009 at 9:54 am

Don G.--Do you remember a few years back the transportation guy (I think his name was Kott) did an experiment when they turned Middlefield into 1 lane each way in Midtown (back then the thoughts were that if you squeeze all the big streets into one lane all the traffic will magically disappear). It was a disaster--why do they think that making Middlefield one lane at Oregon will work any better now?

Posted by Do the job properly, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Nov 13, 2009 at 12:27 pm

"because it would require the removal of trees" Another example of Palo Alto's tree huggers at work. Trees have finite lives just like human beings. The trees targeted for removal are old and tired, they need replacing anyway.

To allow for a left hand turn lane; reducing from two to one lane for those crossing Oregon is going to lead to huge back-ups, it will be a disaster. I guess it's preferable to sit there and spew carbon dioxide into the air than remove a few trees and keep the traffic moving.