Calming nerves without stopping traffic Around Town, posted by Allen Podell, a resident of the Community Center neighborhood, on Jun 16, 2006 at 2:46 pm
Nothing can fix our traffic problems, but I have a few suggestions, and I hope that others will apply these thoughts to their pet problems.
1-Merging from 101 N onto Embarkadero W, put in a speed bump to slow the Embarkadero traffic down to 20 MPH, so that cars can enter easily from the ramp. No light, just slower traffic to merge into. Hey, most of those 40 MPH cars are turning right anyway in 200 feet.
2-Time the lights on Lytton St. to favor cars going W, and the lights on Hamilton Av. to favor cars going E. Time the lights at 25 MPH, so that going faster is useless. This will greatly improve the flow.
3-We could have 20% more spaces available without spending any money, just by enforcing the compact car parking. Everyone would benefit. As it is now, wide vehicles still park in compact spaces, scratching their neighbors. Anyone with a new compact car looks for full size spaces to park in. We are not crazy. Enforce this parking by having whole sections reserved for compacts. Then the big cars will be conspicuous.
Posted by Jocelyn Dong, associate editor of the Palo Alto Weekly, on Jun 17, 2006 at 5:14 pm Jocelyn Dong is a member (registered user) of Palo Alto Online
I can appreciate the creative thinking regarding traffic problems. My question: Is there anything to be done about the on-ramp to 101 south at Embarcadero/Oregon? There are three streams of traffic that merge together before everyone tries to inch their way onto 101. Although cars don't back up onto Oregon or Embarcadero during the evening rush hour (at least, I haven't experienced it), waiting to get onto 101 is still a headache.
Posted by Allen Podell, a resident of the Community Center neighborhood, on Jun 18, 2006 at 10:51 pm Allen Podell is a member (registered user) of Palo Alto Online
Jocelyn, a little widening of the region where the 3 lanes converge would work wonders. The exiting traffic would be able to move right, and out of the way of the entering traffic.
The exiting traffic merging onto Embarcadero West cannot easily alternate merge, because the cars on Embarcadero overtake them too fast. Those cars should be moving at the speed they will be travelling when they enter the 101 S ramp, about 20 mph.
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