December 24, 2003

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Palo Alto Online

No 'nightmare' on IKEA streets

by H. Tom Nguyen

IKEA's opening caused city officials and residents to sweat over whether the mega-store would generate gridlock more complicated than assembling an ALVE desk.

Four months after its August grand opening -- a kick off that attracted more than 16,000 shoppers -- traffic has actually been smooth, according to local residents and city officials. But not perfect.

"It's not as bad as I thought," said Cathy Kinch, who lives two blocks away from IKEA in East Palo Alto.

Transportation officials in the local area agree that IKEA has not produced the traffic congestion everyone feared several years ago when East Palo Alto was still deciding on the IKEA construction.

"Traffic was never that bad as we thought -- for Palo Alto or even East Palo Alto," said Joe Kott, chief transportation official for Palo Alto. "Most of the traffic is on and off near the interchange and on University Avenue. Most people use those roads to access IKEA."

In 2001, East Palo Alto issued an environmental impact report that projected IKEA would attract 2,370 daily vehicle trips to and from the store, and 7,402 on Saturdays alone.

According to Kott, one factor for the lack of traffic is the new IKEA's failure to draw the same amount of customers as the first IKEA in Emeryville.

"Certainly, everyone misjudged that the second IKEA would attract the same number of people of as the first IKEA," Kott said. "But it doesn't have the same market area. The first IKEA was the only game in town; it had the entire Bay Area market to itself. Now they both share the market area. When you consider the traffic planning, the location near the highway, and that the second IKEA shares the marketplace with the first IKEA, the little traffic makes sense."

IKEA officials say business has actually been good and in accordance with their expectations. They say careful planning and local efforts are the main reasons for the minimal traffic.

"The planning was very good," said Didi Malubuyo, IKEA manager. "We're happy with the level of cooperation and support we've received from the East Palo Alto Police Department. Traffic has been a non-issue."

In preparing for the potential gridlock caused by the store's opening day, East Palo Alto put together a task force of 70 people, including representatives from IKEA, local police and fire departments, city transportation divisions, California Highway Patrol, CalTrans, Stanford University and others. Strategies for reducing traffic congestion included local police directing traffic, new traffic lights and signs to help shoppers navigate through the area.

"The task force was pulled together in the planning stages," said Lt. Mark Venerable of the Palo Alto Police Department. "But now that traffic has settled into a standard pattern, we feel the situation is in control."

But there are still problems.

"They did a good job directing traffic in that area," said Everardo Luna, who lives eight blocks from IKEA. "But they need to coordinate traffic lights better in that area, so that cars can flow more smoothly and efficiently. Now you just catch a green light, drive a bit and hit another red light. It takes 10 minutes to go two blocks."

Kinch, who feels overall the traffic hasn't been all that bad, said there have been a few frustrating moments.

"One Saturday we're coming home and we got stuck on Embarcadero Road. It took us 30 to 40 minutes just to get home. When there's no traffic, the drive is much easier."

Although there are no current plans to create a more efficient traffic light system in the area, local police say they will be ready to handle any future challenges.

"Once the economy improves, and more people are commuting to work and more shoppers are looking to spend money, the roads could get really crowded," said Venerable. "But we have to wait and see until we get there. But everyone agrees it's not as bad as we thought it would be."

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