SAND HILL ROAD <*C>: Third lane

is called unworkable Ambulance drivers say Measure M proposal would be dangerous

Palo Alto paramedics, ambulance drivers and bus drivers joined Stanford University officials Monday at a news conference in saying that the proposed third lane for emergency vehicles on Sand Hill Road--as proposed in Measure M--is both unworkable and potentially dangerous.

"We've considered Measure M, and we've looked at the traffic changes suggested," said Tony Spitaleri, president of the Palo Alto Firefighters Union. "We believe that they are dangerous, misleading and could cost someone's life. It does not improve our response times."

Measure M on the Nov. 4 ballot says a third lane may be added to the road, to be shared by transit and emergency vehicles.

"It's vital that our ambulances get to Stanford Hospital in as short a time as possible," said Paul Davis, director of Santa Clara County operations for the American Medical Response ambulance company. "Widening Sand Hill Road to four lanes makes enormous sense from our standpoint. This notion of a third lane is unacceptable."

Measure O, the ballot measure approved by the Palo Alto City Council and Stanford, calls for a four-lane Sand Hill Road between San Francisquito Creek and Arboretum Road.

After the Stanford Hospital press conference, Measure M supporters defended their proposal. "I don't know how four lanes of gridlock on Sand Hill is going to give any better access (to the hospital) than the third lane of Measure M," said Peter Drekmeier, the Measure M campaign manager. He also stressed that the third lane proposal was not studied in the Sand Hill Road environmental impact report's traffic studies.

"Obviously, with a third lane exclusively for public vehicles, you'll have maybe one vehicle (bus or ambulance) every two minutes, and you'll have a straight view of any oncoming vehicles," Drekmeier said.

Stanford Hospital's emergency room gets about 100 patient visits a day, said Larry Horton, director of governmental and community relations for the university. The majority of the ER visits are urgent-care patients who arrive by private cars, and not ambulances.

The university had no available figures for how many ambulance-transported patients arrive at the Stanford Hospital emergency room each day, nor a breakdown for how many of those ambulance trips use Sand Hill Road. All ambulances heading to the hospital from the east or south, for example, use Quarry Road, not Sand Hill Road.

Horton objected to the claims made in Measure M campaign materials that Measure M, if approved, would result in improved emergency access to Stanford Hospital. "That is patently false," Horton said.

Noah Banks, a bus driver for the Santa Clara County Valley Transportation Authority, also criticized the third-lane proposal. Banks, who works a north county bus route route and is familiar with Stanford Shopping Center and Sand Hill Road, said, "A three-lane proposal is a very dangerous situation for a 30-foot to 40-foot bus trying to merge, when you're talking about that kind of traffic out there."

--Don Kazak

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