Ross Road as a bike blvd. south of Oregon makes a lot of sense. But, where does Ross Road take bikers north of Oregon?

Please correct Anuva's name. Its is spelled Anuva and not Anuba. Thank You

Ross road is a poor choice for a bike blvd. It is not through to the south or to the north, what do you use it to get to?

Ross Road north of Oregon takes you to Jordan and Garland schools, then (continuing on Newell Rd) the main library, Rinconada Park, and the Lucie Stern Community Center. Looks like an important route for me, especially for families who live on the east side of Middlefield Road.

As with auto users, most cyclists will take the most direct route.
To expect bicyclists to deviate to Ross, which, currently is unsignaled+see's it's fair share of hyperaccelerated traffic as they race toward or from Middlefield, ain't gonna happen.
Someone pedaling to Midtown will not do a down+over to get there from Middlefield+Oregon expwy.
So expect the present situation to continue, which is, bikes will either take a whole lane as allowed by law,try and be courteous and stay as far to the right as safe(extremely vulnerable), or, inhabit the sidewalk when traversing this extremely busy intersection.
All options that will continue to aggravate non cyclists to no end....

Can someone describe in better detail what they voted for on Ross and Oregon? Which barriers are they going for? I hope they're not planning on banning all turns off of Oregon onto Ross. That would just push more traffic onto Middlefield and Louis for those of us trying to get to Garland or Oregon Ave.

Ross Road south of Oregon makes sense as a school route because it connects with Mayview (a very quiet short street) which has a light and crossing guard at Middlefield into Mitchell Park which is great for the back entrances of Hoover and JLS and very easy for Fairmeadow.

Ross Road north of Oregon takes you into a residential neighborhood and to get to Jordan bikes must get back onto Middlefield. To get from Middlefield into Garland and then Ross, bikes from Jordan have to cross Middlefield twice and there is no light or crossing guard at Garland which means that few bikes will want to cross there. Garland school is not being reopened at present and few students use bikes to get there. But, for those who do, there is a back entrance into Garland (or Stratford) school, but no entrance into Jordan without going on either Louis (unlikely) or Middlefield (busy street).

If we are thinking of Ross as a bike route for school it works South or Oregon but not North.

To the North Ross basically stops at Oregon on a street called Garland. There is no through to Jordan or Garland Elementary or any of the other locations you mentioned that I am aware of. Maybe you were thinking of Louis? Louis basically gets you to the things you mentioned, Ross does not. Louis actually gets you to all the way to Cubberley to the South, and just about the Main Library to the North. Both Louis and Ross get you to Meadow to the South which is handy for JLS students but does not get you to Charleston which handy for the Charleston Plaza and turning towards Gunn.

Louis has an existing traffic control at Oregon, Ross does not.
Ross is a poor choice. I'll ride it if it happens, but I think it will mean more bike traffic on Middlefield South of Meadow as bicyclist riding more to the South because Ross will soon turn towards the bay in a few more blocks.

Do people that never ride choose these things? I suspect so.

Bikes don't have to cross Middlefield to get to Garland from Jordan. I don't understand where you think the bikes are coming from. Garland backs onto Jordan. There are no crossings.

Sorry a lot of posts between mine and Sarah's, I was responding to Sarah's comments

Erin

Is there a bike entrance from Garland into Jordan? I know that there is an entrance into Garland school. I am not sure how someone on a bike would get into Jordan school without going through Garland School (which is a private school) from Garland Road without going onto Middlefield.

If there is, please can you explain.

Thanks.

Erin

Sorry, I think we are confusing each other. Garland Road and Garland School makes things confusing. Ross Road, I believe, leads into Garland Road. Garland Road runs from Louis to Middlefield. There is an entrance into Garland School (Stratford) from Garland Road, but is there an entrance into Jordan from Garland Road?

Erin,

I think Resident was thinking about a student leaving Jordan getting to Ross and traveling with the flow of traffic and not on the sidewalk would have to cross middlefield twice.
Whats really going to happen is the Jordan kids will just use the sidewalk from Jordan to get to Garland Rd and students from Garland Elementary would travel Louis to Garland Rd. Kids getting to Garland will have to do an uncontrolled left from Garland Rd onto Louis.

Its just a bad plan.

"There is an entrance into Garland School".
Is that something that could be extended to California? It would improve Ross as a choice for me?

There is a gate from the back of Garland (Stratford until 2014 but don't get me started on that) onto Garland Drive for the elementary students to use. I think middle schoolers might use it too because they start earlier. Most middle schoolers I see use Garland Drive and go to Middlefield and bike on the sidewalk to the bike cages located on Middlefield. There really isn't a real crossing of a road that would warrant a crossing guard and I am more than happy to move out of the way for a bike on the sidewalk. I think at that age the kids should be using the sidewalk on such a busy street. It's so much safer. I'd want my kids to do the same. I was walking my dog this morning and it wasn't a problem for me to move out of the way for 4 bicyclists on their way to school between Jordan and Garland on Middlefield.

The idea though would be to have a community resource, so if this garland elementary entrance cant go through to California, so non-students can use it, the problem with Ross ending at Garland remains, but if the entrance could feed a path that went along the fence between the 2 schools, that would give access to all those places to the North that Sarah mentioned for everyone.
To the South is still problematic, but its not as bad as to the North.

I doubt the small path through Garland into the school will ever be constructed into a community bike path. It's very small and can't be widened. Plus, I very highly doubt that the school district will allow the public onto school property during school hours. Safety of our kids was a big topic during the discussion of the Garland remodel.

Too bad, that would have made the Ross choice semi-useful.

Are they still planning to close Waverley, thereby putting more cars on Bryant with the bicycles. I can't believe anyone thinks that's a good idea.

Is this opposition to a bike route on Ross Rd because:
1. you have an idea for a better north-south bike route on the east side of Middlefield Road
or
2. you don't want anyone to ride bicycles in your neighborhood

If you do have an idea for a better route, please post it along with why you like that route better. Thank you.

With ever increasing vehicle traffic the delays at Middlefield and Oregon will course ever more carbon dioxide being spilled into the atmosphere. Poor decision.

As for trees being taken down; trees like people have finite lives and can be easily replaced with fresh young trees that will grow vigorously.

Sarah,

Louis is a better choice than Ross.

When the development was originally constructed in the 1940's, there was a walkway through from Garland Drive to connect Jordan and Ross Rd. In the 1970's, the city gave up the easement because there were too many complaints about kids smoking dope in the walkway and the five-foot-wide strip of property was deeded to the adjacent homeowners.

Garland has lots of turns between Ross and Middlefield and is pretty narrow, especially when cars park at the curb. Many cars go way too fast down Garland, especially in the morning trying to avoid the backup on Oregon to turn north on Middlefield. Often they run the stop sign at the cul-de-sac a block down Garland from Ross. I fear for the safety of added bicyclists. My understanding is that several children were hit by cars on this part of Garland in years past. I've only lived here 17 years.

I know Erin already asked this, but was anyone who was at the meeting able to explain what recommendation was made for Ross as far as auto traffic goes? Does the recommendation propose closing Ross to automobile traffic and having it strictly for bicycles and pedestrians?

I personally don't think it's a wise use of resources to develop another bike crossing between Louis and Bryant, especially at Ross which deadends into a personal residence on block north of Oregon. If cyclists aren't already deviating a few blocks to use Louis or Bryant for their own safety to avoid the squeeze on Middlefield, they aren't likely to ride up to Ross instead of continuing to use Middlefield. From my observations, people care more for a direct route to their destination, than a longer, safer one.

Remember when Palo Alto actually cared about cyclists?

Sounds like there are only a few NIMBYs who want to ban bicycles from Palo Alto. Judging from the number of kids I see biking to school, the vast majority of residents are in favor of bicycles.

"I doubt the small path through Garland into the school will ever be constructed into a community bike path"

Erin,

I went over and found it, and I agree, that path is not feasible for all the reasons you mentioned.

No one is proposing closing Ross to cars. Where does this stuff come from?

They just want to make the intersections safer for bicycling, like they have already done to Bryant Street. And Bryant Street is not just a short detour for families who live east of Middlefield and are heading to a destination east of Middlefield, such as Jordan or Garland or the library. Those kids would have to cross Middlefield twice to get to their destination and there are not a lot of routes across Middlefield that are really safe for children.

Regarding bike paths directly into Garland, I know that Gunn and Paly and Terman schools (and probably others) have bike paths directly in to the school grounds with no problems.

Bicycling is a great way for kids to get to school and we should encourage it, not make it more dangerous. A safe bike route that is away from streets with speeding cars (like Middlefield) or rush hour congestion (like California) is a good start.

Erin

I don't think it is a good idea to advertise a safe route to school as one where the kids have to ride their bikes on the sidewalk, particularly when there are pedestrians using the sidewalk to get to school too. If it is better for bikers to use the sidewalk, then they should dismount from their bikes and walk as a pedestrian the distance on the sidewalk. That is safest for bikes and pedestrians, particularly in the busy school commute time.

Sarah,

While you are right many other schools do have bike paths into them from the rear, Garland and Jordan do not. Getting to Jordan or Garland elementary from Ross Rd involves using Middlefield or Louis.

So why not start with Louis. Louis would be better for Ohlone Elementary and Palo Verde Elementary than Ross.

Its about the same for JLS and the Mitchell Park Library and midtown shopping.

Louis also adds the ability to get to Charleston Center, Cubberley, the main library via California to Newell.

Louis already has traffic control at Oregon, it already has bike lanes and it already has bikers using it.

When I ride on Louis, its where all the young school commuters already are, they are not on Ross. Its much better to annoint the route bikers have already choosen naturally, isn't it than try to force them to use something different?

Ross Road is shown on the Palo Alto Bike Plan as a potential future bike boulevard with serious implementation issues, for the reasons discussed above. It is not likely to be turned into a bike boulevard anytime soon, and there are many projects in the plan with higher priority. It looks as if the expressway plan will make significant improvements at the Louis intersection for pedestrians and bicyclists. I think all the attention being paid to Ross is a mis-use of people's energy, and they should be looking at all of the other intersections instead.

Sounds like the NIMBYs are going to try to stall or block the bike route, no matter which street the city chooses. Hopefully, safety projects like this can get done before anyone gets killed because of gaps in the current bike routes.

Bike routes have minimal impact on car traffic. In fact, bike routes usually improve the flow of car traffic by giving bicycles good alternatives to the streets favored by speeding cars, like Middlefield and Embarcadero. Why do NIMBYs hate bicycles so much?

Sarah,

What are you referencing? That NIMBY discussion that you are refering to is not present in this thread, so where is it?

I don't think there are any NIMBYs here. I'd much rather have bicycles on my street than cars with my small children running around but the issue is that a bike "boulevard" like the current one that is on Bryant is not going to be the same if they put it on Ross.

I think the real intent of turning Ross into a bike boulevard is to make the intersection at Oregon safer for pedestrians and bikes and I am in favor of that as long as they don't completely cut off access to Ross (and Garland Drive) from Oregon for car traffic and cause more backups on Middlefield and Louis.

As for bikes on the sidewalk, there is no bike lane on Middlefield in North Palo Alto so while I'm not exactly "advertising" that kids ride their bikes on the sidewalk, I do in fact think it's safer than riding on the street and I don't think it's practical to think they'll actually walk their bikes all the way to school and back.

Erin

While you may not be advertising using the sidewalk at Middlefield as a school route, our schools do produce safe routes to school maps and these are what I was thinking of.

I think it is important to tell our kids that if they need to use the sidewalk for a short distance to get to school and if there are pedestrians on that sidewalk (very near the schools for example) then they should dismount and push their bikes. I think it is completely unrealistic to expect pedestrians to get out of the way of bikes on sidewalks. At school commute time, middle school age kids tend to be in groups and several groups of pedestrians sharing a sidewalk with several groups of kids on bikes beside a busy road is asking for trouble.

This would be particularly important near elementary schools too where the sidewalk pedestrians often consist of mothers with strollers, toddlers on trikes or training wheels, dogs on leashes, and elderly grandparents all walking with school age children.

I personally do not like to see any biker using a sidewalk as a bike lane, but I do understand that there are places it makes sense. On the 50 or so yards next to any school at school commute time, it never makes sense.

Sarah,
One of the plans that the County was proposing had a median on Oregon that would stop any cross-traffic at Ross. Another plan would only allow right turns off of Ross onto Oregon. I'm trying to find out if either of those plans were discussed at this meeting and no one can seem to tell me that.

So yes, essentially people were talking about closing Ross to cars coming from certain directions. This "stuff" came from information provided to the community by the County and the plans are on their website. No one made it up.