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In a bid to slow down speeding cars and improve safety for pedestrians and bicyclists during the coronavirus pandemic, Palo Alto is looking to close some streets to traffic, the city’s Chief Transportation Official Philip Kamhi said Monday.
In doing so, it is preparing to follow the lead of Oakland, Denver and Minneapolis – cities that have closed some of their streets to cars and allowed pedestrians and bicyclists to take over. San Francisco has taken a more limited approach, recently closing a section of the Great Highway to vehicle traffic. Kamhi said he plans to bring a proposal for closing streets in the near future, though he did not specify on Monday which streets would be closed or when the determination would be made.
The proposal was fueled by recent reports, both in Palo Alto and elsewhere, of drivers taking advantage of empty roads by speeding through the city. Mayor Adrian Fine complained about the speeding last week and Council members Alison Cormack and Liz Kniss brought it up again Monday.
“They go so fast that you can’t even wave at them and tell them to slow down,” Cormack said.
The Police Department also has taken notice of the phenomenon, which Kniss called “distressing.” Police Chief Robert Jonsen assured the council that his officers ramped up enforcement last weekend, which he said resulted in a couple of arrests of people driving under the influence. He also told the council that it will see “more proactive enforcement” of speeding, even as the department continues to advocate for social distancing for its officers.
Kamhi said the increase in driver speeds is a trend that can be seen throughout the Bay Area. He noted that Oakland used that as one of the justifications for its street-closure program, known as Oakland Slow Streets.
“We are actually looking at opportunities to roll out something very similar to what you’ve seen in Oakland, Minneapolis and Denver,” Kamhi said.
The ambitious Oakland program, which was launched last weekend, closed off all existing neighborhood bike routes to through traffic to promote safety and make it easier for people to maintain social distance when exercising outside. The program’s website states that the streets are closed to traffic so that “people can more comfortably use these low-traffic streets for physically distant walking, wheelchair rolling, jogging and biking all across the city.” Those segments account for about 10% of all of the city’s streets.
Minneapolis has closed many of its parkways to car traffic to allow trail users to “follow social distancing practices and limit the spread of COVID-19,” according to the city’s Park and Recreation Board.
While it wasn’t immediately clear whether Palo Alto’s program will be as ambitious as those two, Kamhi said in an email that the city will be looking at its existing and planned bike boulevard network, similar to Oakland. He is also looking at options for spacing throughout the city, he said.
In another break from recent trends, City Manager Ed Shikada told the council Monday that the city has modified its proposal for utility rates and is recommending that there be no rate increases for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins on July 1.
The discussion of utilities and speeding cars came up during a wide-ranging update on the city’s COVID-19 response. Conducted remotely over Zoom, the meeting was interrupted three times by “Zoom bombing,” an increasingly common form of trolling in which callers disrupt conference calls, often with lewd and vulgar words and imagery.
In this case, callers muttered barely discernible gibberish, as well as racist and homophobic statements. In each case, the caller was quickly muted after making a comment and the council proceeded to its regular business.
Find comprehensive coverage on the Midpeninsula’s response to the new coronavirus by Palo Alto Online, the Mountain View Voice and the Almanac here.
We’re having the same problem in Mountain View. The modified Japanese car crews are treating Middlefield Rd. as drag strips and the off streets like a slalom course. This usually happens about 3:00 to 4:00 in the morning. I’ve even seen a few Tesla’s throttling up! Hello… MVPD?
Gadzooks!
This frightening tale of government perfidy harkens back to that that time in 1872, or was it 73? Who can ever remember? Anyways, as I recall we had a spate of ruffians and scoundrels who would gallop their horses at frightening speeds up and down the old mill road. It put a massive fright into every fine citizen and stock animal for miles and miles.
I can also recall there were shortages of squirrel oil and boysenberry jam that winter. But I am proud to say that the good people of our fair hamlet worked through it without government meddling.
I wonder if there was some correlation?
Laughable!
Oakland, Minneapolis, and other places doing this are large, densely populated cities.
Palo Alto is decidedly not.
Although we do suffer from another type of density among our politicians who are clamoring to look like they are “taking action!” to combat the virus.
I’m sorry to go off here, I really am. We’re all doing our part and positivity helps. But aren’t there *any* more pressing issues for our officials to look after right now?
I wish they would do something about cars parked half on sidewalk, partially blocking sidewalk. With more people walking, it is often not possible for people with strollers, tricycles, or a family to walk together along sidewalks. There are so many more cars parked on our streets and many are not moving for days at a time, and these obstacles force people to walk in the street.
So NOW the Overdevelopment Crew of Fine, Kniss, and Cormack notice the traffic. It must be very distressing indeed for them to not have the gridlock and pollution to leverage getting more gridlock and pollution.
As for the @ssholes who are endangering the lives of others like first responders, I hope the governor temporarily increases fines and punishments so they take your cars away now. The people who are so selfish and careless about others shouldn’t be allowed to keep risking others’ safety and should face consequences that represent the seriousness of this behavior.
Speaking of which, at least in this country and places like Italy, density played a role in the pandemic hitting hardest. There is a. Cost to everyone else of selfishly treating this place like your corporate clown car, before the pandemic, during recessions, during the spread, düng the response. There is a cost n lives in all kinds of disasters, as our emergency czar has already said, density we already have will result in lost lives in the next earthquake . The response to emergencies of all kinds made worse by density, the difficulties posed by global sourcing of everything for too large a population for the space or to even grow food or produce energy right there if needed, those tip the balance mightily against high density when it comes to safety and the environment. It’s one thing where there is a long history of it like Manhattan, it’s another where it’s not necessary and only destructive.
The high tech denizens don’t contribute to our civic assets and in this pandemic, their tech expertise has been surprisingly AWOL. Where are the army of volunteers to help with software solutions so that the farmers market can provide box orders packed in advance, or that allow residents to make reservations for their shopping times and TP, fairly spaced? The companies bring in all these workers who think the local area owes them something, and the development crowd loves to foment it, but where are they now in using their expertise to help in the ways they are uniquely trained to solve problems? Sure, the tech is great to connect, but we already paid through the nose for that, where is the community-mindedness?
That’s what being untrustworthy in your other dealings does, Overdevelopment Crew (not reporting development funding to the voters while criticizing your opponents falsely for that very thing anyone?) , when you stand up against something bad, as in here, past untrustworthiness makes a lot of us wonder what other unholiness you are trying to leverage. Maybe you are trying to to truly care for others for once. Probably not.
This is a bad issue, and I appreciate the City stepping up enforce in such a way to end it and keep everyone including first responders safe. May they actually try and succeed in doing something about it instead of grandstanding and doing nothing for the majority who still have to drive, including the disabled and elderly who cannot bike to Costco, etc, to make them safer, too.
I have been biking these past weeks and every neighborhood street is nearly empty. Never before have bikers been more safe in Palo Alto. I biked a few miles on Bryant the other day and passed one car.
What streets could possibly be closed? The only people driving on residential streets are those who live on those streets. This seems like a waste of time, there is no problem right now. There is a HUGE problem during normal times when streets are flooded with scofflaw commuters.
Virtue signaling at it’s finest.
There is no reason to change any roads at this point – you can bike nearly anywhere very safely these days. I wouldn’t go down El Camino, but even crossing El Camino has gotten a lot easier.
Council really need to focus on the right things – like having the transportation department plan on maintaining some congestion relief by changing some roadway configurations now while they can
This article’s headline is misleading. Oakland did not ban car traffic from any streets. They put up some barriers to reduce cut-through traffic on certain streets, but local car traffic is still allowed. I expect Palo Alto to do something similar. Sort of like what the Bryant Street bicycle boulevard already does in Palo Alto.
Where is the data behind making this decision? Which medical scientist assisted with this decision?
Driving in a car is actually safer for those trying to avoid the virus, which apparently can stay and be carried on the wind for 72 hours before expiring.
Why wouldn’t driving in a car be safer and preferable rather than use a home made mask that isn’t guaranteed to protect anyone from anything, as the virus is too small and can penetrate the fabric?
People walking and riding a bike without using the masks no one can get can be spreading the virus through coughing, sneezing, or even just talking.
What is being suggested makes Palo Altans less safe from the virus. I do not appreciate our city taking steps to endanger those who might have underlying health conditions, and may choose to drive to keep themselves safe in this manner.
Can the City be sued for taking steps that endanger residents and prevent residents from protecting themselves? Now our city plans to make businesses and residences less accessible by closing streets to cars and residents less safe.
If some of the commenters had to use Foothill Expwy, or even Alma, frequently, they would be aware of the speeding problem since traffic density decreased. I’ve been passed numerous times by cars doing 80-90 mph on Foothill, for example. And it is a frequently used by cyclists (adults and children) and even, occasionally, by pedestrians. Palo Alto, Los Altos, and Mountain View need to stop up speed enforcement on these areas. These are not arterials from which vehicles should be banned. Other streets may be more appropriate for that approach.
While we are at it, let’s put barricades with guards up on University, Oregon/Page Mill, San Antonio, Middlefield, Alma and El Camino. That way we keep all of “those” people out of Palo Alto. Can’t be too careful these days. Have to test all people entering the city for proof of residency, temperature, sputum sample and financial stability.
We can also put barricades and guards on streets within the city limits to control interactions between neighborhoods.
/marc
Correction to previous post: “….step up speed enforcement..”
This is a good move. I was behind 3 cars drag-racing down El Camino last week. Very dangerous. While I realize we cannot close El Camino and other major streets, at least we’ll keep the neighborhoods a little safer. Thank you, Palo Alto.
I can’t see how every street can be blocked. People do drive to the grocery store every now and then. What we need to do is step up traffic enforcement. I see some people driving extremely fast now, apparently assuming that there won’t be a kid on a bike in the middle of the street around the next corner. We need enforcement. 50 in a 25 zone is not OK (saw this just now).
PAPD, Embarcadero Road would benefit greatly with speed enforcement at all times of the day. This morning westbound at 5:55 AM I was passed by every other car. All were moving at speeds greater than 35 MPH.
I am so shocked at the complete lack of push back for our civil liberties right now. It’s time to start thinking about how to open things up, not close things down. The totalitarianism of these ideas is just Orwellian, and it is time for those who value the freedoms we have to stand up and say enough is enough.
The first reason given for the “shut down” and “shelter in place” was to slow the onslaught of hospitalizations–so hospitals wouldn’t be overwhelmed. Then we had the bait and switch–which was to shut down everything with no end is sight. There are good people out there who need to work, who are stressed beyond what most humans can endure because the government says they can’t work. Please don’t add another stress by closing down streets!
Please include Forest Avenue. We just had a late night accident at the corner of Waverley. It was so loud I heard it in my apartment on the top floors.
Seems like a great opportunity to try out the concept of pedestrian boulevards. We’ve been discussing the conversion of University and California for decades.
Please don’t close the streets. The open streets will have more traffic. Ban gas cars instead.
Okay, I’m not an expert, but I’m bothered by this. I’ve been using Alma a fairly lot (I live just off it), and other ‘major’ PA streets also and haven’t found the traffic going any faster than usual.
I’ve also been biking a lot and have never run into problems with what few cars are on the roads. Nor have the bikeways that I’ve been using been overly crowded. Also, as one commentor noted, we don’t have the density of other cities that have closed roads. I can’t think of anyone who is being kept from socially distanced exercise by traffic.
Please PA, do not make it more difficult for residents in the name of jumping on bandwagons. Increased enforcement of speeding is always welcome, but more than that just isn’t called for.
Solution to speeding is not closing the street. You don’t close 9-Eleven stores because someone robs them! Why not use this time without traffic to do some of the needed street maintenance using small distance separated crews. Oh – and give speed citations.
This is yet another reason the city council should be fired. They cannot get anything real done, so they just degrade to do shows.
Palo Alo is not a metropolitan. Do you want us to drive to the closed streets to “enjoy” my walking/biking in a social distancing way? Or do you plan to close all streets?
I ride bicycle nearly everyday now. Cars on the streets is not a problem at all. Too many people wants to walk along pedestrians paths is a problem. Unless you close all streets, otherwise better just maintain this bottleneck to encourage people to stay home.
Note the original headline of this story was that closing streets would combat speeders — although if you think about it, there are the same amount of police on the roads, so speeders should actually be even easier to spot and apprehend already.
Now, the justification has become about providing “more room” for pedestrians social distancing… of course, by closing all parks and public areas we are effectively creating more traffic and proximity on our streets. Create a problem, then solve it with another one.
Hey PA here’s an idea: Why not just keep things as they are on this one? It will be fine, really.
Install speed bumps on the streets that are used as drag streets! Alma? Middlefield? Bayshore? Parts of Oregon? Others? Keep them installed.
>> he did not specify on Monday which streets would be closed or when the determination would be made
I’m guessing that they will start by closing streets in front of PACC members houses. In lieu of hiring a traffic enforcement team.
Good idea. While you’re talking about enforcement, you might want to address the many people who think stop signs and traffic lights downtown no longer mean anything.
In Palo Alto, the stretch of Middlefield Road betweeen Loma Verde and E. Meadow is treated like a freeway. The speed limit is 25 MPH, but cars and trucks (including VTA buses) regularly speed well above the limit. Is there anything that can be done to address it? Numerous complains about it to PAPD and to PA Dept. of Transportation have been ignored.
Geez Grumpy McGrumpersons here!
This sounds so fun for kids, adults, pets, whoever. We are all cooped up and looking for ways to have fun and connect. They are’t going to close down ALL the roads to cars for Pete’s sake. Be real. And we have no additional officers (or money for additional officers) to monitor speeders.
I for one just love this idea. It is what Palo Alto is all about – creating community, which you absolutely cannot not do while speeding through the City in your car. Remember that cars have been around for only 70 years, before that – streets were for humans.
Have a little fun. Escape from your box. Get fit. Get out. Give it a try. Wave to your neighbor and enjoy some car-free streets!
I welcome street closures and hope they become prevalent and permanent. Why should human beings, traveling at human speeds (including pedestrians as well as human-powered bicycle speeds) be relegated to small slivers of pavement while single-occupant metal and glass machines dominate all aspects of our life? Imagine if every street was multi-purpose parkland.
The positive impact on our health, environment and sanity would more than compensate for perceived loss of mobility. We will all be more free, not less!
I’m not opposed to the idea, not at all.
But could we please see some data, you know, facts? Claims of rampant speeding etc. is really hard to justify. Is it possible, sure. But we have measurements. Some streets are instrumented. We have numbers of tickets issued, called filed etc. Instead we have people saying they’ve seen a few fast cars. Hmmm. that happens on what other days? Every day.
Until we know which roads they are considering doing this to, it is hard to envisage. I would rather keep through traffic on arteries, Middlefield, Meadow, Charleston, Oregon, Embarcadero, Alma, ECR, etc. Putting anything in place on these streets will only push traffic onto quiet residential streets.
If they are planning to close residential streets, how will all the delivery trucks (the biggest speeders I see) deliver all their parcels and food to our homes? How will residents who do have to work, sometimes for long hours, manage to get home and get to work? How will we get out to go grocery shopping?
In fact, how will closing streets to private cars only make it safer for pedestrians and bikes if the delivery trucks are going to be exempt and speeding down the streets?
This sounds to me something like the bicycle people are advocating, as I don’t see residents wanting it.
Posted by not opposed, but…, a resident of Menlo Park
>> But could we please see some data, you know, facts? Claims of rampant speeding etc. is really hard to justify. Is it possible, sure.
I’m not sure about MP, but, PA has almost no traffic enforcement now. It sucks. Mountain View traffic enforcement used to be quite extensive, but, also has declined in recent years.
>> But we have measurements. Some streets are instrumented.
Very few streets are instrumented. Good idea, though, that all streets should be instrumented.
>> We have numbers of tickets issued, called filed etc.
Except that PA has virtually no traffic enforcement, and the speeders know it.
Last week, when walking along Edgewood, we were passed by a car which was traveling at least 50 mph. It proceeded to blow through the stop sign at the end of Greer, going too fast for us to get a license plate.
As we normally cross the road to avoid oncoming pedestrians, I don’t think this particular driver would be able to slow down enough to avoid older pedestrians like us.
Absolutely terrifying.
The stretch of Middlefield Road betweeen Loma Verde and E. Meadow is over half a mile long and without any stop signs or traffic lights. I have lived in the neighborhood for over 20 years and seen no instrumentation or enforcement on this section of the road. How do you suppose a resident would collect the speeding data? Isn’t it the job of the transportation department to collect the data? And, BTW traffic pattern on different sections of the Middlefield Road is different (due to stop signs and traffic lights); so, instrumented data from one section cannot be applied to adjacent sections of the road.
It would be nice if Palo Alto Online would take up this issue and investigate as to why the enforcement is a mystery, besides “we don’t have the resources …” from City of Palo Alto.
I hope someone can explain why it makes sense to close Palo Alto parks and then open streets for walking and biking. Wouldn’t it work betteer if we could just use our large parks?
1,100 employees, but they don’t have the resources for basic traffic and parking enforcement.
Arastradero Rd should be closed to cars. With the increase in cyclists and idiots driving cars around blind corners at top speed, someone is going to get killed.
Yes please close some streets for walking and biking! The sidewalks are narrow, it is impossible to maintain 6′ without stepping into the road. This is a common sense idea and the sooner the better!
How about close off streets and speed up testing for the C-19 antibody for Palo Alto residents and allow pedestrians and bicycle riders to participate?
No way Palo Alto, this is too much, this is stupid.
The motivation here is FAKE, the streets early in the morning are the same as they have always been. Remember back to the kid who killed himself one day close to 10 years back speeding down Middlefield and ending in a twisted wreck somewhere around Midtown? No CoronaVirus involvement at all.
What is our police force doing with the extra time they have on their hands? Start enforcing the traffic laws … gas is cheap and they have the bandwidth. A few reckless driving citations publicized and this will stop, no need for the law to get any more heavy handed – unless they can prove the need for it.
In fact, all our laws should have some kind of stated rationale behind them so they can be removed or improved over time instead of making the law a laughingstock or a tool of authoritarian abusers.
Instead of its usual virtue signaling, how about if the CC used some common sense and used this time to fix the roads and sidewalks? The repairs would have the added benefit of slowing down traffic.
We’ve spent a fortune on traffic light timing but when you drive our empty streets and roads on our essential errands you can spend an inordinate amount of time with ALL traffic stopped waiting for the lights to change. More bluntly, NO traffic is going through the intersections.
The CC pushed for that dumb anti-idling law? ordinance? yet here we are — after spending millions of dollars on “light timing” spewing exhaust waiting for the lights to change. It’s mind-boggling to this native East Coaster that 40 — FORTY — years ago areas with snow and ice on the roads had real traffic light timing sensors that changed the lights when traffic appeared.
I’m so tired of hearing about “21st Century ideas” rather than proven workable solutions. But producing catch phrases is so much easier than actually solving real problems.
Posted by Jake Justice a resident of South of Midtown
> The stretch of Middlefield Road betweeen Loma Verde and E. Meadow is over half a mile long and without any stop signs or traffic lights.
True, there are no lights or stop signs on that stretch, but so what? Measured on Google Maps is it well UNDER half a mile long … 2000 feet. 2640 is half a mile, and 2641 is over half a mile. That is a 30% exaggeration Jake.
2000 feet takes 54 seconds to negotiate at 25 mph … but since most people go about 35mph, SAFELY, on Middlefield it takes about 39 seconds.
Jeepers on a Cheeto people, it’s called policing. LOAD the roads with cops and write lots of tix. I don;t care if you’re not in the traffic division, get out there and police the roads. The quicker these ideeyots pile up points on their license the better.
Please try measuring the distance again using Google Maps — it is ~2898 ft. which is a little over half a mile (specifically between Loma Verde and E. Meadow).
How do you know most people go 35 MPH (and SAFELY)? In my opinion, most of the cars don’t follow 35 MPH; I have lived in this neighborhood for over 20 years and observed the traffic!
It would be nice if official measurements were done; so that enforcement can be done based on data, not just some feelings.
How about taking this time while roads are virtually deserted, to repair and resurface the roads.
I’m so tired of them tearing up my car and tires.
If people are drag racing consistently, it should not be that hard to catch a pair of them once. Confiscate their licences and their cars. If the law doesn’t allow it. Fix the law.
As for Embarcadero, it is an artery. A speed limit of 25 mph is unusually low for an artery. I believe the CA law says: Look at the speed that drivers near the 85th percentile are going, and set the limit there. So if everyone is doing 35, the speed limit should be 35.
35 MPH is not safe anywhere on Middlefield. It is borderline reckless driving and should be ticketed accordingly. That area of Middlefield is lined with residences, churches and schools. Reckless driving endangers not only your life but the lives of many others.
If you are driving 35 MPH in a 25 MPH zone then YOU are part of the problem.
Agreed. Due to bus stops on both sides of this section of the road, many people cross the street to get to and from the bus-stops. I have seen a few elderly folks almost get run over or honked at by speeding vehicles. It would be good if there is a proper crossing available in anywhere in-between. It is a matter of time until someone get seriously hurt.
Let’s see some ACTION by our City Council before the Pandemic is over as they ramble and ramble – get at it; get it DONE, NOW, not in September‼️ No committees to “Examine the problem” until a recommendation made in the Spring of 2021.
It’s already the 14th – how about some ACTION not later than the 21st
Let’s see some ACTION by our City Council before the Pandemic is over as they ramble and ramble – get at it; get it DONE, NOW, not in September !!~ No committees to “Examine the problem” until a recommendation made in the Spring of 2021.
It’s already the 14th – how about some ACTION not later than the 21st
Take a look at the roads around town and you’ll see that they’re virtually empty. If someone feels like driving recklessly, I’d much rather have them do it now than when our roads are packed full of other cars.
Do we seriously have to complain about and try to fix EVERY little problem we see? If it were up to me, we’d enforce traffic laws less than usual during this crisis to let people with reckless urges have their fun while posing FAR less risk to others.
At 7am I seen cars traveling at higher speed and running red lights. Come on people!!!
Posted by Fixes, not bandaids, a resident of Mountain View
>> If the law doesn’t allow it. Fix the law.
>> As for Embarcadero, it is an artery. A speed limit of 25 mph is unusually low for an artery. I believe the CA law says
Well, because of the width and number of lanes, it might look like an arterial to you, but, it has houses with driveways, schools, parks, and churches. To me, it looks like “residential”. YMMV.
So much time on our hands for complaining,….
This sounds like it might be a good idea, but details are important. Which streets? Where? When? How will they be closed? I’d like to try them out.
Oh brother. There are also many pedestrians and bicycle rider who now randomly cross any road. Let’s all calm down and focus on bigger issue.
Middlefield between E. Meadow and Loma Verde already has speed bumps. The last time it was “paved,” the crew merely resurfaced this stretch and preserved all the bumps and hollows. Great city work!
Focus on the problem, not not symptoms. Break the law; face the consequences. We need proper law enforcement, and many of us still need our cars for essential purposes. Traffic cams and other technology solutions are available if our city staff is too busy at their desks to patrol the relatively few streets that experience most of the unsafe violations. While you’re at it, ticket the bicyclists who ignore stop signs and blaze through intersections without looking, expecting that I’ll slam on my brakes to avoid them. And ticket the pedestrians who ignore the traffic lights and just walk out in front of traffic with no caution. And ticket the electric skateboarders who cruse down the center of the street after dark in their cool black outfits, invisible and uncaring. (I see that most often on Bryant, by city hall). God help me if I should accidentally kill one of these idiots and be charged with the consequences of their illegal, reckless, irresponsible behavior.
I jog about seven miles a few times a week, starting near downtown and working my way over to the Dish (old habits die hard), and I’ve never seen a car I thought was speeding more than usual. Basically, I’ve been thinking the opposite: a lot fewer cars makes it much nicer.
The drivers speed down Embarcadero. I driver 35 and they driver 55 at least. I see people on bicycles blowing through stop signs but they’ve done that forever. I almost passed out as one person on a bike actually stopped at a stop sign. What a concept. One of those little darlings from Paly, Jordan, Duveneck etc., etc. is going to get run over. They do think that they are infallible.
Jake Justice, oops, you’re correct, my apologies. The old eyesight must be failing. Still, I don’t see any reason to shut down Middlefield anywhere, nor to give that area more police attention. All of Middlefield is patrolled pretty well by police, and people naturally go faster than the speed limit because the speed limit is so slow. If there is speeding going on it is the police’s job to stop it. Shutting down roads is not a place we should go as a city.
I’m a caregiver who has to commute from Menlo Park to Palo Alto 5 days/week. As others have pointed out, traffic is very light so closing streets to traffic is unwarranted. It could encourage people to fill the streets and be less likely to social distance. Now they are careful to keep their distance on the sidewalk, and if necessary, one will pass the other in the street.
Pedestrians need to learn to be safe, even when the streets are almost empty. On my way to work, driving down N. California, a pedestrian wearing headphones just stepped in front of my moving car without even checking for traffic. Then there was a woman pushing her baby in a stroller in the middle of the street although no one was on the sidewalk or in the bike lane. I don’t think it is good to encourage such behavior. Why not get the message out to ALWAYS pay attention when navigating the streets/sidewalks instead of shutting down the roads. Palo Alto Weekly, why not send out a refresher of how to be safe as a pedestrian, like always walking against traffic when in the street and to stop, look, and listen when crossing. Maybe challenge people to try turning off their smart phones and unplugging their ears for once so they are aware of their surroundings. And why is it okay for bikers to ride side by side outside of the bike lane? Bicyclists still have to follow the rules of the road.
Also, as someone pointed out, during the pandemic it is much safer to drive to the grocery store. Before corona I used to walk to the grocery store. Now that so many people are walking I feel much safer driving to the grocery store rather than having a pedestrian/bicyclist cough on me.
If speeding/drag racing is a problem, why aren’t there more police patrolling? I read that crime is down. What are the police doing during this time? I’d like to see more patrolling of roads and ticketing speeders.
I don’t think it is good for pedestrians to let down their guard. They were already crossing on red lights in downtown Palo Alto before the virus. I never saw a police ticket any of them. They shouldn’t expect roads to shut down for them when they are so careless/thoughtless and can’t bother to pay attention.
I had to go to a job site today to fix a water leak. As I was driving on Louis road today,I approached a group of cyclist running four abreast. It was a group of seven. They were not following any of the social distancing protocols. I had to pass this group of cyclists by driving in the other bike lane, on the opposite side of the road. Cyclist’s and pedestrians need to follow traffic laws and social distancing protocol, along with the rest of us.
Just because you are not in a combustion vehicle does not mean that you are above the law.
P.S. Thank you for not following social distancing guidelines and possibly infecting the essential work force that are keeping you safe, housed and fed.
Lots of drivers treat Sand Hill as their personal racetrack–year-round! I’ve seen some crazy speeds and maneuvers on it over the years, but it’s especially dangerous around the hospital area due to the high volume of pedestrians and bikers. Why no enforcement of traffic laws there, ever?
Why no enforcement of traffic laws? Because Liz famously denied we have traffic problems so development could continue apace. When forced to confront community outrage, she spent yet more money on consultants to create a say-nothing, do-nothing presentation to all the folks showing up at City Hall to protest her suggestion that people take alternate routes.
It would be special if the CC did something useful like require all the empty hotels to house dome of the homeless to prevent the virus from spreading further like other cites are doing.
Don’t do this stupid thing. Traffic will just go elsewhere and, you KNOW this, people will drive even more recklessly do to government created obstacles. No, just no. It is a huge mistake.
Ah, the traffic is now back to the 1970s, I love it. We biked and skateboarded all over the city in elementary school when it was safe and felons from elsewhere weren’t visiting our city. I hope this lack of traffic is the new way of life after businesses realize that people can work from home. The nation had gone nuts, too much flying, too much materialism, too fast, no family time.
The speeding cars of late were the commuters cutting through our city prior to the lockdown.
As someone who lives on Embarcadero, I can say that speeders in the right lane make getting into and out of the house increasingly dangerous.
I’ve been rear ended and have people honk at me often when slowing to safely enter my driveway without hitting pedestrians.
So, yes please on the traffic enforcement.
And I do have a radar gun, and can definitively say that people are going 50+ surprisingly often. This is not safe.
Car drivers will only slow down if they are forced to. The modern driver will drive as fast as the road allows.
The modern driver is why we can’t have nice roads, but the modern driver is veeeeeery unwilling to admit that they are in fact the problem.
In this case it sucks to be proven right…again.
Also, it’s now been proven that reducing the number of cars on the road eliminates traffic. Totally eliminates it.
So when normalcy comes back and people ask “How can we reduce traffic” and they don’t have a plan for reducing cars, you can LOL in their face.
Dear Grew Up Here:
No “out of town” felons were coming Here in the 70s? What about the serial killers at Stanford and other places?
And were our homegrown local felons somehow better for you?
Thanks for your funny post!
By city officials downplaying traffic issues here, there has been less pressure to increase traffic enforcement despite community calls for same.
The Weekly covered that in-depth plus the special CC meeting as did most of the regional media since SV and Palo Alto are known for having one of the worst traffic problems in the nation. As the dateline says, this was back in 2018.
https://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/2018/08/13/mayor-apologizes-for-downplaying-traffic-concerns
“After facing a backlash for suggesting that the community’s traffic concerns are “exaggerated,” Mayor Liz Kniss issued a public apology on Monday night and announced that the city will hold a town meeting in October focused on the topic. “
You scallywags in your speeding motor-cars have only yourselves to blame.
The first problem is to address is that APP that people use to tell them where to go to avoid traffic. The end result is that now everyone is on some residential street to get from Point a to Point b. I have seen at least ten cars turn on to Louis Road as though that is a main street when it would be better if they all were on Middlefield to go across town – or go down to Alma. Current technology is driving us the wrong way. We have allowed these tech people to complicate our own ability to get from Point a to Point b. I personally now get from north city to south city going through residential neighborhoods just to avoid all of the traffic on certain streets.
I think closing streets is a very bad idea. But allowing drag racers in our city is a worse idea. I have not seen any drag racers – but I am not out t 2AM either.
Kudos to Palo Alto for considering it. Our sidewalks (3 feet on most) are not wide enough for safe distancing and pedestrians have to constantly step into street or bike lane. Bike lanes are also not wide enough and to safely pass another cyclist requires going almost into the left lane. And safe distancing is here to stay through at least the end of the year.
If the a police would arrest all of the speeders, the city could close its coming budget deficit.
As a cyclist, I don’t have to worry about the hassles of being in traffic which is nice, but now that the roads are virtually empty, it’s the Golden Age of cycling in the Bay Area, right now!
It’ll be great when we can all get out more, but right now, there is a blindingly epic silver lining for cyclists.
ENJOY!
The bottom line here is that Palo Alto does not currently have effective traffic enforcement, and, it needs it. Why can’t the City Council find a way to accomplish this basic civic function any more?
I’ve been out walking and the only people I have trouble maintaining a six foot distance from are bicyclists who seem to think the six-foot rule doesn’t apply to them.
Bicyclist seem to think their years of “saving the planet” by riding a bike have bought them some special privileges.
To Anon,
The city doesn’t get most of the revenues from tickets PAPD writes. It is VERY expensive to maintain a police traffic team that is large enough to cover all streets all of the time.
A better question might be why are some citizens behaving so badly that this kind of enforcement is necessary? Grow up, people. Personally, I think the repercussion for speeding should not be a ticket. It should be suspension of your license for one month. I bet that would do the trick.
Obey the law…for the safety of all of us.
Do you walk in the road?
The only people I have issues with on walks are the joggers and other walkers kids.
Anyway, sorry things aren’t working out for you again.
Yes, license suspension always makes people drive more carefully. Real pain to be pulled over again.
There is no place for the speeding driver to hide now so I agree, rip their license from their hand and keep it for a year.
“Bicyclist seem to think their years of “saving the planet” by riding a bike have bought them some special privileges.”
You just invented that in your head sitting there while hating on a stereotype of a cyclist that you’ve also imagined and created in your head.
Talk to most people, they’re usually nice.
“Bicyclist seem to think their years of “saving the planet” by riding a bike have bought them some special privileges.”
The Bicyclists do have special privileges, the $8,000,000 Ross rd. Bike blvd. comes to mind…… Oh yea, and Arastradero.
Now they want to close down some roads for their exclusive use.
Just sayin’
Jesus Christ. I can’t think of a time where cyclists and commuters have been more safe. El Camino along with almost every other main road in Palo Alto is empty and a breeze to drive on; from what I can determine the only threat to us—your lowly tax serfs—are ticket-hungry cops who have their panties in a knot because they can’t run up a massive check by being diminutive tools and writing tickets. As for this mayor: a geriatric NIMBYist; real, living, breathing Palo Altans are a little less stressed now that we can get from point A to point B without issue. I must admit reading this article makes me want to act like more of an asshole just to set off you dinosaurs and overmedicated soccer moms who have nothing better to do than to lose their minds and practically cry blood murder because someone blasted past you on El Camino on your way to Peet’s. God help us.
Posted by Bicycle Mafia, a resident of Midtown
>> Now they want to close down some roads for their exclusive use.
How about we reduce tension by cars obeying speed limits? Just sayin’
@BM, “Now they want to close down some roads for their exclusive use.”
Really? I thought the reason the road were to be closed, by the city of Palo Alto, was because of speeding cars. That’s what the article and the headline was about.
Did you read the article?
Did you even read the headline? It says: “To curb speeding, Palo Alto may ban cars on some streets during pandemic”?
I’m not sure you’re operating in a world of reality. The rantings and the reasons you keep making up in your head do not match up to what is really going on in the world. Seriously, if you’re home bound and in an emotionally dangerous situation, pharmacies can deliver meds.
To the previous (sarcastic) poster. Did you read the second sentence? The reason why this ridiculous idea is being discussed is to reduce speeding to improve safety for pedestrians and bicyclists. Repeat to improve safety for pedestrians and bikes. This is so that people can walk more safely in the streets and bikes can be more safe in the streets. IOW so that bikes and other foot traffic can spread all over the streets without fears of ordinary traffic coming along at any speed to prevent them from being safe doing things that normally they would not be able to do.
Sarcasm is OK, but not when it is incorrect.
And why is it unsafe for the other road users?…back to the headline…To curb SPEEEDIIIING. Not normal traffic like you tried to twist it, speeding, like it says right at the top of the page. (Checking…..) Yep, it’s still there for us all to see.
If cars drove 20-25 in residential areas it would be safe for all, even if people had to fan out because the speed of cars would allow them to stop, but the speeders make it unsafe, so they have caused the roads to be shut. Pretty simple stuff.
Just because it says something in a headline doesn’t mean it is true.
Politicians often hide their true agenda, especially when they know it would be embarrassing or unpopular with the public. Palo Alto’s long history of wasteful and counterproductive traffic projects leaves the public wondering what is really going on.
I forgot to add, the other ridiculous project: The $12,000,000 bike bridge over 101 that has yet to be completed and on budget.You know, the one where there was an architectural contest. Furtermore, if the Bicycle Mafia wants the road furniture so bad they can pay for it with the fees from their bicycle registrations. Stop ripping off the rest us.
News Flash…. The majority of residents were and still are against the Ross road project. I would wager that if more streets were closed, there will be more pink slips handed out at City Hall.
Yes, of course. Ross road, that’s what this was about. LOL
It would be nice when folks need to get to the grocery store there would be folks following the law, such as, pedestrians walking on the sidewalk, bicycles in the bike lanes. I see a bunch of folks walking/ riding in the middle of the road, then complaining they almost got run over.
@ Twisted
We did read the article and it states that the city’s Chief Transportation Official Philip Kamhi is looking into closing vehicle traffic on existing Bike boulevards. So it is about Ross road.
“We are actually looking at opportunities to roll out something very similar to what you’ve seen in Oakland, Minneapolis and Denver,” Kamhi said.
The ambitious Oakland program, which was launched last weekend, closed off all existing neighborhood bike routes to through traffic”
Looks like Philip Kahmi is following in the footsteps of his predecessors; Jaime Rodriguez,Josh Mellow.
>> In a bid to slow down speeding cars …
The obvious thing to do is to re-start traffic enforcement. Sure, some people will be happy if all non-local traffic is forced off of *their* street, but, that really doesn’t address the problem city-wide.
We need traffic enforcement.
1) Streets need to be streets; sidewalks are for people, bike lanes are for bikes. With physical distancing, many people are walking in the street. Yesterday a man turned his back in the middle of Webster Street at Channing and started a conversation with a walker on the sidewalk. He talked for 2 minutes before turning around, and finally pulling away from the street so I could drive on. I didn’t want to beep: just though I would watch this idiocy.
2) With remote shopping, which blocked streets will require the FedEx guy to walk with his packages or does he/she (rarely a she, if ever) take the package(s) back to the terminal?
3) How do they block? New barriers as dangerous as the ones on Ross Road around the Y where the curbing is so extreme, car alignment business must be booming at Akins and other local shops.
Enforce the speeding laws. Report the speeding to the PA Police. Get description of the car.
Open up the bayland and foothills but set rules: enter on this basis or be barred from entering, so people can go back to biking and walking at our baylands.
Wear masks, please
Next time, lay on the horn.
I don;t know who all these “Many people” are who the angry-ists keep thinking they see when the road are veritable ghost towns, but the that aside, the fact remains that this is a tremendous time to try cycling. With the reduction of are and speeders it hasn’t been better in 30 years, differences of opinion aside.
You are 100% allowed to get out on your bike and exercise. Even keeping it in the suggested or mandated 5 mile radius from your home you can REALLY see a lot, Bay, Forests, Big hills, flat valley…it’s like a table set up for a feast and the host saying “Dig in”.
Remember, if you’re angry at someone, the best revenge is to live a great life and quietly go about doing the things you most enjoy. Let the haters sit at home and fester, and if someone else’s happiness makes them more mad, there’s nothing we can do bout that. It’s an internal issue for them and has nothing to do with you.
@ Still
Do not impede traffic,and obey all traffic laws, then everyone will remain happy!
Here is a little humor in the meantime.
The other day on a ride, I was speeding down a narrow, twisting, mountain road. Along comes a man who was driving very slowly uphill toward me, honking his horn and shouting at me.
“PIG! PIG!!” he yelled. “PIG! PIG!!”
So I flipped him the finger and, as I buzzed by him, shouted back some things I dare not repeat.
Still fuming about this awful man and his shouting, I turned the corner and promptly collided with a pig.
I spent the better part of the day on my bike and I can concur:
It – Is – Good out there. People were scattedred about but no crowds, lots of forward looking along the sidewalks and roads with good space created early. Everyone said hi, everyone seemed very happy.
“Do not impede traffic,and obey all traffic laws, then everyone will remain happy!” Good advice for the road users, I might add:
If you don’t, they may have to shut the roads down because of your behavior.
The Pedestrian and the Cyclist
A pedestrian stepped off the curb and into the road without looking and promptly gets knocked flat by a passing cyclist.
“You were really lucky there,” said the cyclist.
“What on earth are you talking about! That really hurt!” said the pedestrian, still on the pavement, rubbing his head.
The cyclist replied, “Well, usually I drive a bus!”
Right? The roads are EMPTY even during the day!
I used to have to ride VERY early to have solitude on my roadbike.
Now I can get anytime! Yesterday’s “in the sunshine ride” was epic.
Just a few passing cars now an then, just like at 6am but without the brrr 🙂
So much easier now to just coast on through those pesky stop signs.
“So much easier now to just coast on through those pesky stop signs.”
Haha, maybe but I stop anyway. It’s very relaxed right now with no cars waiting behind you and I’m not slowing any car down at the intersection who has to wait for me to get going again. It’s very quiet and still most of the time so there’s no feeling of rushing. I actually hear he birds most everywhere now.
There is also a greatly reduced fear of cars rolling stops though when I walk.
3 years ago I had woman in an SUV put my Lab in the hosp for surgery of her broken leg when she rolled a stop making a right hand turn. She got the bill though. Idiot.
Pay attention to the budget cuts discussed tonight at the CC meeting. Reportedly — according to the other paper — traffic enforcement is on the chopping block so perhaps “close-some-streets” was just test-market.
Cutting enforcement?!?!
We’ve been calling for VIGOROUS and RELENTLESS traffic enforcement for years and have been ignored. People slow down when they get points on their record.
Good grief.
We should be severely restricting or eliminating any additional funding or road closures that are designed for adult bicyclists. There is a bicycle mafia and anything we do to appease them today will be difficult to claw back tomorrow. No road closures. No bicycle boulevards. Just no.
Is it difficult to ride while wearing a mask? I’m going to try it now that there is so little traffic, but wondering how people manage that and if it affects breathing?
I see most wearing bandanas but don’t have one. I need that sun to come back first though.
JUST SAY NO!! To the Bicycle Mafia!
> “Is it difficult to ride while wearing a mask?” — just over the mouth is okay, but up over the nose tends to fog up glasses if you wear them. I use an unlabeled “surgical mask” like this wikipedia photo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surgical_mask#/media/File:Surgical_face_mask.jpg – have not found a good illustrated reference of face mask nomenclature, must be 100 common medical types and ratings alone, and 100s more for other professions, construction, firefighting, cleanroom work, sports, etc. No matter which you choose, someone will tell you why it’s wrong.
Bandanas are good for riding. For me, I can drop it down when nobody is around, then mask up as I begin to approach anyone…not like there’s a ton of people out there, but it works for the occasional person I come across.
I would caution to stay out of the Open Spaces, those are absolute s-shows right now as people continue to drive to them from all over. They closed the lot at one preserve last weekend because too many people from out of the area were driving up, but they still drove up and packed the trails, parking just outside the no parking zone and completely ignoring the fact that they are doing it all wrong.
Right now, stress and crowds are in the Open Spaces while the roads are quiet and peaceful.
I think they’re far better than masks, esp when running or riding.
One day the roads will fill with cars again, sigh. Actually, I’ll take some car traffic over lockdown. You can generally always find car-less backroads, but it’s sure nice around town right now.
Stay safe all
Do Newell please!
If we’re voting, I’d love to see them close Hamilton parallel to Univ.
“Bad driver, no road.”
@ Yes!
Of course Zuckerberg wants to close Hamilton, that’s where his house is.
I’m guessing all the requests for closures are are going to come from people with some skin in the game for the road they suggest.
Hamilton would work well though. You can’t really close down Univ.
It seems this has been done as Ross Road has been closed.
What do you mean Ross Rd has been closed? Have other streets been closed or are slated to be closed?
And why close them now when traffic’s picking up as people are going back to work?
There is a temporary barrier that says road closed, with a green sign with a bicycle on it. This is located on the south side of Ross road at California.
There was not prior specific announcement of the location, prior to closure.
Is this even legal?
What’s next?!
Misprint:
Southside of Ross at Colorado.
They are closing roads but the trains are still open for business?
According to a study http://web.mit.edu/jeffrey/harris/HarrisJE_WP2_COVID19_NYC_24-Apr-2020.pdf conducted by MIT Professor Jeffery Harris:
“New York City’s multi-pronged subway system was a major disseminator –if not the principal transmission vehicle –of coronavirus infection during the initial takeoff of the massive epidemic that became evident throughout the city during March 2020. The near shutoff of subway ridership in Manhattan –down by over 90 percent at the end of March –correlates strongly with the substantial increase in the doubling time of new cases in this borough. Subway lines with the largest drop in ridership during the second and third weeks of March had the lowest subsequent rates of infection in the zip codes traversed by their routes. Maps of subway station turnstile entries, superimposed upon zip code-level maps of reported coronavirus incidence, are strongly consistent with subway-facilitated disease propagation. Reciprocal seeding of infection appears to be the best explanation for the emergence of a single hot-spot in Midtown West in Manhattan.”
Bicycle Mafia, thanks. Our city’s vaunted “community outreach” fails yet again to reach us.
There is a traffic barrier at Louis and Ross. It says closed to through traffic.
It seems the City is experimenting with this scheme to see if they get pushback from the public. Give an inch, take a mile.
What will they do next, close down Middlefield?
These barriers are up and running. They have come as a complete surprise to residents who live nearby.
What a complete farce.
Middlefield should be one lane between San Antonio and Oregon with protected bike lanes on both sides. The road is extremely hazardous with cars speeding and lanes barely wide enough for two cars in each direction. Now is a good time to experiment with such a layout, devote the rightmost lane to bike traffic only.
Middlefield should be left alone and the bollards at every intersection between Oregon and University removed. They’re supposed to increase visibility at corners but all they do is back up traffic behind turning traffic, making drivers even more impatient and increasing the number of accidents.
The constant lane changes for through traffic — merge right, merge left — confuses people about which cars are parked and which are just slow — further increasing the number of accidents.
@JR
Make Middlefield one lane between San Antonio and Oregon!?
Why would you want to ride a bike on Middlefield, when Bryant and Ross road have been designated for bicycles!?
How about we stop all unnesesary construction of road furniture, we are going to need to save every penny for the upcoming fiscal shortfall.
We can see the result of unfettered driving in modern society right now. With traffic no longer creating a barrier, road fatalities have spiked, even as driver numbers have plummeted. This shows that many drivers cannot be trusted to obey the speed laws. This is EXACTLY why we have road furniture: Too many idiot drivers ruining it for the rest of us.
Cars regularly go 35 MPH+ on Middlefield, a road lined with many homes and schools. This is a huge public safety issue. If PAPD can’t or won’t enforce the speed limit then the road should be rearranged to make it impossible or nearly impossible to speed. Middlefield is already one lane north of Oregon, why is it allowed to become a racetrack on the south side of town?
We can get rid of all physical ways to try and slow drivers down when we install speed cameras. I suspect most drivers don’t want this though. They only seem tp be interested in driving faster than the speed limit and cry foul when they are forced to slow down with physical barriers.
Yes, speed cameras would be a great way to open the roads and strictly enforce the speed laws.
Redflex, the Australian company that operates speed cameras in the US is one of the most corrupt companies on earth. Redflexe’s CEO Karen Finley was sentenced to serve 30 months in prison for bribery. https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/pr/former-redflex-ceo-sentenced-30-months-corruption-awarding-chicago-s-red-light-camera
Digital police state. Great idea!
According to a recent TV program, the microscopic droplets when exhaled can travel further then 12 feet.
Just imagine all bicyclist huffing and puffing. They are putting peoples lives in danger.
MAKE THEM WEAR MASKS NOW!
Speed cameras would certainly put the brakes on speeders. Pun intended!
“According to a recent TV program, “
Ah, I see someone’s pulling out all the stops with regards to references. LOL
What’s the County’s public health guidance?
We should all be following that.
6 feet enough for social distancing? MIT researcher says droplets carrying coronavirus can travel up to 27 feet.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2020/03/30/coronavirus-social-distancing-mit-researcher-lydia-bourouiba-27-feet/5091526002/
Walker just wrote this on other page;
regarding bikers– they go buzzing through the underpass at California Avenue with no care for walkers, often times passing within two feet of the walker and at a higher level so breathing down on the walker. baby strollers, elderly, people carrying bags of groceries all of which are mindful of other walkers going the opposite direction–AND, then a biker comes racing through with no care in the world and the walker better get out of the way, and definitely not remind the biker to walk their bike because the walker will get yelled at often times with obscene language as they continue to race through. It is a nightmare trying to negotiate the underpass. there should be some sort of supervision at this underpass. Most bikers could care less about social distancing.
A bit off topic about bikes considering what the story is about, but it’s sure is a beautiful time to enjoy a bike ride with most of the cars off the roads.
Bike sales have shot through the roof according to our local retailers as more people than ever are joining the fun. Beautiful weather, car-less roads and a bandana mask will give you an exhilarating sense of freedom and make you smile even in these troubling times.
Why is it that every time a discussion comes up about curbing speeding drivers, some people want to deflect and change the issue into how evil anyone who rides a bike is, or how great it is to ride a bike?
The discussion is about speeding cars, get back on track. Comment on cars for this thread. Hate or hype bikes when a thread about bikes come up.
Might as well talk about leaf blowers here, same logic.
In another thread, it was suggested that the traffic enforcement unit is back up and running, but, I have seen zero evidence of that. Anyone? Where are they?
You’re saying we have traffic enforcement? Like for speeding and red light running, and stop sign rolling and tailgating and not using turn signals???
Wait, Shut up, no way! LOL
Good one. You almost had me.