College Terrace Traffic Calming

College Terrace Traffic Calming

Latest News: On June 22, 2005, the neighborhood Traffic Study Advisory Group met with city officials Joe Kott and Ashok Aggarwal. Meeting minutes can be read here. Ashok Aggarwal prepared visuals for the six speed tables (warning: this is a large file) to be installed in the neighborhood (this one large document has one page for each of the six speed tables, starting with Stanford/Wellesley and ending with California/Oberlin..

The College Terrace Traffic Calming Plan was presented to the Palo Alto City Council for their approval on Monday, November 22, 2004.

Below is a letter from Joe Kott to the neighborhood following the city council action:

November 23, 2004

Dear Friends in College Terrace,

Many thanks for your hard work and civic engagement in helping to create and then in advocating the traffic calming plan that was adopted unanimously by the Palo City Council last evening. The good work you all did will advance the cause of traffic safety foreveryone, but especially for pedestrians and cyclists, whether residents of or visitors to the College Terrace neighborhood.

Congratulations on your inspiring success! The College Terrace community has proven that citizens working together can act effectively to foster enlightened, humane, and community-building transportation policy.

A special thanks is due to Kathy Durham, who has been for many years such a leader and inspiration in Palo Alto's continuing effort to create a more sustainable transportation system and an even more livable city.

As Amanda Jones would say, "Way2Go!".

Best regards,

Joe Kott
Chief Transportation Official
City of Palo Alto

The Transportation Division's staff report Trial Implementation of College Terrace Traffic Calming Plan is available here.

The City Manager's Report, Recommended Trial Implementation of the Selected Traffic Calming Plan in the College Terrace Area, is available here.

Planning and Transportation Commission hearing:

On Wednesday, October 13, 2004, after more than two hours of discussion and public input from many neighborhood residents, the Planning and Transportation Commission voted 7-0 to recommend a one year trial for the College Terrace Traffic Calming Plan which was approved by 70% of the residents participating in last June's postcard survey (summary below). The minutes from that meeting are available here. The trial, if approved by the city council, will include both before and after measures of traffic volumes and speeds on Stanford Avenue, California Avenue and open interior streets, and there will be opportunities for neighborhood input on the plan's effectiveness.

The commissioners commended both staff and residents on the traffic study advisory group for choosing moderate traffic calming measures that have been shown to reduce excessive speeds and improve safety for all users without undue impact upon motorists. The extensive outreach and neighborhood participation, and the many thoughtful comments submitted by residents, was also noted as a model for future neighborhood projects. The Commission recommendation will next go to the City Council for further public hearing and action.

Results of the residents' mail-in survey cards:

Final official tally of survey responses by the Transportation Division: 403 households returned cards; this equals 48.1% of non vacant College Terrace households.

Breakdown:

Plan A        Plan B        Neither      Blank/more than one choice
278               69               51                           5                              Total = 403
69.0%         17.1%        12.7%                     1.2%

Residents made a number of comments and these can be read here.

Plan A and Plan B (defined in the city’s mailing) were developed with extensive resident input over the past eight months.

Both the CTRA Board of Directors and the Traffic Study Advisory Group have voted to recommend Plan A (the Physical Measures/Base Plan).

* Members of the Traffic Study Advisory Group include John Mark Agosta and Paul Garrett (California Avenue), Paul Lomio (College Avenue), John Ciccarelli (Yale), Virginia Ferguson (Cornell), Emily Marshall (Princeton), Kim Raftery (Harvard), Grace Liu and Louise Roche (Hanover), Kathy Durham (Dartmouth), Sharon Andrews and Steve Woodward (Stanford Avenue).

Need more information? Here are some Frequently Asked Questions (note: This is a 2 page document with an odd page break; be sure to scroll down to the second page for the important question about project financing).

Maps of the final plans:

Here are detailed maps showing Plan A and Plan B.

Note: These are slow-loading files. And you may need to adjust the size in your toolbar to read them better.

How we got to where we are

Since the second neighborhood-wide meeting on March 18th, members of the study Advisory Group have been collecting residents’ input on the four draft options presented by the consultant (see descriptions below). Advisory Group members have hosted information tables at the spring picnic, in front of the JJ&F grocery store and at the Yale/College barrier. They have also invited nearby neighbors to 8 localized outreach meetings in front yards all over our neighborhood.

A video of the March 18 proceeding can be viewed here (a copy of the tape is also available for overnight checkout from the College Terrace branch library). Alternatively, please send an e-mail including phone number to board@ctra.org and a member of the Advisory Group will respond promptly.

The third neighborhood-wide meeting was held on May 25, and a video of that proceeding is also available for online viewing or checkout from the library. At this meeting the consultants presented final options based on the residential input (summary coming soon) and professional experience. The next step is that a packet of information will be delivered to each household and a postcard mailed to each address for residents to vote their preference. The major changes resulting from this meeting and advisory group input are as follows:

Under Low Option: "Neighborhood traffic watch" signs are added at either end (or gateway to) of Stanford Ave.and California Ave., and 25 mph markings
are added.

    Under Base Option:
        Moving the speed table on Stanford Avenue near Wellesley to a location farther from homes and closer to the church.
        Changing stop control at College/Columbia, so that stop signs will be located on Columbia Street.
        Not using a partial closure on Yale between Cambridge and California but instead installing a T-circle there.

At this third meeting, Jim West presented a chart showing the results of a Boulder, Colorado noise study of noise levels associated with the traffic features which are under consideration for College Terrace.

What options were considered?

The following information summarizes the four options presented at the March 18th meeting. These options are being revised based on input received from residents, and updated information will be posted here as soon as it is available (late May). Each household will also receive a newsletter and a packet from the city describing the final options included in the upcoming advisory survey.

1. Existing Option. No traffic calming measures added or removed from the neighborhood.

2. Low Option/Plan B. This option relies on electronic speed readout signs, pavement legends and other educational efforts to reduce speeding on the two collector streets, California Avenue and Stanford Avenue (two electronic signs for each street, similar to those on Embarcadero near Bryant and on Channing near Addison). All other traffic controls remain the same.

3. Base Option/Plan A The base option is fully funded and uses active traffic calming measures to reduce excessive speeds and enhance safety for all users. On California Avenue and Stanford Avenue, excessive speeds would be reduced by speed tables and raised crosswalks similar to those now in place on Channing Avenue between Addison Avenue and Duveneck school. This option further calls for the installation of four traffic circles on College Avenue; at Yale, Oberlin, Hanover and Columbia. Stop signs might be switched at the College/Columbia intersection (stop signs placed on Columbia) and the four-way stop at College/Hanover may be changed to a two-way stop (signs on Hanover). To counter extremely heavy cut-through traffic on Yale Street between California Avenue and Cambridge Street, the plan suggests making it one-way so that motorists could not turn left onto Yale from Cambridge; this is now under final review, however, and a speed table or traffic circle (a T-circle) may be placed on Yale instead of a partial diverter.

4. Enhanced Option. This option incorporates a variety of measures that could be added to the base plan as additional funding is acquired, including the electronic speed signs from the Low Option, an additional speed table, a center island, a bulbout, and a center median on one of the raised crosswalks. In addition, mid-block speed humps would be proposed as contingency measures for open interior streets, but only if speeds or volumes increase after the implementation of the base option. To fully effect the enhanced option additional funding would need to be obtained from other sources.

College Terrace Traffic Calming Progress 2002-2003

On May 1, 2003, Kathy Durham, Grace Liu, Paul Lomio and Louise Roche met with representatives from the City of Palo Alto and Stanford University to begin a traffic calming program for College Terrace. On May 13, 2003, Joe Kott, from the City of Palo Alto, promulgated the final draft of the College Terrace Traffic Calming Plan Scope of Work, a document inviting bids from traffic consultants.

In July, 2003 the City of Palo Alto contracted with Kimley-Horn Associates of Pleasanton, California, "an established and highly-regarded traffic engineering firm with offices nationwide." (Joe Kott). We and the city will be working with Jim West, of Kimley-Horn; Jim has experience in preparing traffic calming and traffic management plans for Belmont, Menlo Park, and Lafayette, California, as well as for Eugene and Clackamas County, Oregon.

The first meeting with the consultants was held on August 19, 2003. Read the Summary of Advisory Committee Meeting #1 minutes and its companion document, College Terrace Traffic Calming Plan Project Schedule.

The first neighborhood-wide meeting on the College Terrace Traffic Study was held on Tuesday, November 18, 2003, from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the Escondido Elementary School Library. At this well-attended meeting, city Transportation Division staff and consultants from Kimley-Horn presented their analysis of the data collected and listened to residents share their concerns and experiences.

We now have a range of important documentation from Kimley-Horn about the traffic situation in College Terrace, including the following materials:

Final Existing Conditions Report: College Terrace Traffic Management Program (December 30, 2003)

Individual Charts and Figures from above report:

College Terrace - Cut Through Traffic AM (perimeter and interior streets)

AM Cut-through (Percentage on Interior Streets)

College Terrace - Cut Through Traffic PM (perimeter and interior streets)

PM Cut Through (Percentage on Interior & Border Streets)

85th Percentile Speeds 1999-2002

College Terrace - Excessive Speeding Summary

Traffic Volume Increases 1974-2002

During April and May of 2002 the city of Palo Alto, with the able assistance of 56 College Terrace resident-volunteers (see May 5th issue of CTRA E-News), conducted a study which measured speeds, volumes, and, for the first time, the proportion of cut-through traffic. You can view a map showing traffic study locations here (note: this is a large, slow-loading pdf file).

Kathy Durham, CTRA President, has produced a very useful summary chart which compares 1974 (before and after barrier installation), 1999 and 2002 speed and volume information. Detailed analysis of the hose counts from the 2002 study can be found below, under "2002 College Terrace Traffic Study, Speed [and Volume] Survey Summaries, prepared by Baymetrics Traffic Resources."

Summary charts for the cut-through traffic study are available for the following test periods: April 30, 2002, from 6:45 a.m. to 9:15 a.m.; April 30, 2002, from 3:45 p.m. to 6:15 p.m.; and May 1, 2002, 3:55 p.m. to 6:05 p.m. The April 30 surveys measured interior street cut-through and the May 1 survey measured cut-through on a perimeter cordon.

2002 Stanford Avenue Radar Speed Counts by BayMetrics
Here are six pdf files for the radar speed counts that
BayMetrics did on Stanford Avenue in three different places (West of
El Camino, East of Bowdoin, and West of Bowdoin) on the two days that
they collected hose-count data.
        Stanford Avenue West of Bowdoin, Wednesday, May 15, 2002
        Stanford Avenue West of Bowdoin, Thursday, May 16, 2002
        Stanford Avenue East of Bowdoin, Wednesday, May 15, 2002
        Stanford Avenue East of Bowdoin, Thursday, May 16, 2002
        Stanford Avenue West of El Camino Real, Wednesday, May 15, 2002
        Stanford Avenue West of El Camino Real, Thursday, May 16, 2002

1999 College Terrace Traffic Study:
Speeds
Volumes

Smaller focus studies include (full text of these will be scanned and posted as time permits):

1117 California Avenue Traffic Impact Study, prepared by Fehr & Peers Associates, Inc., September 29, 1999

1117 California Avenue Supplemental Traffic Report, prepared by Fehr & Peers Associates, Inc., October 28, 1999

This report did include a study of cut-through traffic on Princeton Street, and found the proportion
of such cut-through traffic to be as high as 71%:

            "A travel survey was conducted to estimate the proportion of College Terrace residents
            among motorists entering and exiting the College Terrace neighborhood from Princeton
           Street. It was found that, of those motorists who were willing to participate in the survey
           during the AM and PM peak periods, 29 percent and 50 percent were residents of
            the neighborhood, respectively." . . . (p. 2)

            "During the morning peak period . . . a total of 71 vehicles passed through the survey
            location. Of those vehicles, 38 (54%) participated in the survey and 33 (46%) did not.
            Of those who participated, 11 (29%) reported that they were residents and 27 (71%)
            were non-residents.

            "During the evening peak period . . . , 49 vehicles passed through the survey location.
            Of those vehicles, 42 (86%) participated in the survey and 7 (14%) did not. . . .
            Of those who participated in the evening survey, 21 (50%) were residents and 21
            (50%) were non-residents. The survey results are summarized in Table 1 and provided
            in Appendix A." (p. 8)

The College Terrace Traffic Committee is closely following the El Camino Real / Caltrans Demonstration Grant Project (the traffic patterns along El Camino Real most definitely affect cut-through traffic in College Terrace, plus the highway is one of our neighborhood's borders). For more information, see the city's web page on this project. Questions or comments may be sent to John Ciccarelli, CTRA's representative on the study advisory committee. For more on the goals of this project and what it might mean for the future of our neighborhood, plus useful links, please visit our El Camino Real page.

For more information or to get more involved, please contact Paul Lomio.

You can learn more about the activities of the College Terrace Traffic Calming Task Force by reading its meeting minutes.

Last updated July 6, 2005