Subject: Plans to rebuild Matadero Ave (in Barron Park) including Traffic/Speeding/Pedestrian issues To: Glenn Roberts (Public Works) glenn_roberts@city.palo-alto.ca.us Joseph Kott (Traffic Planning) joseph_kott@city.palo-alto.ca.us From: Board of Directors, Barron Park Association Contact: Douglas B. Moran, Vice President 790 Matadero Avenue 650-856-3302 Date: 2001-November-13 Summary ------- The rebuilding of Matadero Avenue is long overdue and should be one of the priorities for the coming construction season. The rebuilding of the street involves a series of inter-related issues Drainage Walking areas, esp Safe Routes to Schools Speeding Limited street width that are likely to involve substantial public comment and participate. Because of these complexes, we urge the city to begin the planning process early and to allow for more than the usual public participation. Overdue ------- Matadero Avenue is long overdue for rebuilding (15-20 years). There have been a series of legitimate reasons to delay: first the expected damage from the construction traffic related to the Barron/Matadero Creek Bypass, and then for the replacement of the Matadero water main. Each of these projects had its own delays, extending the delays in rebuilding Matadero. Drainage -------- There are severe drainage problems in various sections of the street. Much of this resulted from the level of the street being raised after many of the houses had been build, with the result that many homeowners have built berms and individual curbs, others sandbag their driveway and/or garage. In the 800 section of Matadero, a lake forms and persists for days, sometimes weeks. The only dry passage for pedestrians is via the crown (in the middle of the street) - a serious safety problem. In the section near the bridge (at Tippawingo), the drainage problem is the worse because the street grade was raised significantly when the bridge was raised (many years ago) in response to flooding problems. The very minimal grade combined with the absense of a storm drain combined with the rise as the street approaches the creek may well provide an engineering challenge for disposing of the runoff. Sharing the street ------------------ Matadero is one of the major inlet streets for Barron Park plus a major pedestrian and bicycle corridor. Because of the creek, there are no alternatives routes for a significant number of residents, including children and seniors. The section between El Camino and Josina is used by children to get to and from Barron Park Elementary School from the Ventura neighborhood. In the area around the apartments, on-street parking is a safety issue: the assumptions behind those parking spaces have been obsoleted: both the number and size of the vehicles being parked there exceed the original assumptions. This is likely to affect what is viewed as practical for this section of the street. Edge treatment -------------- Matadero is very narrow in many sections (28-30 feet in places), placing a premium on how space is used. The edge treatment will almost certainly have to be dual-use: handling drainage plus being pedestrian-friendly. A edge treatment is an absolute necessity: The current absence of any edge treatment has resulted in pavement breakdown that is forcing pedestrians and bicyclist further into the middle of the road, increasing the conflicts between them and automobile traffic. Speeding -------- Matadero has no cross streets for the roughly 500 meters between Tippawingo and Chimulus (effectively Laguna). Speeding has been a persistent problem, with cars going well over 40 mph not being unusual. And this is with badly deteriorated pavement. Based on past experience, with a new (smooth) pavement, speeds will increase 5-10 mph. There is likely going to be very strong demand for methods to limit this speed, with considerable debate on whether the proposed remedies will be effective. My suspicion is that the solution will be visual narrowing (as on Los Robles) plus several (3?) speed humps (not bumps). Two segments? ------------- Because the priorities and tradeoffs are different for the segments of Matadero above and below the bridge, the city may find it advantageous to treat them as separate projects, at least for public participation. Alternatively, they might be handled by separate break-out sessions.