Traffic Study Nixed

Plans to overhaul and mitigate traffic in the Willows neighborhood came to a speedy end Tuesday night, after area residents overwhelmed the Menlo Park City Council with fierce and frustrated opposition.

Describing it as useless, flawed and totally unnecessary, roughly 30 Willows residents urged the council to scrap the ambitious plan that has so far cost the city $120,000, but could have spiked to $520,000 if the council had decided to push forward. The city would have started surveying the area residents before launching any policy changes or traffic measures.

The council scrapped it in a 3-0 vote, with Vice Mayor Kirsten Keith and Council Member Kelly Fergusson barred from voting because they live in the affected area.

"I'm going to vote against this plan," Council Member Andy Cohen said after public comment. "It appears to me to be an utter waste of time. I will vote against it at every juncture."

Launched in 2009 by a private firm, the study recommends limiting right and left-hand turns on and off of Willow Road during peak hours and converting a portion Woodland Avenue to one-way. Two four-way stops at Central Avenue and Walnut Street and Pope Street and Gilbert Avenue were also in the study, along with new speed lumps on O'Keefe Street and Gilbert. Several streets in the neighborhood, bound by University Avenue and Middlefield and Willow Roads, may have also been narrowed.

Contrary to the study's findings, however, traffic has only gotten better in the neighborhood, said Linda Wagner, a 41-year resident of the Willows.

"I am one of the people who does not like this plan," Wagner said. "Tonight you are hearing from the people who have not spoken out."

Andrew Tang, a new resident to the area, said the traffic study is a waste of time and money.

"This shouldn't have started in the first place," Tang said. "It's basically the tail wagging the dog."

Besides voicing general frustration over the plan, the residents were confused why the council was even screening it after it was shot down by the city's transportation commission. As a mostly advisory body, however, the transportation commission had no power to kill the study, Mayor Richard Cline said after public comment.

"This was coming to council either way," Cline said.

Although he voted to scrap the plan, Council Member Peter Ohtaki asked staff about cherry picking some of the better traffic measures, such as signal coordination on Willow and Middlefield Roads and University Avenue. Engineering Services Manager Chip Taylor said that's as far as the council should go without surveying the community. It would also require cooperation with the cities of East Palo Alto and Palo Alto, he said.

Throughout the process, speeding drivers have been the main issue. In an online survey ranking neighborhood traffic concerns, 92 people chose speed as the most important. That was followed by 80 people stating they had "no concern" and 73 choosing cut-through traffic as the most important. The city contacted 2,058 Willows residents and 554 of them took part in the online survey.