Signal Changes Installed At Black Avenue/Santa Rita Road Intersection

PLEASANTON, CA - Pleasanton’s Traffic Engineering Division implemented traffic signal changes last week to make the busy intersection of Santa Rita Road and Black Avenue safer.

Eastbound and westbound traffic on Black Avenue will now run separately rather than concurrently. The south crosswalk will now move with eastbound turns, removing conflict with westbound left turns. The north crosswalk will now move with westbound traffic, removing conflict with eastbound left turns. Cars turning left out of the Alisal Elementary School parking lot will also no longer have to yield for oncoming pedestrians.

The changes follow years of complaints about the busy intersection, which is also near Harvest Park Middle School and Amador Valley High School.

“We work with the school community a lot, and sometimes you have middle school kids running through there, so observing the traffic at that intersection for 15-20 minutes in the a.m. and p.m., it can get quite congested, and pedestrian safety is important to us,” said Senior Traffic Engineer Cedric Novenario.

The changes did not need to go through any town committees because they were relatively small-scale and did not require new construction, Novenario said. Teams will observe traffic patterns over the next month to troubleshoot any new issues, he added.

When the city announced the change on its Facebook page, some commenters said it was a long overdue change, and others advocated for adjustments at different intersections. “This is so great and needed!” one person wrote.

“Love the change! Thank you!” wrote another.

Another person complained that cars drive quickly through the crosswalk on Santa Rita Road in front of Fairlands Elementary School, while another person asked for a similar change in front of Bernal Avenue near Vineyard Avenue and Tawny Drive.