To: Planning and Transportation Commission
Subject: Matadero Bike Boulevard: Item 2 at Meeting of Wed 13 November 2013
From: Douglas B. Moran, 790 Matadero Avenue
Date: 12 November 2013
I have lived on Matadero Avenue since 1986, and I walk, bicycle and drive along it. I have been working on improving pedestrian and bicycle safety for Matadero since 1998. Multiple times during these 15 years, Matadero was designated a top priority (as high as Top-3), only to silently disappear.
Speeding is the biggest problem. Weekday afternoon I see groups of students—mostly Gunn HS, but some Terman Middle School—bicycling, skateboarding and walking up the street. And it is not uncommon to have cars speeding at over 35 mph (the "kill speed") up the street, seemingly heedlessly. Remember that Matadero is only 20 feet wide, so there is little room for error.
When I step out front during the evening and night, there is typically at least one bicyclist visible (between Laguna and Tippawingo). And it is not uncommon later in the evening, especially on weekends, to have a car speeding at 50 mph down the street, so fast that they rattle my windows and blinds. Unfortunately, this is not quite predictable enough for the police to be waiting.
There recently was major construction along Matadero. I would tell the flag men and other workers that Matadero was more dangerous than it first appeared. The flag men would later come back and tell me that they were shocked at how unnecessarily dangerous the drivers were.
I have hope that the proposed speed humps will reduce this problem. I have been told that they will be similar to those on Maybell, and those seem to adequately accommodate cars traveling at 20-25 mph.
What can be done to control speeding on Matadero is constrained by its being one of the primary routes for police and fire into the larger neighborhood. It would also seem highly undesirable to have anything that would influence traffic to take another route, because that route would likely be along Josina to Barron and past the Elementary School.
I was very disappointed to see how little there was about improving pedestrian safety in this proposal, despite it having been a major issue at the outreach meetings. Matadero is heavily used not just by students, but by adults out walking, jogging, and walking dogs. During the day, it also sees a surprising number of parents pushing baby strollers (to Bol Park). It also use to be routine to see patients in wheelchairs from the VA on their way to El Camino (bus or restaurant) or Caltrain. I don't know if their recent absence is temporary or the result of changes at the VA Hospital.
Everywhere: If on-pavement markings (Share the road) improve the safety for bicyclists, why aren't there similar markings to reminder drivers of pedestrians.
Josina/Tippawingo This is a very dangerous blind S-curve for pedestrians because whichever side of the street you are walking on, there is a strong motivation part way through to cross to the other side to get a safer place to walk, but counterbalanced by risk of crossing in this dangerous location.
On the south side between the bridge and the first house, not only must pedestrians walk in the traffic lane, but vegetation obscures their presence from on-coming vehicles. On the north side, pedestrians are forced to walk in the marked traffic lane between the bridge and the end of the guard rail. This is unnecessary because space could have been reallocated for pedestrians. The travel lane on the bridge is wider than needed, or used, by vehicles—through the mid-2000s a large oak branch stuck out several feet into the travel lane. A raised pavement, or even just pavement markings, might make a difference. And a minor reconfiguration of the guard rail could give pedestrians enough separation from the traffic lanes to make a big difference.
Although the recommendation calls for studying a pedestrian bridge here, that is likely to be in the distant future, and these simple changes could make a big difference now.
Laguna corner: A short stretch of Matadero just before Laguna has negligible space for pedestrians on the south side because of a drainage ditch. "Old hands" know to cross to the "wrong side" of the street well before the corner because too many vehicles make the blind turn from Laguna without even a "rolling stop". However, I see too many people unaware of this. Part of the problem is drivers who have just pulled away from Bol Park and are distracted and in a hurry. I don't have any specific suggestion, but thought that this at least warranted pavement markings. I expect that this is one of those small enhancements that would be easy to do as part of this project, but very difficult as a stand-alone.
When the section of Matadero between Laguna and bridge was rebuilt in 2002, we had an extensive debate about whether to have a center line.
We decided to have a center line and both predictions proved out. In the few days between the laying of the pavement and the painting of the line, the street was a speedway. As soon as the line was painted, speed dropped 5-10 mph. But even with no other vehicle visible on the street, many drivers will stick to their lane and pass dangerously close to pedestrians and bicyclists. It is not uncommon to see a car pass 18-24 inches from a baby stroller (the case where one would expect drivers to be most inclined to provide a safety cushion). As a pedestrian, I routinely stop walking and take a step further from the street to let a vehicle pass.
There doesn't seem to have any reconsideration of the tradeoffs and whether there was a better solution. Possibly something to be revisited after we see how the speed humps are working.
Orinda-Margarita is a back-door to El Camino from the commercial section of Park Blvd (north of Lambert). With the present development on Park (195 Page Mill) and the potential developments, it would seem that the planning for this intersection should take into account expected traffic increases. At the outreach meetings, we were told it didn't.
Although others reported problems with speeding on Margarita, during the years I was biking up there (during evening peak hours), I experienced none that would be affected by the Orinda/Margarita intersection. The mild speeding that I encountered was cars speeding up to try to catch the light at El Camino, and I have only seen that in the half-block before El Camino. When I asked about this difference at the outreach meeting, Staff didn't know/remember the when's and where's of the reported speeding.
The default speed on the Orinda to El Camino segment is greatly influenced by it being effectively a one-lane street due to parking on both sides—I would guess that 75% of the available spaces are occupied whenever I go down the street. The tree canopy adds to the visual cues, sending psychological signals against speeding. The segment from Park Blvd to Orinda does not have quite as strong visual signals: less on-street parking and a lesser canopy.