From:
To: City Council
Cc: BPAC Communication
Subject: 9/27/22 meeting agenda item 4.3 (Project 19-59 --Interchange reconfiguration) Date: Monday, September 26, 2022 2:24:08 PM
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To: Mountain View City Council
From: Joel Dean, ., MV
Subject: Shoreline/Avenida/85/101N reconfiguration
If Project 19-59 relieves some of the congestion at the Shoreline gateway interchange as expected, it will do so at a cost.
The operation of the interchange is currently simple, with no turns allowed from Shoreline Boulevard and one-way traffic from La Avenida and the freeway exit. The only right on red permitted is from Avenida to Shoreline, and very few vehicles make it. This makes crossing Avenida relatively safe for pedestrians and bicyclists who have survived the dicey crosswalks at the entrances to north and southbound 101.
The reconfigured interchange will be considerably more complex, with more turning movements permitted and more potential conflicts between motor vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians. If right turns on red are permitted without restriction, cyclists and pedestrians will be at greater risk of harm than they are at present. Previous inquiries about whether rights on red will be permitted, or whether they can be prohibited by pedestrian and cyclist-actuated signals have met with DPW's customary wall of silence. The community outreach effort has been feeble from the start, being limited to people living within 500 feet of the project -- a small fraction of those who will travel through it.
Before City Council feeds more money into the wood-chipper, I ask them to extract more information from DPW about what safety features will be incorporated in their projects, starting with 19-59. Without greater accountability to the public, Vision Zero, the Active Transportation Plan, and Safe Routes to School will wind up being nothing but confetti.
Thank you for your attention.