UNIVERSITY AVENUE
STREETSCAPE
FEASIBILITY REPORT EXCERPT
DECEMBER 2023
22 | CITY OF PALO ALTO
IN AN IDEAL WORLD , an urban area streets -
cape such as University Avenue would accommo -
date pedestrians, bicyclists, transit users, motorists, patron parking, and delivery vehicles. To create an
inviting and lively streetscape, sidewalks need to be
wide enough to accommodate outdoor dining and
merchant’s products while allowing two people to
walk side by side. Having street trees, lights, benches, and waste receptacles along the corridor are also
important elements. The ideal sidewalk is almost 20
feet wide.
To improve comfort levels for less experienced bicy -
clists, streets often have Class IV bikeways. These
facilities offer bicyclists a physically separate path
from vehicles. Typically, these are about 7 feet wide
and have a raised buffer that is about 3 feet wide.
The street should provide an area for motor vehicle
traffic as well as on-street parking. In general, travel lanes range in width from 10 to 12 feet with parking
stalls from 7 to 8 feet. According to the Fire Code and City of Palo Alto Ordinance Number 5563, the clear
street width must be a minimum of 20 feet. In addi -
tion, the 2022 California Fire Code requires that for
buildings more than 30 feet tall, there must be a fire
apparatus access road that has an unobstructed width
of not less than 26 feet. However, this requirement
does not necessarily need to be on the main street
and can be accomplished by alleys and side streets.
To accommodate all these features, a street would
require a right-of-way of about 94 feet as shown in
Figure 11. However, as an older, established commu-
nity, University Avenue’s right-of-way is only 75 feet
wide. As it is impossible to provide all these features on University Avenue, the streetscape will need to
balance these competing interests.
STREETSCAPE OPTIONS As previously noted, the
streetscape improvements are generally located
between High and Webster Streets. Based on the
results of the engagement phase, we evaluated three
options for University Avenue. Common to all options
includes the following:
◊ The segment between Ramona and Cowper
Streets could be closed for special events such
as the Festival of the Arts event in August
2023 as shown in Figure 10.
◊ All sidewalks would be replaced with concrete,
pavers, and related surfacing as described in
IDEAL STREETSCAPE
Figure 10: Palo Alto Festival of
the Arts, August 2023
UNIVERSITY AVENUE STREETSCAPE FEASIBILITY REPORT | 23
the Streetscape Features section of this report.
◊ New pedestrian scale lighting would be
installed along the corridor.
◊ At each intersection, the sidewalks would be
widened into parking lanes to narrow the
crosswalk. These “bulb-outs” can feature plant-
ing, seating, and other elements as described in
the Streetscape Features section of this report.
OPTION 1 – PROTECTED BICYCLE FACILITY
The first option establishes a Class IV cycletrack along the corridor as well as travel lanes in each direction.
Figure 12 illustrates the option with a loading zone
and/or parking along the corridor. With on-street
parking, the sidewalk would only be about 9.5 feet
wide. Without parking, the sidewalk would be almost
18 feet wide. The estimated implementation cost for
this option excluding municipal bond and assessment
district is $35 million.
The bike buffers could be raised planters that would
be moved when University Avenue is closed to provide
greater area for street events. To achieve this option while providing on-street parking, the sidewalk widths
would be less than 10 feet and the existing trees along the corridor would need to be removed. This alter -
IDEAL STREETSCAPE
Figure 11: Ideal Streetscape
24 | CITY OF PALO ALTO
native would not provide for the fire code’s 26 feet of clear access. As this option does not align with City
Council’s direction nor that of most of the stakeholder input, we do not recommend advancing this alterna -
tive.
OPTION 2 – PEDESTRIAN PASEO
The second option is pedestrian focused by widening
sidewalks to as much as 20.5 feet wide while maintain-
ing travel lanes in each direction and providing Class
II bicycle lanes. While this option generally removes
on-street parking, it could add parking and/or loading
zones strategically along the corridor. If parking is
added, the sidewalk’s width reduces to 11.5 feet as
shown in Figure 13. The estimated implementation
cost for this option excluding municipal bond and
assessment district is $43 million.
This option creates a generous sidewalk width, which
can accommodate outdoor dining, retail racks, furnish-
ings, and street performances. However, the removal
of all on-street parking may cause an increase in
vehicle speeds along the corridor as drivers typically
perceive less “friction” with parked cars. In addition, the removal of all on-street parking is unpopular with
businesses operators and owners along University
Avenue.
OPTION 3 – ACTIVATION FLEX
(PREFERRED OPTION )
As noted in the engagement section, the elimination
of on-street parking is a critical concern to retail oper- ators, business owners, and landowners along Univer-
sity Avenue. Urban planners note that people will walk much further along an interesting street to get from
their parking space to the store or restaurant they are going to rather than walking from a parking lot. This
is sometimes defined as “ Pedestrian Propulsion ” as
noted by architect and town planner Steve Mouzon,
cofounder of The Urban Guild. The term defines
the characteristic of a street that entices you to walk further than you otherwise would on streets with less
visual interest or interactive features, as though literally propelling you along your way.
Stakeholders asked the team to evaluate alternative
parking configurations to maximize sidewalk width. In
the current configuration, University Avenue has about
18 stalls per block. Figure 14 illustrates alternative parking concepts for University Avenue. To maximize
on-street parking, the project could convert both sides of the street to 45-degree stalls, providing 24 stalls
per block. But this would reduce the sidewalk widths
to only 4 feet. If we reduced the angle to 20-degrees, we could increase sidewalk width to about 10 feet, but
reduce parking count to about 10 per block. Convert-
ing all the stalls to parallel, the project could achieve about 14 stalls per block with sidewalks that are about
16.5 feet in width.
We refined this option known as Activation Flex as
shown in Figure 18. In this option, the street would
IDEAL STREETSCAPE
UNIVERSITY AVENUE STREETSCAPE FEASIBILITY REPORT | 25
IDEAL STREETSCAPE
Figure 12: Option 1 Bikeway
26 | CITY OF PALO ALTO
IDEAL STREETSCAPE
Figure 13: Option 2 Paseo
UNIVERSITY AVENUE STREETSCAPE FEASIBILITY REPORT | 27
Figure 14: On-Street Parking Options
28 | CITY OF PALO ALTO
maintain two travel lanes in each direction with an
overall minimum width of 26 feet between curbs.
Given the low travel speeds on University Avenue, this
width would allow for bicyclists to share the road with vehicles. The option preserves all street trees by either expanding the landscape areas or adding decking as
shown in Figure 15. These decks would replace stan-
dard concrete sidewalks in areas that would conflict
with tree roots.
The Activation Flex option provides three zones in the
17.5 feet wide sidewalk area noted as follows:
Commerce Zone Retail and restaurants along the
corridor could use this zone to provide outside
dining or racks for merchandise. Establishments
that serve alcoholic beverages would need to
secure permission from the State of California’s
Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. This
would require some form of barrier separating the
dining area from the sidewalk. The width of this
area could be about 6.5 feet wide. An example of
a typical four-top table configuration is shown in
Figure 16.
Pedestrian Zone The streetscape seeks to main -
tain a clear area for two pedestrians to walk side by
side. Thus, the pedestrian zone should be no less
than 8 feet wide.
Amenity Zone The amenity zone would provide
streetlights, waste receptacles, news racks, and
seating. It should be no less than 3 feet in width
including the curb.
Within these zones, the streetscape will feature
furnishings, landscaping, and materials as illustrated
in Figure 19. These items will be refined during the
detail design phase.
It is important to note that the streetscape will likely not be uniform along the corridor and small varianc -
es in the above dimensions will be required. This will be determined in the final design of the streetscape.
Figure 20 is a preliminary layout of the streetscape
along University Avenue. This option removes 48 of
the existing 193 stalls, providing 145 parking spaces.
In compliance with the ADA Accessibility Standards for
the public right-of-way, the project would provide a
total of five accessible parking spaces, including one
designated for vans within the project area. Figure 17 illustrates a proposed accessible parking stall.
In addition to the proposed parking along University
Avenue, the project proposes to add loading/ unload-
ing zones along the side streets as shown in Figure
20. Note that the streetscape plan will follow parking regulations currently under review by the City’s Office of Transportation.
As shown in Figure 18 , this option narrows the
IDEAL STREETSCAPE
Figure 15: Decking at street
trees
UNIVERSITY AVENUE STREETSCAPE FEASIBILITY REPORT | 29
IDEAL STREETSCAPE
Figure 16: Outdoor Dining Dimensions
30 | CITY OF PALO ALTO
roadway at the crosswalks by “bulbing-out” the side-
walks into the street. The narrowing of the roadway
would shorten the crosswalk distance as well as slow
down vehicle speeds enhancing pedestrian safety.
This configuration would require fire trucks to turn
into the opposing lane, which is similar to the exist - ing condition. Appendix H illustrates the existing and
proposed fire truck turn.
This option is consistent with stakeholder’s top 3
desired improvements as defined in the survey that
includes the following features:
#1 Outdoor Dining
#2 Expanded sidewalks and enhanced pedestrian
pathways
#3 Social gathering areas and seating notes
The Activation Flex option provides businesses along
University Avenue with the opportunities for outdoor
dining and retailers to display their goods within the
sidewalk area without the development and main -
tenance of parklets. This option preserves approxi -
mately 75% of the on-street parking and offers traffic
calming features to allow bicyclists to share the road
with vehicles. The bulb-out areas at the intersection
can provide additional area for plantings and furnish-
ings allowing for “people-focused” activities voiced
during the public engagement process.
IDEAL STREETSCAPE
(page 31) Figure 18: Preferred Option 3 “Activation Flex” (page 32) Figure 19: Furnishings, Materials, and Palettes Figure 17: Typical Accessible Parking
| 31
UNIVERSITY AVENUE PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA
NOVEMBER 2023
Scale 3/16” = 1’
PREFERRED CONCEPT
Commerce Zone
Pedestrian Zone
Amenity Zone
Parking
C
B
A
C’
Section A - A’: Corner Plaza
Section B - B’: Mid-Block with Existing T ree
Section C - C’: Mid-Block
B’
A’
A
C
i
o
o
Commerce Zone
Pedestrian Zone
Amenity Zone
Parking
6.5’ 8’ 3’ 7’
TYPICAL BLOCK PLAN CHARACTER IMAGES
TYPICAL SECTIONS
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UNIVERSITY AVENUE PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA
NOVEMBER 2023
FURNISHINGS, MATERIALS AND PALETTES
Landscape Forms | Melville
Landscape Forms | Key Bike
Rack
Landscape Forms | Petosky
Littler
Maglin | MUG Bike Rack Victor Stanley | BRQS Bike Rack
Maglin | Lexicon Victor Stanley | SD-45
Enhanced Non-Vehicular Paving
|Integral Color Concrete
Enhanced Vehicular Paving
|Stamped Asphalt
Color: Std Brick
Pattern: Offset
Concrete
Victor Stanley | FreesiaMaglin |970 Series
PAVING
LANDSCAPE
BENCHESBIKE RACKSLITTER RECEPTACLE
Gaura lindheimeri
Gaura
Dymondia margaretae
Silver Carpet
Myoporum parvifolium ‘Pink’
T railing Myoporum
Lavandula angustifolia ‘Hidcote
Hidcote Blue Lavender
Mimulus ‘Jelly Bean Orange’
Orange Monkeyflower
T eucrium fruticans ‘ Azureum’
Salvia microphylla ‘Hot Lips’ Lomandra longifolia ‘Breeze’ Bush Germander
Baby Sage Breeze Mat Rush
Dietes grandiflora
Fortnight Lily
Bulbine frutescens ‘Tiny T angerine’
Stalked Bubline
Rhaphiolepis indica ‘Ballerina’
Ballerina Indian Hawthorn
Muhlenbergia dubia
Pine Muhly
Epilobium canum
Hummingbird T rumpet
Anigozanthos
Kangaroo Paw
| 33
Figure 20: University Avenue Activation Flex