Dear “Quiet Zone” Decision Makers and Councilmembers,
We are writing to make sure that all decision makers are very clear on why we, the residents of this affected North Central neighborhood, stand together as stakeholders against the closure of Villa Terrace and East Bellevue Ave and feel that traffic flow in our high density neighborhood should be of the utmost priority. The residents of North Claremont, State Street and Villa Terrace, east of the railroad tracks will be majorly impacted by the closure of the railroad crossing.
With that being said, these are the reasons why neither of those streets should be closed.
● Closing E. Bellevue and Villa Terrace will create cul-de-sac style streets and push traffic onto North Claremont and Woodside Way as the only outlets. In turn this will create an even bigger traffic mess as two of North Claremont's intersections are offset.
● The traffic study did not include any of the immediate streets east of the closures.
● North Claremont was not included in the study and it needs to be noted that the intersection of North Claremont and Peninsula is offset or setback causing viability interference and making turning West/NorthWest onto Peninsula an exceptional challenge and many residents go to Villa Terrace to turn Northwest onto North San Mateo Drive.
● The fact that the traffic study did not include the fact that two of North Claremont’s intersections are offset which causes turning left to go West and Northwest demonstrated that the study is not valid.
● There is also a bus stop at North Claremont and Peninsula also blocking traffic at times, again people use Villa Terrace as an alternative.
● It should be noted that because of the changes to North San Mateo Drive taking away a lane of head on traffic, cars have difficulty getting through the intersection in one signal light sequence and many times now need to wait through many sequences because not as many cars can empty through the intersection as before. More cars would be using North San Mateo Dr together with Poplar and Peninsula as all cars will be pushed to use those arteries in both directions.
● We, the residents and the stakeholders, use the crossing at Villa Terrace to ride our bikes and walk to avoid the high volume traffic on Peninsula Ave and East Poplar as well as using it for quick access to the west side of the tracks and going north and Northwest.
● The horn will still need to be blown at Peninsula Ave, so the quiet zone impact will be minimal and only gain a small area. The horn will continue to be blown from Burlingame Ave all the way to Peninsula Ave again making it only a small gain of a quiet zone.
● Closing these streets, cuts off students from their neighborhood schools and discourages walking to school, creating more traffic on Peninsula Ave and East Poplar. Students would be forced to walk and ride their bikes on busy streets instead of quiet, non congested streets making them the targets of accidents and crime.
● The train and the horn were there before any of the current residents living in the area, so that all residents were fully aware of the train and any noise when they chose to move to the area.
● No decisions should be made unless the decision makers personally drive around and become familiar with the streets affected by these closures. ● Our neighborhood has one of the most densely populated in San Mateo and it continues to tear down houses and build condos, making it even more dense and if the city is focusing on train noise over traffic flow there is a disconnect in the city planning.
● Even residents on the west side of San Mateo will be affected by this as Villa Terrace and East Bellevue are alternatives to travel east instead of turning left onto El Camino or driving on Peninsula Ave and East Poplar which are major congested streets.
● Our increasingly dense neighborhood is plagued with illegal parking and oversized vehicles close to corners blocking oncoming traffic views on a regular basis. All of this results in prolonged travel times and dangerous driving situations and that is why residents seek corners with good visibility like that corner of North San Mateo Drive and Villa Terrace and East Bellevue to go North or West which makes for safer driving and less accidents.
● Our streets are very densely parked and increased traffic will cause more accidents as residents already have limited visibility when pulling out of driveways.
● We do not want more stop signs or traffic lights, we want flow of traffic.
● Traffic flow should be the priority of decision making in San Mateo.We want traffic flow, pedestrian walkways on non congested streets and not a “Quiet Zone”.
We invite you to drive through the streets and see for yourself.
With Regards,