San Jose DOT Proposing Lincoln Avenue Road Diet in Willow Glen (Palo Alto: luxury, colleges)

[bobby_guz_man]

Originally Posted by NickB1967

Try having a kid--or two--and then get back to me. Time, even more than money, is a real constraint.

I have a kid, and I wouldn't hesitate to take him to Willow Glen. I'm looking forward to the summer so I can do just that

I drove through Lincoln the other day, and here are my observations:

1) Traffic is slower. I think it's more because people are driving slower to get use to the new single lane. I guess once folks have adjusted then speed will go up a bit.

2) I can see the store signs clearer on both sides of the road. Before, I would have to look through 2-3 lanes of cars to see the stores on the other side of the road. Also, slower traffic also helped.

I'll have to actually walk it soon to see how things are.

Still really another garage though. They don't even need to put it south of Willow, they could put it immediately north of the creek and I think that would work out well too.

[darkeconomist]

After a few weeks, I can see why so many people are coming out against this experiment. It really has been causing delays for people coming in to or through DTWG by car.

Unfortunately, for all the screaming online about those delays, no-one is offering real alternatives to the reality that traffic was increasing regardless and adding car capacity would have only worked against the "charm" of DTWG and would have required removing on-street parking.

Meanwhile, residents are also screaming about their streets flowing too fast and too heavily. I get that. We all want our streets to feel safe. Three things need to be said. That was a possibility given increased DTWG popularity would cause similar congestion on Lincoln, even without the road diet trial. That's right, the "do nothing" option could also lead to higher side street volumes. Second, many of these residents are actively ignorant of how street design influences speed. People glaze over when hearing about the correlation between street design and vehicle speed, but light up at the idea of increased policing. It is a deeply frustrating and fruitless conversation to have. Third, I've been spending a lot of time riding during rush on streets like Glen Eyrie and Cherry and I simply haven't encountered the vehicle speeds or quantity residents are describing. I don't doubt the problem is there, but every description makes it sound like they're living on a expressway.

[bobby_guz_man]

Originally Posted by darkeconomist

After a few weeks, I can see why so many people are coming out against this experiment. It really has been causing delays for people coming in to or through DTWG by car.

Unfortunately, for all the screaming online about those delays, no-one is offering real alternatives to the reality that traffic was increasing regardless and adding car capacity would have only worked against the "charm" of DTWG and would have required removing on-street parking.

Meanwhile, residents are also screaming about their streets flowing too fast and too heavily. I get that. We all want our streets to feel safe. Three things need to be said. That was a possibility given increased DTWG popularity would cause similar congestion on Lincoln, even without the road diet trial. That's right, the "do nothing" option could also lead to higher side street volumes. Second, many of these residents are actively ignorant of how street design influences speed. People glaze over when hearing about the correlation between street design and vehicle speed, but light up at the idea of increased policing. It is a deeply frustrating and fruitless conversation to have. Third, I've been spending a lot of time riding during rush on streets like Glen Eyrie and Cherry and I simply haven't encountered the vehicle speeds or quantity residents are describing. I don't doubt the problem is there, but every description makes it sound like they're living on a expressway.

Too bad for them. Downtown Willow Glen will be a much better place soon enough with this "diet". I'm all for it.

And I don't even know why people are going through Lincoln anyway. There are many other north-south streets to use.

[sonarrat]

Originally Posted by bobby_guz_man

Too bad for them. Downtown Willow Glen will be a much better place soon enough with this "diet". I'm all for it.

And I don't even know why people are going through Lincoln anyway. There are many other north-south streets to use.

Those other north-south streets are all at capacity, but Lincoln would be relatively free-flowing if you were heading towards downtown or I-280. Now Lincoln is effectively at capacity since they removed a lane.

[darkeconomist]

Well, I've been biking up and down through WG for work since the road diet began and, at least for streets like Cherry and Glen Eyrie, I have not seen an uptick in speeds. Good to know that part of the carpocalypse hasn't come about.

In fact, most of the complaints I've heard and read have been about parking in DTWG. In reality, the problem with DTWG, both before and during the diet, has been the location of parking. Everyone wants to use the parking behind Aqui's, but I've often seen lots of parking behind the bank and Walgreens. The only change has been how hard it is to circle back around.

Quite frankly, it has been much nicer to ride on Lincoln and much easier and safer to cross it as a pedestrian with the diet in effect; I'm only having to deal with one lane of cars each direction instead of hoping the #1 lane stops when the #2 lane does.

[bobby_guz_man]

Originally Posted by darkeconomist

Well, I've been biking up and down through WG for work since the road diet began and, at least for streets like Cherry and Glen Eyrie, I have not seen an uptick in speeds. Good to know that part of the carpocalypse hasn't come about.

In fact, most of the complaints I've heard and read have been about parking in DTWG. In reality, the problem with DTWG, both before and during the diet, has been the location of parking. Everyone wants to use the parking behind Aqui's, but I've often seen lots of parking behind the bank and Walgreens. The only change has been how hard it is to circle back around.

Quite frankly, it has been much nicer to ride on Lincoln and much easier and safer to cross it as a pedestrian with the diet in effect; I'm only having to deal with one lane of cars each direction instead of hoping the #1 lane stops when the #2 lane does.

I rode it once 2 weeks ago. Very nice now. Feels safer, mostly due to me having to only be aware of 2 lanes of cars instead of 4 like before.

I've only driven through it once by car, and that was in the first week or two after the lanes were put in, so traffic was awkward then.

Last week I drove south through Willow Glen via Bird and got backed-up before hitting Willow. Traffic has started to creep in to other roads slowly, hopefully it's not too bad, as I really like the new road diet.

[darkeconomist]

So it looks like the Lincoln Ave road diet is likely dead. The DoT is not going to recommend to the city council keeping the new configuration based on a no vote by the WGBA. Unfortunately, many members of the WGBA didn't respond to the polling, and, of those that did, they reported that business had declined during the road diet. Also, unfortunately, the DoT wasn't able to show adequate data either for or against the RD.

Sadly, this has been a very polarizing issue in the community and it has been difficult, at times, to have thoughtful conversations about the issues that face DTWG, including, as I have seen brought up, improving the pedestrian experience (eg, wider sidewalks) and easing access to and finding of available parking (eg, electronic parking count signs).

[bobby_guz_man]

Originally Posted by darkeconomist

So it looks like the Lincoln Ave road diet is likely dead. The DoT is not going to recommend to the city council keeping the new configuration based on a no vote by the WGBA. Unfortunately, many members of the WGBA didn't respond to the polling, and, of those that did, they reported that business had declined during the road diet. Also, unfortunately, the DoT wasn't able to show adequate data either for or against the RD.

Sadly, this has been a very polarizing issue in the community and it has been difficult, at times, to have thoughtful conversations about the issues that face DTWG, including, as I have seen brought up, improving the pedestrian experience (eg, wider sidewalks) and easing access to and finding of available parking (eg, electronic parking count signs).

Well ****, now I have to dance like a madman just to get drivers' attention when crossing the streets again. Sigh...

[Wintermomma]

Do they always police the parking garage aggressively, or did I just happen upon some guy having a bad day? I stopped by a few weeks ago, to patronize a business that fronts the adjacent lot and the guy was so rude demanding which restaurant I was going to, talking over me repeatedly until I finally got out where I was going (not a restaurant) and he let me in. Is that parking garage only for adjacent restaurants/businesses and not all DTWG?

I am wondering if this is a new issue with the road diet, and may change with the road...um...un-diet?

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by darkeconomist

So it looks like the Lincoln Ave road diet is likely dead. The DoT is not going to recommend to the city council keeping the new configuration based on a no vote by the WGBA. Unfortunately, many members of the WGBA didn't respond to the polling, and, of those that did, they reported that business had declined during the road diet. Also, unfortunately, the DoT wasn't able to show adequate data either for or against the RD.

Sadly, this has been a very polarizing issue in the community and it has been difficult, at times, to have thoughtful conversations about the issues that face DTWG, including, as I have seen brought up, improving the pedestrian experience (eg, wider sidewalks) and easing access to and finding of available parking (eg, electronic parking count signs).

Yay! I hated the road diet. It just didn't work, and I say this as someone who hates auto-centric development. We have to come to grips with the fact that SJ was built around the automobile and there is a limit to how much you can retrofit a city that has been built in such fashion, especially in a short period of time. If they want to get people out of their cars, they should spend money on making public transportation more convenient.