FREMONT — A controversial proposal to remove two lanes of traffic from a heavily used four-lane road in Fremont will be considered by the City Council on Tuesday, a little more than six months after the council rejected a similar plan.
Some residents say reducing the lanes to one in each direction on the roughly one-mile section of Paseo Padre Parkway between Driscoll Road and Washington Boulevard will lead to more traffic congestion on the road, which is used by many to get to an Interstate 680 onramp at Washington Boulevard.
Others say the road’s current design is dangerous because it allows drivers to speed well above the 35 mph limit, and weave through the curvy and sloped thoroughfare.
“It’s an absolute race area here. Cars are zooming by really fast, and carelessly,” said Joann Miller, who has lived on Paseo Padre for five decades.
“I know there are some people against it, but I am totally for the one lane. That is the solution,” she said.
City officials have previously said the change would fit in with Fremont’s “Vision Zero” program, which aims to reduce serious injuries and deaths from crashes on its roads by reconfiguring them to be safer for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians.
Staff recommended in September that the council approve removing a traffic lane in each direction and adding a wide bike lane on each side with painted “buffers” between them and the traffic lane. Paseo Padre had no bike lanes in that section at the time.
The council majority, which has supported many other road redesigns previously, balked at the idea, and instead voted to have the traffic lanes on that portion of Paseo slightly narrowed to make room for what city staff called a “basic” 4-foot-wide bike lane.
Some council members also cited concerns about how lane removals could lead to potential congestion on the road, and said the city shouldn’t make major changes while the pandemic could still be impacting the amount of traffic there. The council asked the staff to come back with a report in about six months to re-evaluate the options.
Keith Parker, a resident of Niles who said he commutes by car on Paseo Padre frequently, is opposed to the lane removal because he thinks it will only worsen congestion.
“I’m all in favor of making bike lanes as safe as reasonable,” Parker said in an interview.
“But if they’re simultaneously doing things that make traffic worse, things that increase congestion? Traffic is already bad enough. I don’t think doing things that make traffic worse correlates to making traffic safer,” he said.
Parker said the city should leave things the way they are now until officials have a longer time to evaluate the effect of the current setup on safety.
City public works staff, in an April 7 community meeting, proposed removing the traffic lanes and adding buffered bike lanes, along with flashing pedestrian beacons at some of the intersections along the stretch.
The city already has added speed feedback signs on Paseo Padre that warn drivers when they are over the speed limit.
The public works proposal also recommended adding a new traffic signal at Paseo’s intersection with Covington Drive, along a sloping curve where Miller said she’s seen multiple cars crash into people’s yards.
“There’s no traffic light so they can just keep going,” Miller said. “Fast drivers and the ones who are always trying to get around the other drivers who are going the speed limit, but that isn’t satisfactory for them.”
The city staff recommendation to the council for Tuesday’s meeting essentially matches the one proposed by public works staff at the community meeting.
However, due to the “significant community input expressed in opposition” to removing car traffic lanes, the staff report notes the council could choose to keep other elements of the proposal, and skip the lane removal.
The April 19 Fremont City Council meeting will be held virtually at 7 p.m. via Zoom. Those who want to participate in the meeting can join the meeting at this link or can email public comments by 4 p.m. on the day of the meeting to citycouncil@fremont.gov. The meeting can be viewed live on the city’s website, at www.fremont.gov/Channel27. Fremont residents can also watch the meeting on Comcast TV channel 27.
Source: www.mercurynews.com