The Sunnyvale Sun

Letters & Opinions

Pondering ways to reduce traffic on S. Mary Avenue

By Jan Boehm

I was wondering: If the City is so intent on building the Mary Avenue bridge, what about the idea to convert Mary Avenue at Central Expressway into right and left turns only in both directions. That way, it could not easily be used as a short-cut for traffic to/from Moffett Park by out-of-towners, and yet local Mary Avenue residents could still access Central Expressway from both ways.

I wonder if this would help to cut down the traffic on Mary Avenue. I'd like to hear input from responsible Sunnyvale residents on this question. Maybe the idea is flawed, but I thought it worth discussing as an alternative to alter the predicted increased traffic flow down South Mary Avenue--with or without the proposed bridge to Moffett Park.

I had in mind that the proposed bridge should connect Moffett Park at Central Expressway instead of at Mary to encourage long-distance commuters to use roads that access highways and not a local street filled with over 200 driveways.

I realize it wouldn't stop traffic from going past our houses on South Mary Avenue en route to Central. But the conversion might nudge out-of-area Moffett Park hires to use highways instead of our local street as a short-cut to the newly built Towers.

Someone has pointed out that a similar example is Tantau at Stevens Creek in Cupertino. Traffic from the business parks north of Stevens Creek must turn on Stevens Creek. However, traffic from Stevens Creek can turn south to the residential areas, while the residential traffic can go north to the business park.

However, this conversion at Mary and Central with no-through lanes would be more effective if the City were to modify South Mary (from Fremont to Central) into two one-way lanes with a middle turn lane, bike lanes, and retained on-street parking. This would ensure the traffic moving smoothly instead of sporadically allowing residents to turn more safely into their driveways and intersections. The farther end of South Mary, from Homestead to Fremont, is already restructured from 4 lanes to 3 lanes (as described above). This way, bikers can ride in safety all the way from highway to highway.

Another traffic headache to residents is the reckless speed at which vehicles race through our residential street outside of peak hours, even in the wee hours. It seems like they are making up for the interruption of vehicular flow they experience during commute time.

The Sunnyvale West Neighborhood Association (SWNA) which represents about half of Sunnyvale's homesteads, supports the creation of a friendlier, greener neighborhood atmosphere where children, the elderly, bikers, pedestrians, and our handicapped can negotiate the road crossings and lanes with safer assurance. After all, Mary Avenue is not a speedway.

It seems like Moffett Park is getting to be a bigger concern to Sunnyvale than the proverbial "tail wagging the dog." The city is going to have to choose wise, permanent transportation routes to the new commercial center in Moffett Park. Not quick fixes like the proposed Mary Avenue Bridge.

Jan Boehm is a longtime resident of S. Mary Avenue and a member of the Sunnyvale West Neighborhood Association.