City Beat

City Council to relieve area traffic headaches

Stop signs, barriers still months away

By Michele Leung

Despite being one of the best places in the country to live (see story, page 14), Willow Glen still has to deal with traffic as one of its top headaches. The City Council is adopting a new policy to calm traffic stresses in residential neighborhoods.

The new three-level policy lays the groundwork for future requests for calming studies. In general, when a neighborhood asks for a solution to minimize traffic impacts, city analysts collect data for a 24-hour period.

The policy also expands the current traffic calming program. The Department of Streets and Traffic is asking for three more workers to gather data and test traffic mitigations. The staff is also proposing that the Bicycle Advisory Committee be enlarged to accommodate pedestrian issues as well.

In addition, the Neighborhood Automated Speed Compliance Program, a solution for speeding cars, would be expanded to twice its current size. A second camera van, an engineering technician and two traffic checkers would cover the expansion.

As much as some neighborhoods want to make requests to slow down traffic on specific streets, Larry Moore, of the Department of Streets and Traffic, says the policy isn't designed for that. "What we don't want to do is for someone to say, I want to get a particular device. What this person is saying is, I know what the problem is and I know a solution." The department believes that without a proper analysis, surrounding streets would be inadvertently impacted.

The new traffic program approaches each situation with base level restrictions, such as warning signs, stop signs and curb markings. If simple signs don't do the trick, traffic engineers would look at the next level of measures, adding physical barriers such as chokers, traffic circles, diverters and street closures.

The process from collecting data up to placing a stop or speed sign may take anywhere from two months to two years. That's no comfort to Denise Brady, who lives on Minnesota Avenue. Brady has seen cars traveling at 50 mph on her street, pets hit by speeding cars and a drunken driver crash into two houses.

For the past eight months, she has initiated three rounds of petitions from her neighbors, asking the city to improve traffic where they live. Though she says her neighbors have undertaken similar efforts, with no results, Brady isn't discouraged yet. "I'm going to keep plugging away," she said.

The new traffic -calming policy is the culmination of three community meetings at which 250 citizens expressed their concerns and suggested possible solutions. The City Council is expected to approve the recommendations at this week's meeting.

Around the Glen

Walls separate neighbors, cultures

San Jose Children's Musical Theater presents 'State Fair'

Sports Briefs

High school sports