by wendeeswonderings | Oct 14, 2013 | Council Meeting, El Camino Real
It may be hard to imagine El Camino Real as a Great Street, but the City of Mountain View has begun work on a focused plan for El Camino Real to address housing, land use, mobility, and design options. Known as a “precise plan,” city officials and council will work over the next twelve months to identify opportunities and refine alternatives for the future of El Camino.
One of the first public meetings is a city council study session on Tuesday, October 15 at 6PM at City Hall, where high level strategies will be discussed to improve bicycle and pedestrian safety and access both on El Camino and from the surrounding neighborhoods. No decisions are made at Study Sessions but public input is taken and considered by City Council.
The plan area encompasses 222 acres and runs the entire 3.9-mile length of the El Camino Real corridor in Mountain View. The plan area includes the majority of parcels fronting El Camino Real plus additional parcels adjacent to the corridor.
El Camino Real is currently outside the boundaries of the Great Streets focus area, but the El Camino Real Precise Plan is an opportunity to build on the pedestrian, bike, and people-friendly streets central to the Great Streets vision and we’re interested in taking a closer look at some of the opportunities for the corridor, especially for biking. We’ve identified some of the issues below, but would love to hear your ideas in the comments and hope you share them with city council.
BIKING
The recently adopted city-wide planning blueprint, known as the General Plan, envisions El Camino Real as a “vibrant transit and pedestrian corridor” and bicycling is deemphasized since the street has heavy, fast-moving traffic, with many trucks. Only the fearless confidently pedal El Camino Real, but others ride the sidewalks since there’s often no other route, which endangers pedestrians and complicates bike trips. However, with new development slated for El Camino, and numerous existing retail destinations, strong bike access could play an important role on the street. Alternatively, parallel neighborhood streets such as Latham/Church could prioritize bicycling, but some destinations on El Camino would still be difficult to reach.
WALKING
While bicycle improvements are debated, the need for better pedestrian access is undisputed. Pedestrian crossings on El Camino are few and far between, with a half mile between some crossings. Crosswalks can feel dangerous with drivers not stopping for pedestrians and the walk sign set for only the healthiest and fastest walkers. Additionally, sidewalks are narrow, with poor lighting and the concrete is marred by years of neglect. The Precise Plan will set standards that increase the sidewalk width, but there may be additional elements to improve pedestrian safety and access.
TRANSIT
“Improved transit performance,” was identified by the city as a key goal for El Camino, but with the numerous barriers to biking and walking on El Camino Real complicates transit use before you even reach the bus stop. While larger projects such as VTA’s Bus Rapid Transit Project will be debated in the future, transit use in general will be suppressed without safe, direct, and attractive walking and biking routes to transit.
Let’s discuss what bicycle and pedestrian improvements could make El Camino a Great Street. Leave a comment below or send a note to council! You can also get in touch with lead city officials for this project here.
by wendeeswonderings | Feb 13, 2013 | California Street, Castro School, Escuela Avenue
Great Streets Rengstorff Park invites you to a Bike Tour on Saturday, March 2nd from 9AM to 11AM!
Enjoy a leisurely morning ride and learn about how Rengstorff Park neighborhood streets are key assets to building stronger social ties, economic success, and a healthier community in Mountain View. You’ll travel approximately 4 miles with stops along the way that highlight stories from neighborhood residents who will share with you some issues and the many opportunities to create safer and more attractive places to walk, bike and congregate in the city’s highest density neighborhood.
We encourage you to forward this email to anyone interested in safer streets in Mountain View or a lovely morning ride.
Don’t have a bike – no problem! Let us know, we have a few available.
Please RSVP to GreatStreetsRP@gmail.com no later than February 26th.
by wendeeswonderings | Feb 6, 2013 | Uncategorized
Members of Great Streets Rengstorff Park were gratified as we attended two successful meetings this week.
GSRP was informed several months ago, that the next step to move the California Street road diet from an idea to reality was to have it placed on the Capital Improvement Project (CIP) list. City Council has the final word on the CIP list, but input from the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (B/PAC) is important for council’s decision. Only a handful of projects make it into the 2 year CIP list cycle due to limited city funding.
With this in mind, GSRP attended the January 30th B/PAC meeting and asked them to recommend the California Street road diet for the CIP list. Following public comment from supporters and an engaging debate on the merits of many projects eligible for the CIP, Bruce England called for California Street road diet to be included with B/PAC’s recommendations. Mr. Purdon seconded, adding that the corner of Escuela and California Street is important due to nearby Castro Elementary and other services. After some discussion, California Street road diet was unanimously placed on their short list and headed for Council!
January 31st, City Council met for a study session to set city-wide priorities for next year. With the support of GSRP friends and supporters, our campaign to make our streets safe and healthy for everyone took flight. The majority of councilmembers showed support for making Mountain View bicycle and pedestrian safety a priority. We send a sincere THANK YOU to every councilmember!
With these successes, what is next? The CIP City Council meeting! We will need you to write emails or letters, attend this meeting or call city council to show your support for Pedestrian and Bicycle safety. We need you to support the California Street road diet!
We know that the key Capital Improvement Project council meeting will be in March, but do not yet have a date. Keep an eye on your mailbox as you will know the date as soon as we do.
We look forward to seeing you in March!
by wendeeswonderings | Nov 18, 2012 | California Street, Escuela Avenue
Elana Pacheco spotted PG&E connecting electricity to the new streetlight!
The Streetlight at California & Escuela now has power to it. The lanes need to be restriped and the old streetlight removed to complete this process. Sayed Fahkry, Senior Traffic Engineer, City of Mountain View, has said that he expects this to be completed within a week.
We look forward to posting pictures of the new streetlight when it is working.
Elana Pacheco and Sayed Fakhry in front of the electrical box for the new Streetlight.
by wendeeswonderings | Oct 17, 2012 | California Street, Escuela Avenue, Uncategorized
Dear Neighbors and Friends,
Please join us for an update for on Great Streets Rengstorff Park!
Friday, November 2nd
7:00 – 9:00pm
Rengstorff Community Center
201 Rengstorff Avenue
Mountain View, CA 94040
We were invited to attend the recent
Shoreline West Association of Neighbors (SWAN) community meeting where city staff and MVPD discussed the recent deaths on California Avenue and what they are doing to improve the safety of Mountain View streets.
GSRP will be discussing how you think we should improve the safety, access, and livability of Rengstorff Park area streets.
With the information we previously gathered and information from city staff we will be focusing our conversation on California Street and Escuela Avenue. If your interest is not on these specific streets, we hope that you will join us to learn more about the network of streets in this area as we hope to move forward improving the safety of this area, one street at a time.
Some highlights of our progress:
- We launched a website based on the information that we gathered from our first meeting.
- We have met twice with city staff and have new information on what we can do next to make the Rengstorff Great Streets Neighborhood streets safer.
- Lots of media attention! At last count five articles and three editorials in MV Voice.
A light dinner will be provided, a $5 donation is requested.
Please help us to involve more neighbors and friends by inviting anyone you think has any interest in safer streets for everyone in Mountain View.
RSVP preferred (so we know how much food to provide), but not mandatory. Please send an email to greatstreetsrp@gmail.com to RSVP.
We are very excited about the progress we have made and look forward to hearing your thoughts about next steps for this project!
Warmly,
Wendee and Jarrett
by wendeeswonderings | Sep 28, 2012 | California Street, Castro School, Escuela Avenue
Great Streets Rengstorff Park had a meeting with Mountain View city staff recently. Among other things, we asked when the new traffic signals on California & Escuela will be functional.
The lastest update from the City of Mountain View Public Works Department Dickson Tam –
The signal project has been on hold due to delays with PG&E’s new electrical service for the new signal system. Currently, PG&E crews are scheduled for tomorrow, 11/14, to provide the new service. The signal contractor can then complete some striping modifications at the intersection and turn on the new signal system shortly after that.
Great Streets wants to thank the city council and staff of Mountain View for their work to improve the safety of the Rengstorff Park Area.
This is a good first step to make this area safer, but more comprehensive solutions are still needed to further improve safety and accessibility. For additional information on GSRP suggestions to make both these streets safer please see GSRP California and Shoreline Road Diet and Escuela Avenue Bike Lanes.
Pedestrians crossing California Street at Escuela Avenue
by wendeeswonderings | Sep 15, 2012 | Uncategorized
Street safety and livability have come up several times in the Mountain View Voice during the last several weeks. We are excited to see that an issue that is so important, but is often been ignored, come to the front of the city-wide dialogue.
Reporter Daniel DeBolt interviewed several Mountain View citizens for his article on September 7th “Long road ahead to boost city’s bike network” and an editorial “Time to slow down on California Street.” These articles highlight the need to for the city to once again lead on developing not only safe, but livable, and multimodal streets. The article mentions the city’s new 2030 General Plan as a catalyst for achieving this goal, but the true test will be follow-through and implementation.
On September 14th, Great Streets again was featured on the front page of the MV Voice with an article title “Over 200 bike-related injuries in five years” with research about bike accidents in Mountain View and an editorial “City needs to ramp up it’s cycling effort“.
If you believe the city should be doing a better job on creating safer, more livable streets, shoot an e-mail to the Editor of the Mountain View Voice at editor@MV-Voice.com and let them know how you feel! Also, sign up for the Great Streets newsletter to learn about future opportunities to improve our streets.
