HomeMy WebLinkAbout2/4/2025 Item 7a, Finger
Helene Finger <
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Cc:Helene Finger
Subject:Feb 4 City Council Meeting Correspondence for Item 7
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Dear Mayor and City Council members,
I am writing in regard to Item 7 on the Feb 4, 2025 City Council meeting agenda.
It is great to see the progress made on this project. My highest priority request on these
plans is related to the fact that the current plans show only pavement markings for the
segment on Madonna Rd from Higuera to the Madonna Inn, which will not provide a safe
route to Laguna Middle School.
A commitment made in May 2022 in the ATP grant that funded this project is, “This project
proposes to pursue a design exception with Caltrans in order to construct protected bike lanes on
the Madonna Rd overpass of US 101.” (page 31). Caltrans is still waiting for City sta? to ask for this.
In May 2024, the City Active Transportation Committee (ATC) unanimously voted to recommend
that this segment be a continuation of the multiuse path on the downtown side of the highway
overcrossing. In the intervening 9 months, no request has been made to Caltrans to move this
forward.
The multiuse path is a simple design that would be fast and economical to design and construct as
well as maintain since it only requires a straight segment of formwork on an existing
roadway. Using costs from the engineering estimate in the ATP grant application, a 10’ wide
sidewalk from Madonna Inn to Higuera would cost $285,000 to construct. This could be funded by
removing neighborhood tra?ic circles ($500,000) and most speed humps ($75,000) from this
project.
There would be no negative impact on tra?ic operation at Higuera & Madonna, since bike/peds
crossing Higuera going either direction could use the same signal cycle that westbound cyclists
currently use here if the bike/ped crossing of Higuera is located on the downtown side of the
intersection. See figure below for modifications to figure on page 23 of sta? report .
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My other comments are secondary to fixing the dangerous Higuera/Madonna intersection and
highway overcrossing.
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Humps are not needed on most neighborhood streets, but if installed on shared neighborhood
streets, they should have cut-outs for cyclists.
Modifications for Banderola, Ganador and Madrid Courts are not warranted and should be
removed to save money.
Meadow Park Class 1 path needs to be shown on the plans at Exposition St (Sheet SPM-21). The
crossing of Exposition between Class 1 paths from Bridge St & Meadow Park should include a
direct (angled) crossing for cyclists, preferably with a bike/ped RRFB. Curbs should be painted red
from the path to the park property-line on the travel-side of each curb-cut. See figure below to see
location of bike crossing.
A new curb-cut should be installed at Meadow Park entrance on Woodbridge St. I can’t tell if this is
already in the plans.
A better curb-cut needs to be installed at Meadow Park entrance on Corrida. The existing ramp
forces most people cycling to ride in the dirt.
At Higuera and Walker streets, green paint needs to mark where a cyclist should ride to make a left
on Marsh St. As a cyclist I am not sure where to cut over and the bu?ered bike lane markings
further confuse this.
At Higuera and Marsh streets, green paint needs to mark where a cyclist should ride to travel on
Marsh St under the highway. Initially, is it between the northbound and southbound lanes? Is it the
right-side of the road and then cut across the northbound on-ramp? I am confused here as a
cyclist and a motorist.
Thank you for considering my comments,
Helene Finger, PE
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