November 22, 2004
To: Michael Murdter, Director, Roads and Airports Department
Cc: Daniel Murrillo, Policy Aide to Supervisor McHugh
Cc: Ron Jackson, (Acting) Branch Manager, Road and Fleet Operations, Roads and Airports Department
Cc: Dan Collen, Design and Construction
Cc: Jon Elson, Branch Manager, Traffic and Electrical
Cc: Masoud Akbarzadeh, Traffic Engineer
Subject: State, BOS policies for walkers' safety; BOS directive on signs.
Hello Mr. Murdter,
State policy for pedestrians' safety and access:
CVC 21949 became effective on Jan. 1, 2001 and states: "It is the policy of the State of California that safe and convenient pedestrian travel and access ... be provided. It is the intent of the legislature that all levels of government ... work to provide convenient and safe passage for pedestrians on ... all streets and highways, increase levels of walking and pedestrian travel, and reduce pedestrian fatalities and injuries." The Roads and Airports Department recently did the exact opposite by eliminating some shoulders on Montague. These shoulders are recognized to be pedestrian facilities even by BOS policy.
BOS policy for pedestrians' safety:
Board policy states "Landscaping needs to be kept trimmed back at intersection areas and along the travel way so pedestrians do not have to enter the travel lane." [County Expressway Plan, page 93]
On Montague, there are many examples where this policy is contradicted as shown by my photos (see links below). In addition, some intersection designs on Montague do not conform to Board policy, as shown in the detailed bicycle section [page 5]. Most importantly, acceleration lanes are not an approved intersection design, and are the most dangerous for walkers and bicyclists. Not conforming to federal and County minimum lane width standards (near the Western Pacific Railroad crossing) are described in the link, below.
The cost for making Montague safe for walkers --where they must use a traffic lane, acceleration lane, or the trajectory of right-turning motor vehicles-- is almost nothing. It involves only trimming shrubbery, painting lines, signage --or if there is an ornamental embankment-- minor trail building. Unfortunately, Branch Managers Elson (in Aug. 2003) and Allen Jones (1990s) flat-out refused to take such actions. I only got results by going to Mr. Kutras (Jan. 2004) or field worker Dave Gaska (March 2003). But so much more needs to be done, as shown by the photos (links at bottom).
I see people walk on Montague almost every day (including at night) since I commute that way. I fear for their safety. The contradiction of Allen Jones and Jon Elson is that they have no qualms forcing people in appalling conditions where walkers have always been allowed (on Montague), while continuing a pretence that shoulders --including on Foothill-- are dangerous. They try to ban walkers there by keeping illegal prohibitory signs posted. [Photos of Foothill are in link below.]
BOS directive regarding sign removal:
The Department has still not complied with the BOS directive of May 4 to remove illegal signs, except in Sunnyvale. The major dispute is in the City of Los Altos, which has 8-foot shoulders on Foothill --the best of any expressway. Signs are still posted despite the fact Elson verified there is no prohibitory ordinance in Los Altos in August 2003 --then stated to me (when we met the same month) that he doesn't believe he has to comply with the law. Here is a link to all the violations of law by the Department:
http://moderntransit.org/expy/stonewall.htm
At the meeting with Supervisor McHugh, you referred to a "matrix" with regards to removing signs. If you were referring to the table in the staff report of May 4, that table was written for the HLUET's February meeting and has these incorrect assumptions that were told to the HLUET in your staff report:
1) pedestrians can be prohibited at will from expressways, and
2) the BOS opposes walkers' use of shoulders of expressways.
As you recognized at the meeting, the Board does support pedestrians on shoulders of expressways, and the cities have jurisdiction with regards to a prohibitory ordinance. As an example of an error, the table shows banning walking on Central Expressway in Sunnyvale but signs no longer exist due to the City ordinance change that allows pedestrians. This "error" was actually deliberate because the Department was informed of the repeal that occurred almost a year earlier, multiple times.
You did agree to remove illegal signs in your written staff report of May 4 by stating: "[The] Department is in the process of removing the prohibition signs because ... the city with jurisdiction has recently changed its municipal code to allow pedestrian access." In August, you stated “We have completed removal of the signs on Central and Foothill per the Board's direction on 5/4/04.” But the signs are still posted on Foothill. What is the reason for the delay in unbolting and removing the signs considering the lack of a prohibitory ordinance can be easily verified?
Brief history on signs:
Walkers are in no more danger on the shoulder than for a bicycle using a "bike lane." In fact, on three expressways, signs were changed from "bicycles prohibited" to "bike lane" with no other change to the road. This meant bicycles were "prohibited" from using the "bike lane" for 20 to 30 years, including on Foothill Expressway (see photos). The Department (then part of "Transportation Agency") continued opposing bicycle use of shoulders even after the BOS policy, adopted at my request in 1988, that the BOS "supports bicycles on expressways." Rollo Parsons, Hiro Kiratori, Lou Montini and others fought against bicycle use despite this BOS policy, the Vehicle Code and City Ordinances all being violated by keeping "bicycles prohibited" signs posted. The situation is the same today, except now the Department is fighting against walkers and transit patrons, instead of bicyclist, by keeping illegal signs posted.
Almost every time a prohibitory ordinance was repealed, we had to go through a huge fight to get the prohibitory signs removed. Parsons, Elson, Masoud and Jones --on separate occasions-- were forced to remove "pedestrians prohibited" signs --after they initially refused my request-- as a result of me going to Directors James Reading, Larry Reiter and Scotty Bruce or --after you became Director-- Supervisor Alvarado (in 1997) and the full BOS (May 4, 2004). Signs were usually gone two days after giving the order to comply (by the prior Directors).
Brief history on pedestrian/bicycle facilities:
Pedestrian facilities had been eliminated but were subsequently restored on southern San Tomas and on Lawrence with the help of Scotty Bruce and my efforts. On Montague, the 1989 eliminated facilities were not restored, and even more facilities were recently eliminated. All the eliminations were done despite the fact walkers were always allowed on southern San Tomas (formerly named Camden Ave.) and Montague (formerly named Trimble Rd.) and allowed for many years on Lawrence (formerly named Lawrence Station Road) by Santa Clara repeals in 1988.
Newly recognized phenomenon:
A recent study verified what we (experienced bicyclists) believed for years: The prohibitory signs greatly increase danger to walkers and bicyclists by misinforming and misleading drivers to not expect them (including, us) on the roadway, as described in this link:
http://moderntransit.org/expy/rename.html
Links:
Foothill Expressway, contrasting bike/ped facilities: http://moderntransit.org/expy/foothill.html
New photos on Montague: http://moderntransit.org/expy/m-gallery.html#new
Here again are the links to the photos of Montague I showed at the meeting with Supervisor McHugh:
Previous photos of Montague: http://moderntransit.org/expy/m-gallery.html
Montague near Western Pacific railroad: http://moderntransit.org/expy/m-wp.html
Montague & Kruse: shoulder restored: http://moderntransit.org/expy/safety-actions2.html
Details (text) re walkers' safety on Montague:
http://moderntransit.org/expy/repeal.html#montague
This letter (to be formatted, uploaded tomorrow): http://moderntransit.org/expy/murdter.html
Sincerely,
Akos Szoboszlay
President
--
Modern Transit Society
web site: moderntransit.org address: PO Box 5582, San Jose CA 95150 phone: 408-221-0694