Modern Transit Society
moderntransit.org PO Box 5582, San Jose CA 95150 phone: 408-221-0694
May 11, 2004
To: Supervisor Alvarado,
Jane Decker, Deputy County Executive,
Debra Cauble, Deputy County Counsel
Cc: Supervisors and Transportation Policy Aides, Santa Clara County
Subject: Victory for pedestrians! Thank You!
Dear Supervisor Alvarado, Mr. Decker and Ms. Cauble,
Thank you Supervisor Alvarado for your support of pedestrians by placing compliance with law and BOS policy by the Roads and Airports Department as a Board referral. I also thank Jane Decker, Deputy County Counsel, and Debra Cauble, Deputy County Counsel, for correcting Mr. Murdter’s staff report to HLUET with regards to the right of pedestrians to use public roadways, and correcting his claims about State law and jurisdiction.
At the Board meeting of May 4, Mr. Murdter told the Supervisors he will comply with the law and remove illegal “pedestrians prohibited” signs. Altogether, 11.5 miles of signs will be removed. Not even counting Oregon “Expressway” (25 mph) in Palo Alto and Southwest “Expressway” of San Jose, 92% of “expressway” miles will allow pedestrians. This will leave San Tomas “Expressway” as the only road in the County with “pedestrian prohibited” signs on both sides of the road —other than freeways which are State highways. After Mr. Murdter completes his agreement to remove 1.5 miles of signs prohibiting use of pedestrian paths from San Tomas, half of San Tomas will allow pedestrians since some prohibitions were already repealed or never existed (for the former Camden Ave.).
MTS not only fought for prohibitory sign removal, but successfully fought for safety: Where the County highway engineers eliminated facilities for pedestrians and bicyclists, despite both being allowed, and forced people to walk in the 45 or 50 mph traffic lane after adding lanes, MTS successfully worked to restore facilities. As a result, about 10 miles of sidewalks were constructed, in addition to restoring shoulders for bicycle use. This occurred on Lawrence (in Santa Clara and Sunnyvale) and San Tomas (the southern part). In addition, due to MTS’ efforts, portions of Montague had shoulders restored or paths created so people don’t have to walk in the traffic lane, a result of adding lanes in 1989 without considering the existence of pedestrians and bicyclists whom were always allowed on Montague (formerly called Trimble Road).
Banning walking on the
pedestrian path (photo example below) is no more logical than the former ban on
bicycling in the bike lane (also shown below). The County Expressway
Plan [page 93] states:
Thank you, again,
Akos Szoboszlay,
President
Photos:
County “expressways,” except for portions of Montague, have better pedestrian facilities than many regular arterial roads with the same speed limit. Photo of Java Drive in Sunnyvale (below), shows how people walk to the LRT station and bus stops: One person walks in the traffic lane, the other along the light rail tracks, due to lack of any pedestrian facility: No shoulders, no paths, no sidewalks. The speed limit, 45 mph, is the same as for most “expressways.” Compare with …
… pedestrian paths and shoulders (below). Yet, the pedestrian (below) is subject to ticketing by police for …
… walking passed “PEDESTRIANS PROHIBITED” signs (below), despite a walkable path the entire way. The bike lane (above) would also be legal to walk on if a path was lacking (by Vehicle Code 21966). [Location is 45 mph.Capitol Expressway at Capitol Ave.]
Links
The main MTS expressway topics, links page is at: http://moderntransit.org/expy