County stops left turns to Happy Valley Rd. County stops left turns to Happy Valley Rd. (December 23, 2005)

Homeowners want golf course traffic curbed

Alameda County road crews moved quickly last week to curb left turns from the city's Callippe Preserve golf course onto Happy Valley Road by installing a sign symbol indicating no left turns are allowed onto Happy Valley Road.

County Supervisor Scott Haggerty has been leading a campaign to stop golf course traffic from using the road, which county authorities have declared unsafe except for motorists whose homes are on the street.

The sign is the latest step in a budding confrontation between the city of Pleasanton and residents along Alisal Street and their neighbors on Happy Valley Road. If Happy Valley Road is barred to out of town golfers and those living in Castlewood and Pulte's Homes' Castlewood Heights subdivision, these motorists would have to travel twice the distance and use three different city streets to reach the course.

An Alisal homeowners association, which represents property owners in unincorporated Happy Valley, is urging that constituents voice their concerns over closing Happy Valley Road to through traffic directly to Haggerty. This group also has campaigned for several years, so far without success, to force Pleasanton to build a bypass road to the golf course that would keep golf course traffic off Alisal Street.

Both Alisal and Happy Valley Road are county roads, although Callippe and some other parts of the land along the eastern edge of Alisal are now within the Pleasanton city limits.

Pleasanton Police Lieutenant Thomas Fenner said the county's "No Left Turn" sign is legally enforceable, although it only prevents motorists from turning left onto Happy Valley Road from Westbridge Lane, the entrance to Callippe.

Golfers can still drive to Callippe on Happy Valley Road from the Sunol-Pleasanton Road and I-680, and eastbound traffic on Alisal can still continue onto Happy Valley Road.

Haggerty has initiated studies to determine how to block through traffic on Happy Road where it connects to Alisal and Westbridge Lane. Public hearings on his proposal are expected to be scheduled next month. -Jeb Bing

E-mail a friend a link to this story.