|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Drivers soon won’t be allowed to turn from Dublin Canyon Road onto Laurel Creek Drive after the Pleasanton City Council this month voted in favor of the move after hearing complaints from residents in The Preserve about speeding commuters cutting through their neighborhood.
The permanent ban — which expands upon a right-turn restriction for commute hours implemented at the fickle intersection just over a year ago — came as a compromise for the council after some Preserve residents opposed the original plan, supported by other neighbors and city staff, mainly because it would have also prohibited all left turns from Laurel Creek onto Dublin Canyon.
“This is distressing, what I’ve heard tonight,” Vice Mayor Arne Olson said while voting for the intersection changes Feb. 6. “My view is that (traffic) volume and speed are the same. They go together. And I think we need to do a better job of monitoring speed through this neighborhood.”
“Safety trumps convenience any day of the week, and I think this does at least deal with some of the safety issues,” Mayor Jerry Thorne added. “I’m concerned that the speeding might not stop, so in the after-study, I would like to see some results for the speeding as well.”
Located in northwest Pleasanton, Laurel Creek is an undulating, two-lane public street that runs throughout The Preserve between Dublin Canyon Road and Foothill Road (at the Stoneridge Drive intersection). A few homes front Laurel Creek, but the vast majority of the houses are on smaller streets and courts that splinter off from Laurel Creek.
Laurel Creek at Dublin Canyon, the only entrance or exit for The Preserve on the neighborhood’s north side, is a T-intersection with eastbound and westbound Dublin Canyon free-flowing while drivers on northbound Laurel Creek have a stop sign.
With Dublin Canyon running parallel to Interstate 580 in the area, Laurel Creek has been a popular cut-through route for commuters hoping to avoid freeway traffic, especially around the I-580/I-680 interchange nearby.
With high traffic volumes and speeds in The Preserve already on the city’s radar, traffic-calming measures were implemented in December 2016 — two radar speed signs along hilly parts of Laurel Creek and a restriction prohibiting drivers from turning right from eastbound Dublin Canyon onto Laurel Creek between 6-9 a.m. and 3-7 p.m. weekdays.
But those moves didn’t cut down on cut-through traffic and speeding nearly as much as estimated, according to city staff and many Preserve residents.
“These people took my road, our community road … to reduce the amount of time it took them to get home,” resident Stan Willis told the council Feb. 6. “They had no regard for our 25 mph speed limits. They had no regard for the dog walkers. They had no regard for the bikers. They had no regard for the signs that said please slow down kids live here.”
City staff studied the effectiveness of the initial traffic-calming measures in January and April of last year, noting an early improvement in January 2017 (when Pleasanton police were also conducting targeted traffic enforcement in The Preserve) but a significant regression in April, according Mike Tassano, the city’s deputy director of community development.
Tassano said prior to December 2016, cut-through drivers accounted for 84% of traffic on Laurel Creek during afternoon peak commute hours. After the calming measures were implemented, those cut-through levels dipped slightly, between 45% and 73% depending on the commute day and time.
The Weekly went out to Laurel Creek and Dublin Canyon on a recent Thursday, to get a glimpse at how the intersection fares during the afternoon commute.
Of the scores of cars driving on Dublin Canyon past the intersection from 4:25-4:45 p.m. Feb. 8, two made the legal left turn onto Laurel Creek and nine made the illegal right turn onto Laurel Creek, including a maintenance pickup truck with a faded “City of Pleasanton” decal on the driver-side door.
Four of the right-turning cars slowed considerably through the intersection, possibly with the driver noticing the sign alerting motorists to the turn prohibition during commute hours but still making the turn. (One cyclist also made the right turn from Dublin Canyon onto Laurel Creek, which is allowed.)
Eight cars approached the intersection on northbound Laurel Creek, and all but one made a left at the stop sign onto westbound Dublin Canyon. As residents mentioned during the Feb. 6 council meeting, that left turn is much busier during the morning when commuters are going to work.
With a traffic problem still on their hands, the Laurel Creek Drive Traffic Calming Steering Committee last summer polled the 145-house neighborhood to see if residents would support either closing the Laurel Creek-Dublin Canyon intersection entirely or blocking off just the southbound side to prevent drivers from turning from Dublin Canyon Road onto Laurel Creek.
The partial-street closure — which also included prohibiting drivers from turning left from Laurel Creek onto Dublin Canyon — received support from 67% of residents who responded to the committee’s petition, the threshold needed to advance the proposal to the council, Tassano said. Under that plan, all traffic wanting to enter The Preserve would need to come in on Foothill Road on the opposite side.
Council members heard from 16 resident speakers on Feb. 6, with about 40 more Preserve neighbors sitting in the audience.
The group in the council chamber seemed split, with a little more than half endorsing the recommended partial closure while others wanted to be allowed to turn left out of The Preserve onto Dublin Canyon or turn left from Dublin Canyon into the neighborhood.
Residents in favor of the partial closure said they didn’t mind having their entrance-exit options limited. Reducing the often dangerous — and sometimes rude — cut-through drivers took precedence, they said.
“My house is about as far from the intersection of Foothill and Stoneridge as is possible, so if anyone is going to be inconvenienced, it’ll be me,” Preserve resident Andrew Gelb said. “I am more than willing to accept that inconvenience because I’ll take inconvenience over danger any day of the week.”
“I feel the benefit for the entire neighborhood far outweighs the inconveniences that this closure will impact upon me,” Orson Leong added.
On the other side were primarily Preserve residents who use Dublin Canyon to commute toward Oakland or San Francisco and argued that having to drive all the way around to Foothill Road to get in and out would add significant time to their commutes.
“We haven’t really done any assessment on the impact to the residents of The Preserve … We’ll have to follow the same rules for entry and exit as all non-residents would too. And that does pose an inconvenience,” Ed Swetavage said. “I’d hate to see us try to solve one problem but at the same time create another problem, a larger problem.”
“That is my time. Five minutes in the morning means my breakfast, I cannot have breakfast. Ten minutes in the afternoon means dinner hours,” Joanna Lee said of increased commute she would face. “I am a busy working mother, so that time is very important.”
In the end, the council members opted to support a modified version of the recommendation.
They directed staff to move forward with closing off southbound Laurel Creek to all turns from Dublin Canyon (except bicyclists) but still allow left turns from Laurel Creek onto Dublin Canyon. The vote was 4-0, with Councilwoman Karla Brown absent.
“When you look at the whole picture, we’re really talking about the safety of the neighborhood, the safety of our kids,” Councilwoman Kathy Narum said. “I think we need to give this a try, and we need to monitor it … and see if it’s working.”
The intersection changes are scheduled to be implemented during the summer, Tassano said. The cost is estimated at $20,000 to add signage, paint new vehicle and bicycle striping on the streets and install flexible, spring loaded bollards to block off southbound Laurel Creek at Dublin Canyon — which would still allow emergency vehicles to pass over top if needed.
-
This BMW sedan made an illegal right turn from Dublin Canyon onto Laurel Creek around 4:30 p.m. Feb. 8. That turn is now being permanently outlawed after the commute-hours-only restriction proved ineffective, according to city staff and Preserve residents. (Photo by Jeremy Walsh) -
A look westward at the intersection during a weekday morning. Some Preserve residents urged the council to keep intact the left turn from Laurel Creek onto Dublin Canyon (like the minivan is trying at left) to help with their morning commutes. (Photo by Jeremy Walsh) -
Dublin Canyon at Laurel Creek is the only entrance-exit for The Preserve on the neighborhood’s north end. Soon, drivers will only be able to exit (and not enter) at this intersection. (Photo by Jeremy Walsh)
I’m surprised the developers didn’t try to close that entrance completely and put a couple more houses on a “quaint Pleasanton cul-de-sac”.
Also has the neighborhood considered taking that street private? Thus adding a gate. I think it is the only development west of Foothill Road that isn’t private.
And now the real solution after my saterical comments.
Pleasanton should put more restrictions on Dublin Canyon to completely deter commuters from taking that road. Speed Humps. That’s a dangerous left out of Canyon Meadow anyhow. There is no commercial business that relies on the commuters on that street.
We have so many speeders cutting through to avoid the mess at Santa Rita and Valley and we have a park with kids. We do have a “your speed is…” but it certainly doesn’t stop the violators. I have seen cars going 42 in a 25. SUCKS and so dangerous.
Don’t expect to get our road closed in any way but it would be great to see something done on Kolln.
Cut-throughs are the worst possible drivers for their rude and arrogant behavior. Try living downtown or driving anywhere on Main St or First St during most hours of the day. They speed, they roll through stop signs, they refuse to give way to pedestrians. On First St they use the left turn lane as a passing lane. We need massive traffic enforcement for ALL violations. The cops should target a specific area and have a large presence writing violations for every infraction. Adding a long time to the commute as well as costing them money might encourage some of these jerks to obey the laws. Nothing is likely to force them back onto the freeways where they belong. If the traffic engineer would time the lights to force them to stop for every light that would also help. The old story about how “that would hurt those living in Pleasanton” does not ring true. I don’t know anyone living here who would not welcome a little traffic disruption if it got rid of some cut-throughs.
I’m not sure what to do about Main and First. Unfortunately, Pleasanton city planners failed to create enough non-residential north-south routes on that side. Bernal could have been one, but they let a few houses abut the road north of Kottinger that ruined it. Even so, they didn’t provision enough space to allow these roads to absorb the cars safely.
As for true residential cut through traffic—where the speed limit is 25 and it’s all houses—then that’s definitely a problem that needs fixing. I don’t support these half measures for using cones to close off streets, but mostly because I think they are really ugly solutions. I’m not sure the Berkeley/Palo Alto planter bollards are better, but some solution that doesn’t look temporary would be better.
Dublin Canyon probably can’t be modified at all, as it was the old highway.
I wish something could be done for Valley east of Santa Rita. They should try to remove some of the crossings and make it a safer road at 40.
Oh, as personally, my favorite solution would be to not have closed off any roads or reduced speeds but to have put in license plate tolling. City residents can use residential roads for free. Non residents would be fined for using “City residents only” entrances to those neighborhoods. I’m not sure that’s currently compatible with state law, however.
That was probably me on the bike.. I love the LC cut for the extra altitude.
yes wealthy neighborhood syndrome. Look at foothill @ castlewood and the no left turn there during commute hours.
Wait. So the city will step in when it’s The Preserve, but it’s ok for commuters to speed down Raven, Woodthrush, Blackbird and Crestline to avoid the schools on Valley? Monday through Friday we see people fly through Birdland during commute hours. We can’t even get speed humps in this neighborhood, but the residents of the Preserve can get the city to step in and give them partial street closure during commute hours? Must be nice. There are so many kids walking and riding their bikes to school around here (not just Birdland, but all the neighborhoods around the schools) and are far too many commuters treating the residential streets like they’re on Santa Rita. Residents in this neighborhood have been complaining to the city for years and nothing happens. I guess your have to have a multi-million dollar, sprawling home to get attention. If the Preserve wanted to be a gated community then they should have set that up from the start.
I have used this route since it was opened for public use but have only seen it policed a few times. The Pleasanton Police need to enforce the laws here too!
I have been guilty of cutting through the Preserve. BUT heck it’s a public street.
it’s a public street.
it’s a public street.
it’s a public street.
The residents should make it private gated community, if that’s what they want. Since when does the city say who can or cannot use a public street.
I’m sympathetic to the public street concern. Most likely the developer paid for it, and then charged the homeowners, so it’s not as if we paid for their street. But yes, the deal was that they give the street to the city. So perhaps it is annoying that they can then set conditions on us. But that’s how it works. If you don’t like it, email the city and the traffic engineer enough that they begin to sense that the community may not be of one voice and that non-neighborhood citizens want a say too. Right now, the city seems to operate under the idea that the neighborhood has the biggest say in what happens to them, and not other neighborhoods.
Personally, I dislike all the restrictions. Those made for out of towners should be replaced with a better technological solution. Those made for school traffic issues I understand.
So, my tax dollars go to pave and maintain Laurel Creek Dr. which is a public road, but I can’t use it now? That is not right and I’d venture to say a lawsuit would agree. If the residents of the preserve want a private community and private road, like Ruby Hill, then they should pay for the maintenance and paving.
I expect cut through traffic to be averted on Hansen Dr, Birdland and Valley Ave to Livermore. Step up city council and do your job. Govern equally.
Another terrible decision by the gutless city council.
You could sue like Matt Sullivan. You won’t win. But I don’t know if, in an administrative writ suit, whether you can be forced to personally pay for the city’s legal fees as you could in many standard civil actions.
The road is public. It was not paved with your money. But it will be repaved with your money. If you don’t like it, call and email the council and the traffic engineer and tell them you find this to be an unacceptable usurpation of a public right of way. I’d agree with you. I’m just not going to waste my time about it. The city won’t listen, because they probably correctly expect that the local neighborhood voice outweighs our voices. So it’s fruitless.
I get why everyone vents here. It’s annoying, in principle. But name an argument that could actually persuade and that would be great. In the mean time, I guess all of you who wish you could clog the streets of the Preserve (hate the name) in protest will have to enter on Stoneridge.
Speed humps are not effective Told city traffic that before they were made permanent on Crellin but to no avail. They provide a ‘fun’ challenge for speeders and an eyesore instead. Don’t believe me? Hang out on upper Crellin Rd and watch how effectively they slow people down. I also do not endorse shutting down city streets either but money talks in this town.
Speed humps/lumps and privatizing Preserve roads both came up during the meeting but deemed infeasible.
For speed humps, the preferred locations would be on a slope of 11-14 degrees, which if installed could lead to unsafe (potentially airborne) conditions for downhill drivers, per city staff.
A private gate on one side is not an option because Laurel Creek Drive is public. There was no interest from neighbors to band together to try to privatize Laurel Creek (and all Preserve roads) nor an interest from city officials to discuss negotiating for those public roads.
I can’t wait until the first resident of the Perserve is cited by a cop and tries to use the “but I live in here” excuse.
To the statement on the no left on Foothill at Castlewood–this diverts traffic to cross Foothill and U-Turn on Castlewood Drive. Castlewood Drive (after you cross Foothill) is a private road. It is not maintained by the city or the county. There is no trespassing posted at Castlewood. So while you may not get a ticket for a left…you’re trespassing.
Hansen, I like your plan! It does totally remind me of Owens.
I’m no lawyer, but turning would be failure to observe a traffic device. Of cours, your own signs can’t be prosecuted. Real signs usually have the stamp of the agency who installed them, and you can subpoena their records to prove it was there officially. However, I’ve often thought about making my own sign. It would be quite fun.
The number of houses that are affected by cut through traffic in the preserve pales in comparison to other areas mentioned above and does not have the volume of children at risk as does school zone neighborhoods.
I hope that fact is evaluated by the city and they put the dollars where they are most effective. I do not believe it is the Preserve.
Haven’t driven on laurel creek dr. In awhile did they build a school or park there??? That would explain the closing of the road to cut thru commuters, if not it’s good to be rich and have your public street made into a semi private road, reminds me of a developer that was given our public street (Owens Dr.) for their personal gain. 3 speed bumps on Hansen Dr, really?? What about Valley or Bernal between 1st and Stanley especially around Palomino where the “your speed is” lights flash RED all the time!! Las Positas by Hart middle school, reminds me of the old Fremont Drag Strip. Need more traffic enforcement, red light cameras everywhere, more speed bumps around our parks and schools and lets close off more of our streets at commute time, if it’s good enough for the rich it should be good enough for the rest of the citizens.
I suppose you could stage a protest. Get a bunch of cars to crowd into the Preserve community and clog their streets. That would send a message perhaps.
The 30 at Bernal at Palomino is ridiculous. And I doubt it’s enforcable…traffic engineers often make the mistake of taking hills and curves into account, which is prohibited by state law. You have to remember, we have a system where drivers are empowered to k ow what is a safe and reasonable speed. The sign (if it’s above 25 and below 65) only establishes the starting assumption on what’s safe and reasonable—and only if the traffic engineer properly followed the law and set it at the 85th percentile of car speeds through that area, minus 5 for obstacles that a driver cannot see or anticipate. Even then, you have the right to convince the judge that your speed was safe and reasonable.
Speed humps in non-25 zones don’t change that. If you can safely take them at 40, go for it. That’s why there aren’t any here. And in residential streets, you can take them at 25 all you want. I do. I know that gets certain familiar faces there riled up because they think one ought to go 10 over them and don’t like the sound of my suspension happily absorbing the bump as of it were a flower. But such is life for those who advocated having them installed and didn’t anticipate the sound.
The stretch only has 1 stop sign… throw a few more in there. Especially on the downhill.. commuters will hate it.
Johnny, I’m not a commuter and I’d absolutely hate it. I’m tired of trying to slow the time it takes to get anywhere in this town.
Once or twice a week I turn right onto Laurel Creek Drive off Dublin Canyon road. I have navigated this route for last six years or so.
I have never seen a pedestrian, walker or runner, have never seen a cyclist, on Laurel Drive. The only life on Laurel Creek Drive I have seen are turkeys and deer.
I have no intention to change my navigation habits, I enjoy seeing the turkeys and deer.
Pleasanton has a long tradition of being friendly to developers and under-developing its roadway infrastructure. The only exceptions to this rule are Hacienda Business park and some of Stoneridge Mall, both of which were planned in the 1970s.
All too often the City’s solution to increased traffic is to put in traffic lights or block cut-through traffic via turn restrictions, etc. But cutting through neighborhoods is what your present and previous councils planned for Pleasanton when they failed to provide the necessary boulevards, school access, frontage roads for intra-neighborhood traffic, etc.
Recently we have had non-developer candidates run for City Council, but except for Karla Brown, they lost. In a Democracy the people get the government they deserve!
Probably shouldn’t have people that work in real estate making decisions down at city hall ( past & present) that might help to line their pockets later.
If they wanted to address the real issues they would widen the freeway 580 East through Pleasanton instead of merging it to 3 stupid lanes and update the on and off ramps at 580/680 interchange. Traffic engineers are so clueless and never the real issues. This would cut down on all the traffic cutting through neighborhoods, DUH
It must be nice to live in a wealthy neighborhood where taxpayer dollars are used to close public streets. We have many commuters cut through our neighborhood, but I doubt our street will be closed. As always, money speaks.
Why don’t they just put in speed bumps (or humps)? Is that what they have done in neighborhoods we commoners live in?
As many have suggested, money speaks loudly. It speaks louder than calling the City Council and complaining. Based on this situation and the Owens Drive lane giveaway, I’ve hatched a plan.
I want to expand my back yard to include a large dog run and Bocce ball court. Because my backyard butts up against a road that is used by cut-through traffic and many pedestrians and cyclists, I’m going to make a generous donation to certain City Council members and argue that the cut-through traffic is creating havoc and unsafe conditions for pedestrians and cyclists. I will then ask for the portion of the road adjacent to my property to be ceded over to me for my personal use.
The City will be able to spin this action as in the best interest of the community, reducing cut-through traffic and calming traffic for pedestrians and cyclists.
Who cares if my neighbors are inconvenienced!
Question for the lawyers out there: what is the law that would be cited if a motorist disobeys one of these road closures? In this case and in the case of the left turn from Castlewood to Foothill, it is not for public safety. Is a public nuisance law being cited?
Access to roads through neighborhoods during commute times is happening all over Fremont and Milpitas due to Waze and other apps sending commute traffic through neighborhoods. When signs are put up prohibiting access to public streets during certain hours, what law or statute is being cited? If I do not like someone driving by my house or parking in front of my house, can I simply make a nice looking sign and have PPD cite anyone who violates it?
@Grumpy & Hansen Curious:
I live near W. Angela and Harrison a narrow street that allows parking on both sides and when cars are coming in both directions one must give the right away to the other. BUT-the guy that own the apartments on the corner of Harrison@W. Angela obviously doesn’t like to share his street parking with ACE or anyone else for that matter and put up his own signs stating “Resident Parking Only” seems to work sometimes. The Goodguy people could care less about the signs of course. so go for put up your own signs. it works most the time.
Now if we can only get the people that use W. Angela street as a highway to slow down. Yes ACE riders I am talking mainly about you.