Redwood City sticks with Farm Hill changes

Initially focused on reducing the number of lanes running in either direction from two to one with a two-way center turn lane and bike lanes, the pilot has been adjusted since it began in the fall of 2015 to include acceleration lanes at some intersections and minor changes to traffic lights, according to a staff report.

René White, chair of the Farm Hill neighborhood association, called the pilot “terrific” in slowing traffic on the hillside road where he said it’s easier to go faster than the speed limit. He noted the contentious discourse among residents when the pilot was first proposed has died down significantly, and noted he’s even seen more bicyclists using the road in recent weeks.

“Because everybody has to line up in the same lane, I think it really has slowed down the speeds,” he said.

White said the one minor downside of the pilot he’s experienced is a steady stream of cars going east along the hilly road at rush hour, making it more difficult for him to turn left onto Lonesome Pine Road, the street where he has lived for more than 30 years. But White said he felt the city has been sensitive to community concerns about the pilot as it has taken shape, implementing measures such as speed bumps on nearby Fernside Street when some complained it had become a cut-through alternative after the Farm Hill Boulevard changes.

But for resident Chris Lopez, who has lived on Lonesome Pine Road for more than 40 years, difficulties with turning on and off the street after the changes are more than a passing annoyance. He said it’s become increasingly difficult to make turns on and off access streets like Eden Bower Lane during peak commute times because of the single, steady stream of cars after the changes. Lopez also isn’t convinced the road is any safer after the changes, noting cars haven’t noticeably slowed down with the lane reduction and adding that additional stop signs on the road would have better accomplished the goal of slowing vehicles than removing a lane did.

“It just makes it harder for people to get in and out,” he said. “You need to move a lot of vehicles at a slower pace, not create congestion and restrict them.”

Jessica Manzi, senior transportation manager with the city, said balancing the congestion that accompanies measures to reduce speeds like those implemented in the Farm Hill Boulevard pilot is an ongoing project and officials will continue to assess its impact. Though Manzi said traffic volumes increased on most city streets in recent years, she said numbers have been up on alternatives to Farm Hill Boulevard like Woodside and Edgewood roads, noting that the pilot’s effect on those numbers was difficult to parse. She noted an extensive evaluation of the pilot a year after it began showed a reduction in the number of crashes and vehicle speeds, as well as the potential for improved safety of everyone traveling along the corridor.

“That’s not to say that all the unsafe driving has gone away,” she said.

Manzi said tweaks to the design of some intersections with the major city thoroughfare have been made based on complaints from residents, noting the corridor’s intersection with Highland Avenue as one area of focus. Just east of where the street becomes Jefferson Avenue, the intersection has been adjusted so the center turn lane is now an acceleration lane allowing facilitating merging from Highland Avenue onto the eastbound side of Jefferson Avenue, and has been pegged for future study and possible improvements in a draft transportation study the city published this fall.

Manzi said a continued effort to improve on the changes implemented would likely be captured as the study is reviewed and assessed by residents. Aimed at identifying transportation measures needed across the city and compiling data on how residents are using existing transportation options in the city, Manzi said the study will help officials prioritize future transportation investments. She noted strategies such as increasing the visibility of pedestrians at intersections like Emerald Hill Road and Farm Hill Boulevard and further improvements to the Highland Avenue intersection are among the projects pegged for future study in the plan, which is expected to go to the City Council for review in February.

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