Saturday, January 8, 2011

Fwd: It's Turning Into A Regular Bureaucracy On Evergreen Avenue! "The Never Ending Expirements For Safety Committee"


From: Charlessands 
Date: January 8, 2011 8:25:02 AM PST
Subject: Re: It's Turning Into A Regular Bureaucracy On Evergreen Avenue! "The Never Ending Expirements For Safety Committee"

Bcc:  Madrone Park Circle, HVCC, Hearus and HVBeat
 
Keith,
 
Why do you ignore the root cause of the traffic issues on Evergreen ? Is our 1,000 lb. gorilla sacrosact ?  Why not eliminate the cause of all concerns about trafic by eliminating the cause  for these  concerns ?
 
Your idea of having a traffic study made is a good one.  Barton Ashman, an internationallyrecognized San Frasncisco pedestrian, bike and traffic safety engineer, could provide an imparial environmentally sustainable solution. 
 
In the meantime:
 
o Why  not just demand that the County require MHS to van all its commuting students ???  An Oct. 2010 independant traffic survey showed that MHS vehicles increase traffic on Evergreen by +/- 100 %. 
 
o Why not not just demand that the County require MHS to comply with its March 2010 revised Traffic Management Plan by requiring all MHS traffic to enter Homestead Valley on Montford ?
 
o Why not not just demand that the County require MHS to comply with its March 2010 revised Traffic Management Plan by requiring all MHS traffic to not use Lilian Lane to enter/leave Homestead Valley ?
 
o Why not not just demand that the County require MHS vehicles to leave Homestead Valley on Laverne by placing a "no left turn" sign at Melrose  and Evergreen ?
 
 
Charles
-----Original Message-----
From: Keith Garriott <saveevergreenave@gmail.com>
To: bos <bos@co.marin.ca.us>; fmansourian <fmansourian@co.marin.ca.us>
Cc: Keith Garriott <saveevergreenave@gmail.com>; skinsey <skinsey@co.marin.ca.us>; sadams <sadams@co.marin.ca.us>; jarnold <jarnold@co.marin.ca.us>; cmcglashan <cmcglashan@co.marin.ca.us>; hbrown <hbrown@co.marin.ca.us>; Al Wuthnow <alwuthnow@gmail.com>; bbeaumont <bbeaumont@co.marin.ca.us>; walkbikemarin <walkbikemarin@co.marin.ca.us>; dawn_foster <dawn_foster@dot.ca.gov>; Rebecca.Crowe <Rebecca.Crowe@fhwa.dot.gov>
Sent: Sat, Jan 8, 2011 4:19 am
Subject: It's Turning Into A Regular Bureaucracy On Evergreen Avenue! "The Never Ending Expirements For Safety Committee"

Bcc: Save Evergreen, Hearus, Madrone Park Circle Groups  Greetings County Officials and Homestead Neighbors,  I've been recently observing some idea's being tossed around amongst residents of Homestead Valley lately concerning Evergreen Avenue for the intention of it being made a safer street.  One suggestion is a call to have a 3-way stop sign to be installed on the corner of Melrose and Evergreen Ave. Being that there are already sufficient stop signs at nearby intersections within one block, I think this would be a good idea for a painted 3-way crosswalk intersection with the existing stop sign on Evergreen Ave and yield signs on the north and south sides of Melrose Ave pointing to the crosswalks. It would surely make it safer for children to cross the street to and from Evergreen Ave to the school located across the street, and also making the drivers aware of the pedestrian crosswalk causing them to make the turn from Melrose to Evergreen more cautiously.  I would also suggest some school crossing signs to be placed in the appropriate locations at that corner on Melrose facing both directions within the designated areas approaching the school zone, along with a reduce speed sign for vehicles during school hours on Melrose and Evergreen Ave.  Being that Evergreen Ave is such a dangerous street to some people, then I would think the County would conduct the proper road study surveys to determine the proper signage an other traffic safety measures to improve this road that is obviously a prefered way of travel over the other roads leading to and from this neighborhood.  How come nobody at DPW bothers to eleviate some unnecessary traffic on Evergreen Ave and Homestead streets from the lost tourists trying to find Muir Woods and MT. Tam? I suggested in December along with getting other residents feedback, a sign to be placed on Montford/Molino intersection showing a "Keep Right To Muir Woods and MT. Tam Sign", instead of letting them accidently head into the Homestead neighborhood stopping everywhere to get directions from residents!  Most of you are aware of the near miss dissaster of having a 6 foot wide grey concrete sidewalk built on this street of limited capacity...somebody's idea? Quite a drastic measure without consideration for the overall impacts that may be implemented on the road characteristics in mind.  As suggested by some residents, maybe we should install a gravel pathway on one side of the street...better get yourselves use to sweeping the rocks the pedestrians kick up daily! It's also not very ADA complient.  I'm also hearing some other rather odd ideas about making Evergreen Ave a one-way-street in a certain section or sections. I think this kind of idea is going to surely fuel the fire for the unauthorized calls for safety measures that are making their way down our charming rural street, entangling residents with obsticles and making our street into a concrete chopped seuy.  I'm affraid that something like this will open the door for "The Never Ending Expirements For Safety Committee"  to decide that it's for everyones best interest in examples such as: Narrowing Evergreen Avenue's travel lane widths to be less than accordance to Caltrans minimum travel lane width for the intention of "Traffic Calming?"  Someone may come up with an idea for in the near future after the proposed sidewalk is built, to possibly eliminate all of the parking on the north side of the entire street to make appropriate room for students bicycling to school along side the students walking on the newly built sidewalk that seems to be fine for the walkers, but raises a concern for the safety of the bicyclists, automobiles (especially commercial vehicles), and students who love walking in the street in groups.  So what will the Evergreen and Homestead residents think of this idea...we do want everyone to be safe on Evergreen Ave, right?  Instead of this all being put upon the Evergreen Ave and Homestead residents to bare the burden physically and mentally, proper steps need to be taken when making improvements to existing streets so senerio's like this don't happen.  Part of that process is a road study survey. This would determine whatever safety additions need to be applyed to this road or any other, which would all be incorporated into the street plan as valid safety factors.  There are some simple safety additions that I noticed should be applied to make Evergreen Ave safer without any drastic measures applied first.  I'm requesting that DPW's traffic engineering staff consider surveying Evergreen Avenue's road characteristics to determine what simple steps could be taken to improve Evergreen Avenue in a simpler approach than a drastic one!  Here's some items I notice shoulded be on the agenda for making the street safer before anything drastic is proposed:  A). A reduce speed sign at the blind curve between Ethel Ave and Linden Lane on Evergreen Ave (in both dieections)  B). Speed limit signs posted in visibly seen locations along the street and painted on the roadway.  C). Signs stating "local traffic access only" on Evergreen Ave, except during weekday business hours.  D). "Sharrows" (shared lane symbols) painted in appropriate locations for improved bicycle safety.  E). If a sidewalk is to be installed on the south side of Evergreen Ave, then a reduction in the width should be mandatory in the areas of substandard width to allow for a bike lane 4 feet wide on the north side while maintaning all street parking. (This is an allocation of width in sidewalk reduced to accomodate the bike lane within the county easement while including all the dimensions for road improvements such as the travel lanes and street parking widths).  F). Sign showing "Keep Right To Muir Woods/MT. Tam installed on Montford/Molino intersection (to keep unnecessary traffic off of Evergreen Ave).  In the case of having an effective redevelopement of Evergreen Avenue, to me (E) seems to make the most sense if a sidewalk it to be constructed. It's the most cost efficient way to fully develope the street with the intentions of having all who use this street accomodated for, by simply painting a line 4 feet from the north edge of the paved road. There's no need to lose any street parking in the future. Also wheelchairs will be able to access the north side via the bike lane (aka shoulder lane).  We don't want any of these following ideas that may soon be lurking on this street or in a neighborhood near you:  A). A sidewalk too wide for certain sections of the street to be installed (causing negative impacts on road safety for moving vehicles, bicyclists, wheelchairs, and pedestrians entering and exiting automobiles).  B). A bike lane put in after the new sidewalk is installed because the street is now presumed to be more dangerous for bicyclists (after the fact that I presented a proposal for a bike lane with a sidewalk reduced to 4 feet in the sections of the street of substandard widths).  C). Parking eliminated on one side of the street in place of a multi-use pathway. (Parking needs to be eliminated because the sidewalk as planned leaves no room for future improvements without taking drastic measures such as this)!  D). Evergreen Ave be made into a one-way-street?  E). Stop Signs located at every intersection known to Homestead Valley streets.  F). Video cameras and radar placed all along Evergreen Avenue to monitor traffic behaviors.  G). A toll booth located at Melrose and Ethel on Evergreen (collected for future improvements needed just in case something is added as an improvement, it might call for the need for something else to counter act it).  For more information and news about this subject, please visit:  http://saveevergreen.blogspot.com/  Best Regards,  Keith Garriott  (Keith Garriott is a resident of Homestead Valley, union building tradesman, musician, community activist, and the founder of the Save Evergreen Avenue Group, which aims to secure for the residents of his neighborhood the best and safest possible street improvement plan for Evergreen Avenue proposed by the Marin County Public Works and Marin County local officials).          .

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