As many Redwood Shores community members know, there are concerns with traffic speed and pedestrian safety at the intersection of Redwood Shores Parkway and Cringle Drive. This issue has been studied and discussed at length in the community and among City staff.
To address the pedestrian safety aspect, and with the strong support of the Board of Directors of the Redwood Shores Community Association (RSCA), the City will be recommending that stop signs be installed on Redwood Shores Parkway at Cringle.
In response to community concerns earlier expressed to the City, staff had installed electronic speed and pedestrian warning signs, and also reconfigured the traffic lanes in an attempt to “calm” traffic and reduce speeds. While the pedestrian warning signs provide an additional level of safety to pedestrians, the other measures have not had an appreciable effect on traffic speeds (and unfortunately, the speed warning sign suffered a mechanical malfunction that we were unable to correct). There remains a slightly-elevated average speed (37 mph) near this intersection. It’s also reported that a high percentage of motorists continue to fail to yield to pedestrians attempting to cross in the crosswalk.
It’s important for the community to understand that the traffic volume and accident history at this intersection do not, in and of themselves, warrant the installation of stop signs. Additionally, stop signs are generally not recognized as devices for slowing overall traffic speeds. However, in order to further improve pedestrian safety at this intersection, the City is moving forward with this recommendation.
The City Council will be reviewing the recommendation at their meeting of May 24th. Interested members of the community are invited and encouraged to attend and join the discussion on this recommendation. The City Council meeting is May 24th, 2010 at 7 pm at City Hall, 1017 Middlefield Road in Redwood City. The staff report for this recommendation will be online at redwoodcity.org no later than Friday, May 21.
— M. Saber Sarwary PE,
— Supervising Civil Engineer, City of Redwood City