Tag Archives: John

On 23 June 2016, about fifty people attended the Willow Glen Neighborhood Association (WGNA) Board meeting at the Willow Glen Public Library Community Room.  The WGNA was started in 1973 and over the years has done some good work speaking on behalf of our community within the City of San Jose.  One of the most controversial topics discussed by the WGNA has been the Road Diet discussion which has sharply divided our neighborhood for over a year.

The San Jose City Council will discuss making the Road Diet (“Lincoln Avenue Pilot Project”) permanent at their 28 June 2016 meeting. Please join me there tomorrow if you want your voice to be heard on this contentious local issue.  The Lincoln Avenue Pilot Project report by the San Jose Department of Transportation (SJ-DOT) has been finalized and will be reviewed by the City Council at its 28 June 2016 meeting.

The 23 June 2016 meeting started with much confusion.  It seems that there was a WGNA meeting on 25 May 2016 that about six neighbors attended at which the 2016-2017 WGNA Board was elected.  WGNA has shrunk so much that six seems to have been a valid quorum.  Minutes of the 25 May 2016 election and Board Meeting were distributed on 23 June 2016, along with copies of the poster the WGNA Nominating Committee used to announce that meeting.  From what was reported,  it seems that some members of the 2015-2016 WGNA Board would not cooperate in announcing the 25 May 2016 Board election through WGNA email lists and website, so the 2016-2017 Nominating Committee did the best it could through other means of communication.  There are still debates going on Facebook over who said and did what when.  The 2016-2017 Board told us on 23 June 2016 about about closed-door Board meetings held during 2015-2016 about which there were no minutes posted (closed-door meetings are against WGNA By-laws and Policies).  As of last week, the 2016-2017 WGNA Board was still working to get access to the WGNA bank account and website.

After this distressing context-setting, the neighbors who came to last week’s meeting seemed more interested in seeing what can be done to repair our community than in continuing to fight about the past.  The neighbors supported the return of WGNA to being a grassroots organization.  Many of us signed up for committees to help resolve neighborhood concerns.  Key issues before the 2016-2017 WGNA Board include:

1. Road Diet resolution
2. Fire Department improved service coverage
3. Evans Lane Housing Project for homeless people
4. WGNA fundraising through sales of the Touring Historic Willow Glen book
5. WGNA treasury, dues, and financial management in general

The WGNA 2016-2017 Board voted on 23 June 2016 to write a letter immediately to the San Jose Mayor and City Council asking for a postponement of any decision about the Road Diet.  The 2015-2016 WGNA Board was one of the strongest supporters of the Road Diet and on 13 July 2015 sent a letter to SJ-DOT endorsing it.  This 13 July 2015 letter is Attachment J of the 6 June 2016 Lincoln Avenue Pilot Project report.  The WGNA 2016-2017 Board will ask the city for a delay so that the circumstances and position of that letter can be investigated.

At the meeting on 23 June, I was glad to meet Helen Chapman in-person.  She is one of two candidates for the San Jose District 6 (Willow Glen) City Council seat being vacated by Pierluigi Oliverio.  Whoever replaces him will need to address the five categories of Lincoln Avenue problems associated with the Willow Glen Road Diet, described in my 17 June 2016 post:

1. Traffic safety and speed
2. Parking
3. Bicycles
4. Delivery Trucks
5. Community Trust

John Plocher and I have recommended that since parking is the biggest concern to local businesses (and the problem least addressed), if there were at least two multi-storey parking garages added to Lincoln Avenue, it would change the dynamics of traffic significantly for the better and would eliminate many of the problems of the Road Diet. More information about this recommendation is in my 22 June 2016 post.

Images Copyright 2016 by Katy Dickinson

This is part of my continuing series on Willow Glen‘s Lincoln Avenue Roadway Configuration Pilot Project (“Road Diet“). These are observations from a detailed review of the San Jose Department of Transportation (“SJ-DOT”) publications on the Road Diet, looking at reports from the SJ-DOT from 2015 and 2016. Thanks to John Plocher  who assisted me with this review.

Please send comments, error corrections, or additions – they are welcome!  The San Jose City Council will discuss making the Road Diet (“Lincoln Avenue Pilot Project”) permanent at their 28 June 2016 meeting. Please join me there if you want your voice to be heard on this contentious local issue.

SJ-DOT Road Diet Project Area Location Map, 6 June 2016

SJ-DOT Road Diet Volume and Speed Data Collection Location Map – Detail, 6 June 2016

Analysis of the Road Diet 2016 Report from the SJ-DOT

Observations are listed roughly in the order that the information appears in the report.

1. The Road Diet map of the SJ-DOT above shows the Project Area under consideration.
2. A key finding from the 2016 SJ-DOT report is on p.4: “Based on the one year of ‘after’ collision data, it is inconclusive whether the modified lane configuration has had a measurable long-term impact on traffic safety… the total number of crashes was higher than the year prior to the pilot project.” That is, there were 22 crashes during the last year, compared to 8 the year before.
3. My observations are limited to data inside the Project Area and Transition Zones which together are 1.1 miles long (Lincoln Avenue from Nevada Avenue to Lonus Street).  The Project Area without the Transition Zones is just 0.7 miles (Lincoln Avenue from Minnesota Avenue to Coe Avenue).
4. There were SJ-DOT sensors (or “automatic recorders”) in a variety of locations inside and outside of the Project Area during the time of measurement.  Only two of SJ-DOT sensors were actually in the Project Area or Transition Zones: one South of Meredith Avenue on Lincoln Avenue, and the other South of Glen Eyrie Avenue on Lincoln Avenue.
5. The SJ-DOT reports are full of detailed and confusing information from outside of the Project Area (measured because the SJ-DOT is responsible for more than just the Road Diet).
6. On p.6 under “1B Neighborhood Street Traffic Volume and Speed Findings”, the report says most streets were unchanged but two were worse (two passed the threshold into “adverse”).  On pp.6-7 under “1c. Major Street Traffic Volume and Speed Findings”, both Pine and Minnesota showed a strong increase in speeders. That is, areas outside of the Road Diet area are less safe because of the Road Diet.
7. On p.7 of the 2016 report, Travel Times are given for “the Lincoln Avenue Corridor” which is 2.64 miles long.  By more than doubling the area measured (from 1.1 miles to 2.64 miles), significant variations in the Non-Road-Diet sections distort the data and conclusions.
8. There are only two indications of cost in the SJ-DOT report, both in the “Policy Alternatives” section on p.14.  One says that not modifying a traffic signal will save $65,000 and the other says that removing modifications to that signal will cost $15,000.  There is no indication how much has been spent on the Road Diet so far, including the long list of additional improvements already implemented (listed on p.10).  There is also no indication of what it would cost to remove the Road Diet or make it permanent.
9.  The San Jose City Budget Message dated 30 May 2014 includes the following: “Pedestrian Safety …The City Manager is directed to allocate $45,000 in one-time Construction Excise Tax funding for this type of minor pedestrian safety improvement on Lincoln Avenue.”  This is the only funding reference we have identified so far for the Road Diet.
10. On p.17, “Calmer Traffic Environment” says that “motor vehicle speeds decreased on Lincoln Avenue”.  Looking at “Attachment B – Lincoln Avenue Volume & Speed Summary”, the average change in the Project Area was 7% decrease in volume, and the average percent of speeders in the Project Area went down 6.3%.
11. The SJ-DOT data analysis does not define a margin of error, making it hard to understand if any of SJ-DOT’s reported measures are statistically significant.  Variations seen in SJ-DOT report tables for areas outside of the Road Diet are often much larger than variations inside of the Road Diet area.
    • Example of variation outside of the Project Area: “Attachment E – Lincoln Avenue Travel Time” shows a -30% to +82% change to areas outside of the Road Diet.
    • Example where margin of error matters: “Attachment B – Lincoln Avenue Volume & Speed Summary” show that volume and speed measures are down on average 4% in 2016.  This measure may very well be so small as to be within the statistical margin of error.
12. “Attachment E – Lincoln Avenue Travel Time” shows for the Minnesota to Willow segment of Lincoln Avenue:
    • Northbound traffic was on average faster (22% less time or 35 seconds faster)
    • Southbound traffic was on average much slower (36% more time or 1 minute, 13 seconds slower)
13. “Attachment F – Lincoln Avenue Intersection Level of Service Summary” shows that the LOS (Level of Service) is unchanged for the Lincoln/Minnesota and Lincoln/Willow intersections.  Both of these intersections are still “D” on a scale of A to F, where: A is less than ten seconds, and F is more than 80 seconds delay to get through an intersection.

Click here to see the entire Willow Glen Road Diet Series.

Images Copyright 2016 by Katy Dickinson, with thanks to the SJ-DOT for their maps