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Laurie Nowak, 4318 First Street, said she appreciated the traffic study. She moved to <br />Pleasanton when her husband bought a business here. Her goal is to live and work in the same <br />town so she doesn't have to be a commuter. He husband used to commute down 680. When she <br />bought her house on First, she didn't realize how much traffic there would be. She wondered <br />about the large trucks that still use this street. She is willing to drive 25 mph and did not want to <br />increase the speed limit in front of the houses. She noted the buses on the street are very loud. <br /> <br /> William Olson, 301 Diamond Court, indicated he commutes to the Peninsula area. <br />When metering first started, he noted a big backup on Sunol. Each day he uses that route, and he <br />goes at different hours, it seems to be getting better. He asked if there were times when Sunol <br />backs onto the freeway every day? <br /> <br /> Mr. Knowles said there are no guarantees. It does occasionally, but not for a long period <br />of time. His concern about installing a warning sign on the freeway is that is not a consistent <br />message. Sometimes there will be congestion and sometimes not, but the sign will be the same <br />and eventually people will ignore it. <br /> <br /> Mr. Olson said that even though he has to wait through one or two signal changes, he had <br />no problem with that. He felt cutting down traffic through town was important and should be the <br />primary consideration. If traffic continues to back on to the freeway, CalTrans should widen the <br />freeway to add an extra lane so cars can back up and still provide a shoulder for the CHP officers <br />to use. He would not like to see metering moved farther into town to mitigate the problem. <br />Access to Diamond Court is another issue. The metering has made a noticeable difference and <br />made it easier to move into and out of his street. <br /> <br /> Cindy McGovem said she moved here in 1973 and there were no traffic signals. It was a <br />bedroom community with few jobs compared to what it has today. She keeps hearing people say <br />build more houses so more people can stay in town and reduce the traffic. She has not seen that <br />work. She felt 79% of the people who live here and commute out, live here because it is a satE, <br />well-maintained, family-oriented, high amenity, high service community. She was opposed to <br />building more houses to keep people here, because it doesn't work. She was concerned about the <br />metering on Sunol, because it increased traffic on Bernal. She lives on Foothill Road and felt if <br />traffic is metered on Sunol and on Bernal and then Stoneridge because traffic has shifted there, it <br />is cutting a portion of the residents off from easily getting into the city to do business. She asked <br />if staff had considered how to equalize traffic on that side of town to make it easier for the <br />residents to get into town. <br /> <br /> Mr. Knowles said staff had realized it may be more difficult for people on that side of <br />town to get into town during the metering hours, but there doesn't seem to be a way of avoiding <br />that. If staff gets approval to continue with the program, it could be used in modeling scenarios <br />to develop a comprehensive plan for the ultimate solution. Metering is not the one and ultimate <br />solution, but may be a new tool to redirect traffic. There are no definite answers for the future as <br />yet. <br /> <br />Pleasanton City Council <br />Special Meeting Minutes <br /> <br />12 08/22/02 <br /> <br /> <br />