Laserfiche WebLink
that was that it would cause more residential cut through traffic. From an environmental <br />standpoint, the best way to reduce automotive emissions is to create the smoothest flow possible <br />once the traffic is moving, instead of lots of starts and stops. With regard to moving the metering <br />farther up the street, that was an option. The only downside he saw was that in calculating how <br />many more cars would be stored on Sunol between the freeway and Sycamore, it would increase <br />the delay getting into town by about four minutes. The only negative impact would be on the <br />residents who use that route to get home. He believed the traffic would still back up to the <br />freeway. However, with traffic there is always a balance; once traffic delay gets to seven <br />minutes maybe cut through traffic will go a different way. There is always that dynamic in play. <br />Because it only involves changing some signal timing and moving three signs, he would be <br />willing to trying it at Sycamore to see the effect. If the citizens most affected supported moving <br />the metering to Sycamore, he would try it. However, he felt it would only be a temporary <br />improvement and traffic will back to the freeway again. <br /> <br /> Joann Roush, Crestablanca Drive, spoke for her husband, who drives 680 daily, and her <br />daughter, who lives off San Carlos Way. She said they both support the metering on Sunol. He <br />finds the traffic to be smoother and her daughter feels it is safer to enter and exit her <br />neighborhood. Before the metering, cars would fly down Sunol and there is a curve which <br />prevents seeing cars coming around the corner. If cars have to stop at the signal, it slows them. <br />Mrs. Roush also supported the metering. She felt she could cross town better, and can make left <br />turns easier onto her daughter's street or into the shopping center. <br /> <br /> Jennifer Hosterman, 2922 Chardonnay Drive, said she had met Mr. Knowles at the <br />metering location one evening and she witnessed the traffic backing onto the freeway only a <br />couple of times. She asked if them were a sign on the freeway warning motorists of the <br />metering, would that be a deterrent? She noticed that when traffic backed up to the freeway, <br />there was a rnoment when drivers could see traffic on the offramp and she saw several cars keep <br />going on the freeway. Since the metering was started in the summer months, she asked if there <br />would be more traffic as September arrives and will that make a difference? She was also <br />curious about metering on the other side of town. She asked about metering the morning traffic <br />on Stanley coming into Pleasanton at Isabel. She was concerned about traffic moving to Isabel <br />and down Vineyard, which is already impacted. <br /> <br /> Mr. Knowles said a freeway sign might discourage some drivers and alert them to the <br />traffic. In regard to the summer traffic counts, staff is aware that the numbers are fewer and also <br />noted the economic downtown and they expect Sunol traffic volumes to increase as the economy <br />improves. One of the reasons the traffic numbers were released immediately before the metering <br />and immediately after the metering started, was to show the effect of the metering and not <br />because of the effects of an economic down turn. In terms of Isabel, he said that traffic signal is <br />controlled by Livermore, so Pleasanton staff could not meter that signal. The Vineyard Corridor <br />to some extent is already self-metered because there is a four-way stop at Montevino and the <br />road has a limited inbound capacity. The other issue is that Signature Properties was required to <br />install a traffic signal at Ruby Hill when it meets signal warrants. That intersection now meets <br />the signal warrants and the signal will be installed. That would be the ideal place to meter <br />inbound traffic using the Vineyard Corridor. It would not impact those trying to access Ruby <br />Hill, but would control those trying to come in to Pleasanton on Vineyard from the east. <br /> <br />Pleasanton City Council <br />Special Meeting Minutes <br /> <br />7 08/22/02 <br /> <br /> <br />