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Mayor Pico indicated that the traffic back from the light at Sycamore does not go all the way to the freeway. He asked why the metering could not be moved back to Arlington and the metering adjusted so traffic does not back up to the freeway off ramp. He felt that was a more reasonable alternative for those who live in the neighborhood offArlington and Sycamore. They would be in front of the metering and staff would not have to deal with special striping, etc. He felt there could still be significant reduction in traffic. Mr. Knowles said he was reacting to what he heard from a group of residents at a traffic meeting to discuss the Diamond Court access. The residents at that meeting preferred the metering at Sycamore rather than Arlington because (1) they were not worried about being rearended coming off the freeway and (2) they found it easier to get into the cuff>side lane and pass the stopped queue to get into their street than when the traffic used to back up to the bottom of the freeway off ramp. In addition, the California Highway Patrol representative said the meeting should be at Sycamore. Mr. Knowles was trying to address the residents' concerns. Mayor Pico said there was a petition signed by many who live off Sycamore and Arlington indicating the metering is a real problem for them. Mayor Pieo would like to consider Arlington again, or even to stop metering altogether. Mr. Knowles continued with the staffreport. Mayor Pico noted that the metering is taking traffic from city streets and putting it back onto the freeway. He asked if this just adds to the congestion on the freeway? It appears that some areas like Santa Rita would be improved, but the traffic on the freeway pays the price. That doesn't make sense. The only way to add cars to the freeway is if the freeway can keep moving. Mr. Knowles said that was true. He gave examples of people getting off the freeway to avoid bottlenecks. If the freeway traffic could continue to flow smoothly, then there would be no need to get off the freeway. He continued to explain on ramp metering. Mayor Pico asked how all this coordinates with what happens on the freeway when one gets to Airway Boulevard in Livermore? There would be a lot of traffic merg/ng onto the freeway there with no metering lights. Would there be a bottleneck there that could back up to E1 Charro or Santa Rita? Mr. Knowles said the problem could shift to Livermore if it does not mm on the metering lights that are in place. As traffic engineer for Pleasanton, he felt he would be successful if he could move the backup three or five miles down the road and to allow the residents to use all the freeway ramps and stop cutting across town. His goal is to improve traffic flow on City streets and to reduce cut-through traffic. Ms. Ayah felt the ideal was for all the cities to mm on the on ramp metering lights at the same time. Pleasanton City Council 13 02/18/03 Minutes