Pros & Cons – Northern SCA segment

This webpage pertains to the Northern Santa Cruz Ave segment, north of the “Y” intersection to Avy Ave.  County has recently decided to not make any improvements to safety on this segment.  That does not mean there are not major safety issues here, nor does it meant that the community should just give up.  These safety issues on this segment can be addressed and many of the safety action are very low cost.   Join the coversation.  Push for safety to be applied to this segment of the roadway.

There are several safety issues along this segment, high on the priority list are the high rate of speed, the high accident rate, and the safety of pedestrians and cyclists, as this segment has a major school crossing and many school age children and families use this roadway.

Pros:

  • Reducing the width of the  current extra wide (freeway wide) lanes will help reduce speed 
  • Significantly safer roadway for all pedestrians, cyclists, motorists, and residents
  • Much calmer traffic with fewer distracted drivers
  • Improves safety for Residents to enter/exit driveways
  • Greatly improved cycling safety by the added SB bike lane and removal of the SB  ‘shared’ bike/traffic lane (aka no need for Sharrows in that lane)
  • Extends the NB bike lane  that is currently between Oakdell and Avy by another 300′ 
  • Retains parking
  • Allows the option to reduce the speed limit to be the same as the rest of the corridor
  • Realigns the crosswalk to actually be at the Sharon & Oakdell intersection
  • Does not restrict volume of traffic – same amount of traffic flows, just calmer and lower speed

Cons:

  • Offset intersection at Sharon Rd and Oakdell is complex so difficult to solve
  • Some of these improvements could cost hundreds of dollars, some even a few thousand
  • This forces community to decide between safety and higher speed traffic
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