Long-awaited road improvements are beginning to take shape on El Monte Avenue, a traffic corridor in Mountain View that has a record of pedestrian fatalities.
The Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee weighed in on an early design for safety improvements along El Monte Avenue, as well as an adjacent portion of El Camino Real, at a June 25 meeting.
The area under consideration runs the length of El Monte Avenue from El Camino Real to Springer Road and Jay Street, near the Los Altos border. It also includes two intersections on El Camino Real at Escuela Avenue and El Monte Avenue.
The planned road improvements follow a recent pedestrian fatality in the area. In April, a vehicle struck and killed a pedestrian at the intersection of El Camino Real and Escuela Avenue. Another pedestrian fatality occurred at the intersection of El Monte Avenue and Marich Way in 2015.
Currently, El Monte Avenue is a four-lane street with two travel lanes and a bicycle lane in each direction. The city is proposing a “road diet” that would reduce the driver lanes to three, consisting of one vehicle lane in each direction and a center median left-turn lane.
The proposal includes buffered bike lanes and high visibility crosswalks, as well as “refuge islands” to help pedestrians safely cross at Hollingsworth Drive, according to the staff report.
Several public speakers weighed in on the refuge islands at the June 25 meeting, urging the city to consider other alternatives to slow down traffic, like putting in a stop sign or a pedestrian crossing light for people to cross at the intersection.
“The refuge island is sort of defeating the gains we’re going to get with the road diet,” said Matt Stangl, a 31-year resident of Hollingsworth Drive.
The city also is planning for safety improvements at the intersections of Escuela Avenue and El Monte Avenue along El Camino Real. It is looking to install high visibility crosswalks, traffic signal upgrades and the removal of an existing slip lane from eastbound El Camino Real to El Monte Avenue.
Public commenters honed in on Escuela Avenue, describing the exit from the nearby shopping center parking lot as especially problematic.
“I regularly see people nearly get run over or hit by cars, particularly cars traveling southbound on Escuela who are turning left onto El Camino,” said Valerie Fenwick, a former Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee member. She also noted that it was difficult for drivers to safely turn right out of the parking lot onto El Camino Real.
The staff report says that the city is coordinating with Caltrans on the El Monte corridor improvement project, as the agency has oversight of El Camino Real.
The Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee members also pushed for more safety measures at the Escuela Avenue and El Monte Avenue intersections.
They supported a recommendation for a protected left turn lane coming out of the shopping center parking lot at Escuela Avenue, and asked for more protective elements at the corners of Escuela Avenue and El Monte Avenue.
Residents at the meeting also noted that El Camino Real remained difficult to traverse for bicyclists despite recent upgrades. People were still driving long distances and parking in the bicycle lanes, Fenwick said, suggesting that the city add more bike and pedestrian upgrades at key intersections that could possibly allow for Caltrans to install bollards.
The committee also recommended that the city look into reducing an 18-foot northbound lane on Escuela Avenue to make more space for a bicycle lane on the other side of the road.
They encouraged the city to conduct a vehicle speed survey as well, and consider reducing the 35 mph posted speed limit along the El Monte Avenue corridor. City staff noted that this could only be conducted after the road improvements were completed.
The final design for the project is expected to be finished by next summer with construction anticipated to start in spring 2027, according to the staff report.
This story originally appeared in the Mountain View Voice. Emily Margaretten joined the Mountain View Voice in 2023 as a reporter covering City Hall.
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