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Uploaded: Monday, October 15, 2007, 10:25 AM
Alamo fed up with speeders
Is limit the problem or enforcement?
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by Natalie O'Neill
| The speed limit on Danville Boulevard might be lowered from 30 to 25 miles per hour to keep non-local drivers from blasting through Alamo, public works traffic officials told the Alamo Community Council on Thursday.
But the answer to the speeding dilemma could have more to do with traffic enforcement than it does with a speed limit or engineering on the major Alamo artery, residents said.
According to county public works, average speeds on the boulevard have dropped four miles per hour since the flashing lights at Jackson Way were put in last summer. But even with the improvements, danger is still knocking at the door, residents said.
"There is zero traffic enforcement on Danville Boulevard - zero," said Mike Gibson of Alamo Improvement Association.
Traffic control in Alamo must rely on the California Highway Patrol since it is an unincorporated area. Towns and cities, on the other hand, can assign members of their own police departments to monitor specific areas for traffic. And some Alamo residents see this safety concern as a solid argument in support of cityhood.
Less attention from the highway patrol is just a reality when you're dealing with other, more vital freeway issues, said Jerry Fahy, senior civil engineer for the traffic section of Contra Costa County.
"The enforcement on a county road becomes a different priority when there's an accident on the freeway," said Fahy, who has worked with the CHP to solve traffic problems.
Public works will take a sample of 100 cars that are free-cruising, without signal lights or other traffic to interfere, in order to test whether the speed limit should be lowered.
The last sample was taken 10 years ago, when the speed limit was lowered from 35 to 30 miles per hour. It showed speeds of over 50 miles per hour on Danville Boulevard.
The root of the issue may be commuters, who get off the freeway exit durring rush hour to avoid a clogged freeway flow, residents said.
"The real problem is the non-local traffic," Gibson said. Are you receiving Express, our free daily e-mail edition? See a sample and sign-up for Express.
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| Comments
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Posted by Forest Warn, a resident of the Alamo neighborhood, on Oct 15, 2007 at 4:36 pm And now something completely different for Natalie,
In Stepford, the village formerly known as Alamo, the concept is always to deal with the affect after the fact. There is a simple solution to commuters speeding through Alamo. Get rid of the commuters!
Danville Boulevard should become Tree Museum Boulevard, as a toll road, and residents can be issued usage passes. As Joannie Mitchell so appropriately said, "They took all the trees and put them in a tree museum. And they charged all the people a dollar and a half just to see them." It is a very effective and polite way to tell commuters to get out of town.
See, the answers are always proactive and simple,
Forest "Fore" Warn
seediesteye@yahoo.com
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Posted by Melinda Still, Morro Bay, a resident of the Alamo neighborhood, on Oct 17, 2007 at 8:21 am As a former Alamo resident, I recall the humor of our e-chains that would have created a 100 mph speed limit in Alamo. The concept was too simple. At 100 mph, even the most careless driver would have to consider just how fast is safe and, of course, the initial carnage would have deterred commuters from our boulevard.
The issue has always been what Millie Greenberg called a "corridor of significance" for Danville Boulevard in describing its primary purpose for foreign (commuter) travel. A toll road is a solution more than it is humor so that our boulevard does not become a by-pass for 680.
Focus on the cause,
Linda
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Posted by Dave W., a resident of the Alamo neighborhood, on Oct 22, 2007 at 10:35 pm The problem is, as the article states, commuters. Leave the speed limit the way it is, in fact raise it back to 35. Why punish those of us who live here because of a bunch of idiots during 2 small parts of the day?
25mph, 30mph, 35mph, it doesn't matter, the road is straight and easy to speed on. Maybe they should enforce the limits more?
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Posted by Forest "Fore" Warn, a resident of the Alamo neighborhood, on Oct 23, 2007 at 3:11 pm Then there was the proposal to make the fourth bore of the Caldecott Tunnel run under Danville Blvd for the length of Alamo. The Freeway exits would only connect to the tunnel and the Boulevard would be OURS.
Now isn't that a plan?
Fore Warn
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Posted by Hal Bailey, a resident of the Alamo neighborhood, on Oct 24, 2007 at 2:34 pm I was laughing this lunch hour at the concept of several names for Danville Blvd. To bring Alamo "up to speed," Livorna to Rudgear would become Livorna Blvd. Ridgewood Road to Livorna would be Ridgewood Blvd. Hemme to Ridgewood would be Plaza Way. El Portal to Hemme would be Hemme Blvd. At each end of the named Boulevards, there would be a sign, "ROAD ENDS."
The proposal is simply to make the simple answer more obvious. Danville Blvd goes to and from the Alamo business district and should not go freely through it. Access through the district should be on access lanes through a renovated shopping MALL. Clearly, commuters would go away or go shopping.
Sometimes humor provides obvious realities. Thank you for your thoughts, Alamo.
Hal/CDSI
More information? Contact Vince Kreigher, seediesteye@yahoo.com
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Posted by Teddy, Concord, a resident of another community, on Oct 27, 2007 at 7:33 pm Posted as a courtesy:
OK, Alamo, get over it! Danville Blvd is a highway and not your personal road. The Boulevard is there as a corridor north and south and not as your own private domain.
So let's get real and put the speed limit at 45mph and all of us will promise to get out of town as soon as possible. Why would we want to linger in a town that has so little to offer.
Teddy
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