# FYI: The San Tomas Creek Trail (Santa Clara) - closed for repaving 10/29-31



## 4Crawler (Jul 13, 2011)

*FYI: The San Tomas Creek Trail (Santa Clara) - patching complete*

The San Tomas Creek Trail will be closed from Agnew Road to Scott Boulevard on October 29, 30 and 31 between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. for pavement repair and maintenance:
- City of Santa Clara : News : The San Tomas Creek Trail

Also, I have observed a lot of automobile driver's running the red lights at the two street level crosswalks along this trail. If anyone uses this trail regularly, be really careful at those lights at Monroe and Agnews. If you observe a red light violation, please fill out the following traffic report with the SCPD:
- City of Santa Clara : Report Traffic Issues

I have reported the issue to the traffic engineering dept. and to the city council as well as the police dept. But they seem to need to be barraged with actual citizen complaints before they will do anything about it. Main problem area is the poorly designed light/crosswalk at Monroe:










I have highlighted the 2 pedestrian and 1 bike path crossings in green and the stop light, limit line and micro-mini "Stop Here on Red" sign in red.

The root cause of the problem as I have observed is that driver's don't really know where to stop. There are 3 crosswalks and no street intersection here. The lights are poorly placed at the far end of the crosswalk area. So driver's may think that they should stop at the light (after crossing 2 crosswalks already) or at the crosswalk they see occupied or they are trying to make the light at the expressway intersection that can be seen in the distance. 

What I usually see is that a driver will see the light change and when they look and see they are already over the first crosswalk line (thinking that is the only one), they figure they might as well keep going, not realizing there are 2 more crosswalks ahead. With 3 crosswalks, there are 6 entry points for trail users and if a driver looks as sees an "empty" crosswalk they think they can go through, but there are still 2 more crosswalks. I have had numerous close calls in the last 2 years and was even hit by a car a few weeks ago by a driver that blew through the red light. That evening, I saw a total of 5 vehicles run that red light in 2 light cycles.

I would like the city to extend the traffic lights so there are lights at the beginning and end of the crosswalk zone and that they put up some of those crosswalk sign posts in the middle of the road to alert driver's to the fact that this is a crosswalk. 

So if you see any drivers violating these crosswalk lights, please file a report with SCPD and maybe we can get this crosswalk made safer.


----------



## patrickkonsor (May 29, 2011)

I have seen many drivers blow through this intersection as well, most because they're just confused (although some people just don't want to stop for a trail crossing, I've even had one guy get super pissed at me for crossing when I had a green light). I have also seen many people stop in the middle of the intersection because they don't know where to stop, and they're often blocking the bike crossing. This is pretty dangerous and should be improved.

I agree that it would be helpful to add an overhead light at the beginning of the intersection, although this is probably fairly expensive and thus it seems somewhat unlikely. It would be pretty cheap for them to add big yellow/green crosswalk signs, and a much bigger and/or more visible "Stop Here" sign. I personally would like to see them add lights in the ground like I've seen at some of the more visible crosswalks in the area (like on Hollenbeck Ave near Homestead in Sunnyvale).

Sorry to hear you got hit, how badly were you injured? It seemed inevitable that someone would get hit here, and I'm sure more will if they don't make this intersection less confusing.


----------



## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

Thanks for the info on the tail closure.

I agree that the crosswalks at Monroe are a really terrible design. Some drivers are confused, some don't see them, and some seem to just blow right through them regardless. You basically have to assume that every car is out to get you.


----------



## 4Crawler (Jul 13, 2011)

Luckily no injuries for me, at least this time. I happened to be out long boarding that day, so had helmet, wrist guards, elbow/knee pads and padded shorts. I had waited for the light to change then about to step off the curb and saw an SUV run the light on my side of the road, 2nd lane. Tried to get the attention of that driver as I stood in the 1st lane waiting for him to clear, I don't think the driver even saw me. I guess I was watching to see if he would stop or anything as I crossed then suddenly saw a car in the 2nd lane on the other side coming at me. It stopped about where the red vehicle in the Google street view image above is. I basically tucked and rolled off that vehicle as it stopped. Had I been on a bike, it would have been curtains.

But please file a traffic issue report with the SCPD if you see any violations here. The officer I reported the accident to recommended that means to get the information to the police and city. As far as the location to use in the form, he told me to use Monroe St. as the address and cross street = Roosevelt Dr. or mention "at the Pumpkin Patch" since that is right there. It seems the police do not know what the "San Tomas-Acquino Creek trail" is. Just report as little or as much info. as you have when you see a red light runner there. Day of week and time of day as most important. I think the biggest issues are during rush hour, at least in the evenings, but that is the main time I am at that intersection. 

My biggest fear is that someone gets hit and seriously injured or killed and then have them sue the city for the poorly designed crosswalk. That could end up having the city close down the bike path and that would be a big loss for all the trail users.

Problem is that with a light-controlled crosswalk, there is the expectation that light changes to green bike or white walk signal you can cross safely. But that is not the case here, you had better look both ways once, twice or even three times before stepping off that curb and keep looking both ways as you cross. If I am crossing in the middle of a block, I expect that level of awareness, but at a light-controlled crosswalk, I think that the average user does not do that. 

I'll have to take a look at the Hollenbeck/Homestead crosswalk and maybe take a picture or two.I think the way the Monroe crosswalk was laid out was to save money. Since the crosswalk is a diamond shaped, they put the light poles at the ends of the trails on each corner and put the "push to cross" buttons on the poles. But this left the traffic lights on the wrong ends of the area. They would either need to put in stronger poles to hold up lights across 4 lanes of traffic or add poles on the other corners in order to light that area properly. So my guess is that it all looks good op paper when they designed it, but nobody from the city has gone out there to see how it works in real life.


----------



## patrickkonsor (May 29, 2011)

This is the crosswalk I'm talking about is a bit north of Homestead on Hollenbeck. There are little lights in the ground that make it very visible. Seems like they could add these to the crosswalks on Monroe and have them flash when pedestrials/trail users get a green light.


----------



## iclypso (Jul 6, 2011)

The 45-degree crosswalk is a bad idea in that makes the intersection much wider than need be. Why not have bikes cross the road perpendicularly and then join the traffic on Monroe for a few hundred feet before rejoining the trail?


----------



## 4Crawler (Jul 13, 2011)

iclypso said:


> The 45-degree crosswalk is a bad idea in that makes the intersection much wider than need be. Why not have bikes cross the road perpendicularly and then join the traffic on Monroe for a few hundred feet before rejoining the trail?


Agreed, it is a pretty strange looking thing for a car driver to come up on. For someone unfamiliar with the area, when they suddenly see a red light flash on ahead, they only have a second or two to to figure out what it is they are seeing and what they are supposed to do and stop at the proper location. 

The issue with the funky design is that the creek trail comes up the west side of the creek to the left side because there was no room on the east side for the trail. Then on the trail extension to the right side, the trail has to go up the east side of the creek channel since there is a fork in the creek just past the bridge. So I guess the city figures they can "kill 3 birds with one stone" by making the 2 pedestrian crosswalks at either side of the bridge and then lay down the bike crossing diagonally. They probably figure cyclists would cut across there anyway, so might make it "official" with some dashed lines. Then slap up a stop light at the most convenient location and call it done. 

It is the most bizarre crosswalk I have ever seen, not sure I have ever seen another one like that. My feeling is that when something is unique, it confuses drivers and endangers the crosswalk users. And what seems to happen is that if one driver gets confused and runs the red light, other drivers just follow along, so you often get 2 or 3 red light runners in a group. That is what almost got me, the 2nd red light runner from the opposite direction.

If there were an intersecting road instead of the bridge over the creek, it would all make sense to an approaching driver. But it is just the bridge with stop lights at the far end and a bunch of white paint all over the place and potentially pedestrians and cyclists coming in from 4 different locations. 

Further north on the trail at Agnew Rd. the trail crosses with a single crosswalk at a light where there is an intersection with another road. That light is much safer from what I have seen. The intersection and crosswalk "make sense", in fact I think that crosswalk was there pre-dating the creek trail. 

Seems like everyone I mention this crosswalk to agrees it is dangerous, all except the city folks. They seem to think it is the greatest thing since sliced bread. So that is where we need to barrage them with 100s of traffic violation reports and maybe they will get the picture and do something about it before something more serious happens.


----------



## 4Crawler (Jul 13, 2011)

Well, had a bit of good news on this crosswalk today:



> Thank you for your email regarding bicyclist/pedestrian safety and obedience of the traffic signal at intersection of Monroe Street at the San Tomas Aquino Creek Trail Crossing. The Mayor and City Council have received a copy of your email and have asked me to respond. The City considers safety of the public as a primary concern. Staff has looked into your concerns as indicated in your email and below is a summary of actions that have occurred or will be occurring.
> 
> Traffic Engineering staff has looked into the design and placement of the traffic signals in relation to the crosswalks and confirmed that what is found at the intersection is correct and appropriate. There are both nearside and farside indications for east and westbound motorists as they approach the intersection and the design is consistent with local, state and federal standards for the design of traffic signals. The City has also installed an additional traffic signal indication visible to eastbound motorists as they come around the curve prior to seeing the main traffic signal, and have installed advanced warning signs alerting motorists to the presence of a traffic signal ahead. We will be installing a wider advanced limit bar to improve awareness of where motorists are expected to stop. This should be installed within four to six weeks.
> 
> ...


So will have to see how their proposed improvements work out. I walked out there tonight and did not see the "additional traffic signal indication", but I only went to the next block before turning off Monroe. I just saw a motorcycle blow through the crosswalk while it was occupied on Sunday (reported to the SCPD). I'll be observing traffic there every time I am in the area of that cross walk to see if the situation improves or not.

Update: Went back and indeed a bit farther around the corner is a yellow diamond stop light ahead sign, so that might help a bit with the east bound traffic to let them know there is a light just around the bend.


----------



## 4Crawler (Jul 13, 2011)

Checked out the "re-paving" work today. Looks like a couple of patches on the side of the trail where the pavement had been cracking and starting to fall away.


----------

