A drive to solve Lafayette's traffic woes

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Published May 31st, 2017

A drive to solve Lafayette's traffic woes

By Pippa Fisher

Residents place stickers on a large map with ideas on how to help alleviate traffic in Lafayette, especially during school drop-offs and pick-ups. Photos Pippa Fisher

Is there a "silver bullet" to solve congestion in Lafayette?

Could it be coordinating traffic signals along Mount Diablo Boulevard and Moraga Road? Realigning the Brook Street-School Street traffic lights, creating one intersection by removing the Masonic Lodge?

Maybethe answer is adding additional school pick-up and drop-off zones, or more school busing. Or extending Moraga Road directly to Highway 24 through the retail center between Safeway and McCaulou's?

The search for the best solution to Lafayette's worsening traffic woes continues as the city reached out for public input and feedback at a recent Downtown Congestion Reduction Plan workshop.

Those residents who turned out for the evening workshop heard a presentation from Mike Iswalt of ARUP, the consulting company employed by the city to conduct the downtown congestion reduction study and City Transportation Planner James Hinkamp. They explained the goal of the evening was to seek public input for consideration to be combined with the results from the survey on the city's website. The survey remains open through May 31.

Iswalt reminded the audience of the steps taken to this point since the study's inception in August 2015. Together with a specifically formed steering committee there have been many meetings with both the circulation committee and the city council. What started with over 100 possible strategies was whittled down ultimately to the current shortlist of 15 ideas on which they are inviting public feedback.

Iswalt made it clear that in his opinion there is no silver bullet; that each solution comes at a cost. He presented several projections for growth in the area, which would require implementation of different solutions over time.

Vice Mayor Don Tatzin explained that there would likely be some combination of strategies. Tatzin pointed out that while some are minimally impacting, others come at a larger cost and might be looked at in the future. He urged residents to make their voices heard, not just with what not to do, but also more constructively.

And residents did have a chance to have their say. During a question and answer session people raised concerns from additional traffic on residential streets to loss of parking spaces with new road configurations.

One resident claimed she did in fact have the "silver bullet" solution and proposed a footbridge over Moraga Road, as she claimed much of the delays during school peak times would be avoided if students were not having to stop traffic to cross the road continuously. Her suggestion was enthusiastically received by the crowd and Iswalt promised to talk further to her although he pointed out they had already considered pedestrian bridges and said that there are issues such as meeting ADA standards and with the amount of space required.

Large city street maps were laid out on tables at the back of the room and the public was invited to use colorful sticky notes to leave their ideas, suggestions and feedback on the maps.

Once all the public input has been gathered and a final report is made, the city council will hear a final presentation of the downtown congestion reduction plan in July.



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