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Desk Item - Report on Pilot Closure of S Santa Cruz AvenueMEETING DATE: 06/29/16 ITEM NO: 2 DESK ITEM COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT DATE: JUNE 29, 2016 TO: MAYOR AND TOWN COUNCIL FROM: LAUREL PREVETTI, TOWN MANAGER SUBJECT: REPORT ON PILOT CLOSURE OF SOUTH SANTA CRUZ AVENUE TO ADDRESS CUT THROUGH TRAFFIC REMARKS: After the staff report was distributed on June 28, 2016, the attached public comments were received (Attachment 3). Attachments 1-2 (Previously received with staff report on June 28, 2016): 1. Cut Through Traffic Council Report from June 7, 2016. 2. Communication received through 11:00 a.m. Tuesday, June 28, 2016. Attachment (Received with this Desk Item): 3. Communication received from 11:01 a.m. Tuesday, June 28, 2016 through 11:00 a.m. Wednesday, June 29, 2016. PREPARED BY: MATT MORLEY Director of Parks and Public Works Reviewed by: Assistant Town Manager Town Attorney Finance S:\COUNCIL REPORTS \2016\06-29-16\Cut through Traffic\Desk Item - Report on Pilot Closure of S Santa Cruz Avenue.docx 6/29/2016 12:14 PM MM THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK Public Comment from Nextdoor.com Gina V. from Los Gatos Main ld ago To answer your question directly - traffic on Saturday (on the back streets) seemed to be lighter, but traffic on N. Santa Cruz was a mess - Sunday (on the back streets) was good. I live on Broadway. Overall, the traffic downtown concerns me - I can't imagine what it will be like as more developments are built. This town is to small for all this development. Helena F. from Los Gatos Main ld ago Thank you for putting this closure into action! I think this ramp closure ishugely beneficial and key to address the summer traffic BUT: - Need more signs well ahead of the town exits. - where is the ... View more police to issue tickets to all traffic offenders? So many traffic offenses observed and I can't understand why no one is around to enforce stop signs, reckless driving, speed limits etc - 3 weekends will not give you enough objective data for a fair assessment of the closure. Specially with the first day lacking enough signs about the change. I do appreciate the efforts from all involved and I think we are taking steps in the right direction. Thank Remove Angelia thanked Helena Dave K. from Belwood-Belgatos ld ago KEEP IT CLOSED! If left open, downtown LG is ruined in the summer. My family went to Saratoga for lunch this last weekend!! Linda and Angelia thanked Dave Linda J. from Los Gatos Main ld ago I think the closure was very effective and will get even better as the weekends progress. Please don't stop! It will take time for people to get the word that the ramp in inaccessible. Please keep up the media information. Eventually the none new watchers will get the picture.. On long summer hot days, people are still trying to get to Santa Cruz and 3:00 p.m. is too early to open the ramp. Linda and Angelia thanked Linda melinda n. from Kennedy North id ago Sunday was the first day in many weeks that we were able to access downtown. Usually we don't even attempt to shop or have meals because the traffic has been bumper to bumper. I also vote for closure! Linda and Angelia thanked melinda Angelia D. from Los Gatos Main ld ago I AM COPYING THIS REPLY FROM AN EARLIER THREAD - WANT TO BE SURE IT IS SHARED WITH COUNCIL - ORIGINAL REPLY WRITTEN SAT NIGHT. "Reports are that there were no signs North of Lark! Main arteries - ... View more Winchester, LGB and 17 MUST have signs North of 85/Lark saying SC ramp is closed. Will some people ignore them? Sure... Page 1 of 6 ATTACHMENT 3 the first time, maybe the second time. But even old dogs can be retrained! Once people enter our Town and find themselves South of Lark - regardless of artery - they have a ways to go to get back on 17 @ 9. Even people right there at SC/9 - and at Main/9 continued to go towards that exit - retraining does not happen in one day. How many times do you have to slap the kid's hand from taking an extra cookie from the cookie jar? More than once, right? Also, please read prior posts from Memorial Day (and all of last summer) - ALL arteries and collector streets - Winchester, LGB, University - were negatively impacted to the same degree. The app reroutings were a little more "crazed" today, but it was the first day! The only relief we can expect to get from this (until Debbie's petition reaches the Google/Waze powers - to -be) is to modify today's closure attempts - starting with more signage, radio and television ads, etc. Anyone have access to a biplane to fly over 17 north of 85/Lark with a trailer saying "Visit Los Gatos! Why spend your day on 17??" and "Believe It! 17 On -ramp from LG's Santa Cruz Ave is CLOSED!!!"? I'm ready to pitch in some $$$." Angelia D. from Los Gatos Main 1d ago THIS IS AN UPDATE REG SUN - DAY 2 Please continue closure through Labor Day without interruptions! Increase signage on 17 N of 85 - on 85 W of Winchester exit and on 85 East of Bascom/LGB exit. Once ... View more cars get off at Lark, there's no choice but to continue on one of the three major arteries (LGB, Univ or Winchester/SC). Sat (1st day) was Hades! Where were the signsll??? Sun (2nd day) was Purgatory! A few more signs but all placed too late into route to effect change! Way too many people still trapped at closure. Continued closures without interruptions will be Heaven!! Sun at 12:45, I walked Santa Cruz Ave from Bachman to Main - "irregular" Sun traffic "irregular" because it was sane! Parking on street was about 70% full, shops had customers, walkers were carrying shopping bags, people were smiling. At Main the flow of traffic "reversing" back to 9 was steady but smooth. Intersection was clear, many pedestrians - all safe and orderly. Walked back to Bachman through the parking lots behind East side of SC - they were pleasantly filled - still lots of capacity, but far from empty. I felt so good for the sake of our downtown merchants. At 3:00, I drove to parking lot on NE corner of SC/Main - 85% full, parking available. Lots of peds, still a steady flow of cars heading back to 9 from closure - seemed many coming off Broadway (meaning they cut -through at Ridgecrest, Massol or Tait - simple cones provide some, but minimal, effectiveness). Ate at Willow Street - busy level of customers - including two large groups of 20+. Chatted with many - one store owner (eating) said if closure continues, it could save their business; a resident from upper Shannon said Rural was hopping with customers; family of five was on way to beach, pissed about closure because they got off 85 at Winchester and saw no signs until it was "too late", decided to stay in town and eat, told them about MIP, saw them there later having a great time - they told me MIP would be their Sun plans for now on. How cool is that??? MIP was packed! Walked back from MIP - all eateries packed, people at Carry's all said closure was good; same for lots of people, and owner, at Gardino's. Page 2 of 6 Los Gatos Beats The Beach!!!! Lazare H. from Surrey Farms ld ago Very helpful, thanks Mark S. from Los Gatos Main ld ago I fully support the closure. It may take many more weeks for the usual drivers to learn that it will be closed every weekend. Please be persistent and keep it closed. Angelia thanked Mark David K. from Los Gatos Main ld ago It definitely helped, but southbound traffic leading to highway 9 on University/LGB is still 85% of the whole mess. please also consider closing the 17S ramps on highway 9 - i think this would yield a 90% fix for the weekend traffic woes - a big win at the cost of minor inconvenience for the few locals that would need to trek up to Lark to hit 17S. Rick thanked David James M. from North Los Gatos ld ago Keep it closed. It is working. Will take time. Marked improvement. Main st free flowing Angelia thanked James Doug W. from Los Gatos Woods ld ago Saturday was a nightmare from Knowles Ave into Los Gatos. If they could get people to stop getting off of 85 at Winchester Ave. only to back up all local town traffic that would be nice. I doubt you will see much change until the 85 Winchester exit is addressed. Angelia thanked Doug Helen H. from Los Gatos Main ld ago The closure was definitely a success. Yes, I had pain coming from Campbell to home around 1:00 on Saturday via Winchester but it was no worse than when the on -ramp was open. Sunday we came back down ... View more Winchester at the same time and it was a breeze. We also did not see significant traffic on Hernandez on Sunday. My input is as follows: • The plan is working and we should see fewer bottlenecks as the word gets out. Sunday was much better than Saturday. • I am extremely concerned people will go back to using the cut-throughs after the pilot ends. We'll have pain when downtown and surrounding neighborhoods back up again and then we'll experience yet another painful period if the plan is adopted permanently. The council should seriously consider making the closure permanent NOW instead of subjecting us to a summer of experiments. • Once traffic is retrained, do not close access to Massol and Tait. Residents of the Almond Grove — Glenridge area add to the Winchester -University gridlock because we have no other way to get to our section of town. It isn't perfect but it was definitely a huge step in the right direction. Many thanks to all who worked on this solution. Page 3 of 6 Angelia thanked Helen Patrick L. from Los Gatos Village ld ago Closing Santa Cruz at Wood is great. Basically, it creates the ultimate metering light allowing SB17 to flow uninterrupted by eliminating merging traffic from SB Santa Cruz. I was looking for an ... View more item suggested by my Doc in preparation for some dental work this week. After not finding it at TJs, I headed to Safeway per the Doc's information about 2PM on Saturday. Yes it was thick, yes it took a long time. But I realize the learning needs to be reinforced over the next weeks of the experiment. I was surprised when listening to KCBS that not one word was said about Hwy 17 or the LG ramp closure. That certainly seems like a PR failure that "The Traffic Leader" wasn't aware or chose not to feature it as part of their traffic coverage "On the eights". Linda and Angelia thanked Patrick Marcia F. from Los Gatos Main ld ago I second Helen's input. Traffic on Hernandez Ave. and in Almond Grove was much improved this weekend. Thank you everybody who made that happen. Could we please keep the Wood Rd. closure in effect for all summer weekends? Angelia thanked Marcia Teri G. from Monte Sereno ld ago Thank you for the closure. Saturday was still a disaster with traffic turning around at the closure continuously throughout the day (and creating gridlock in the opposite direction) but this will improve as drivers pay greater attention to signage. Stay the course and improvement is inevitable. Angelia thanked Teri Angelia D. from Los Gatos Main ld ago @Helen - Ditto, ditto, and ditto! Drew H. from Live Oak Manor ld ago Our Main St business was dead an Saturday. It was still difficult to get downtown, which was fairly empty. The traffic did not back up as far north on LG Blvd as it did prior to new measures. It ... View more seemed to start at Blossom Hill on the east side and a little further north of that on the Winchester/Univ side. Sunday was not a busy beach day. 17-S was barely backed up past 85 and it was moving faster (according to Waze/mph). Not a good day to judge efficacy. This afternoon (Monday) there was an accident on 17 and grid lock set in on Main St and downtown about 4:15. Still a mess at 5:15... This happens on many Fridays as well. Our experience last year was that summer holiday weekends were the worst and the problem increased over other summer weekends in August and early September. Overall, our business was still adversely affected by the traffic this past weekend. Seems as though many drivers were still lined up to get downtown, possibly unaware that they would have to turn around. Page 4 of 6 Elaine M. from Monte Sereno ld ago Saturday was a nightmare. Every street I used previously to get home and avoid it was jammed. Sunday was much better even though 17 was jammed. Please keep this up. It is behavior modification for the drivers and the software which will learn about the closure. Thank you Geoff B. from Vasona ld ago I went downtown on Saturday at 10:30 took LG Blvd from Lark, right on Main, Rt on Santa Cruz. NO problem and no traffic. Was really cool to see all the locals in all the shops. Tried again on Sunday ... View more at 11:30 AM and had the same success. I don't know what everyone else is talking about, I had no problems. Based on what I have read maybe other times were worst but from what 1 saw at the times I tried there was a definite improvement from any other beach weekend. Keep it up! More signage would help. I know this sounds sinister but I took pleasure in watching the the look on the cutters faces as they had to turn around. Linda and Angelia thanked Geoff Nancy F. from Los Gatos Main ld ago As promised in my last post, here are my videos from Sunday. This video shows Main Street and University at noon: https://youtu.be/-baRpCVTCzk This next video covers from N. Santa Cruz down ... View more Winchester, right on Blossom Hill, back towards town on University, left onto LG Blvd, left on Blossom Hill, right on University, left on Lark and then left back on Winchester to town: https://youtu.be/Vd158QfnIG8 Final video is back through town: https://youtu.be/i12Ez154jpo Linda and Angelia thanked Nancy Brian M. from Los Gatos Main ld ago As I was coming home from the beach today around 2:OOPM I exited the highway into downtown Los Gatos and got to witness the ramp closure in action first hand. Justice for obvious waze abusers was ... View more swift and effective. It seemed that the offenders were "going rogue" and relying on their trained response to highway 17 traffic, which is to cut through the town of Los Gatos. Why else would all these people still be trying to get on the highway via down town on ramp? As I sat in the traffic of people now trying to get back to the highway 9 on ramps for highway 17, it was clear to me that after the "trained response" is unlearned we will have our town back. For those of you who forgot, one of the main arguments for all this was that the downtown was so clogged up it was prohibiting shoppers and residents from enjoying the downtown since they could not reach it. However, the problem is not solved, just moved to another part of town. So what is the solution to this traffic nightmare? Keep closing on ramps throughout Los Gatos ( not practical)? Petitioning waze to keep wazers on 17 (drivers already know the "short cuts")? Putting driving instructions at the beginning of the treacherous part of Page 5 of 6 17 (hill coming! Stay on the gas!!!) ? Convincing beach seekers to go to Carmel instead (probably could get there faster)? Campaigning for people to go to the beach earlier to disperse traffic throughout the day? Is there a solution to all this? Unfortunately I don't think we will be able to solve this completely, but at least we may be able to drive around our down town during the summer again with the dt on ramp closed. As for the rest of you stuck in the northern part of town, good luck. Maybe try getting a permit for a block party. Angelia thanked Brian Angelia D. from Los Gatos Main 21h ago PARKS AND PUBLIC WORKS - Please include the thread started today reg 'Extending Closure...." along with the materials you provide Council concerning this matter. We look forward to an announcement of when their Special Meeting will be held as all such discussions must be in a public meeting. Thank you a bunch. Linda C. from Los Gatos Main 19h ago Matt @ LG PPW: Attaching a small compilation of feedback from a few folks that live on College Hill (PNG file). Map of our ... View more location: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1btbhH6... Out streets funnel down to College/Pageant @ Main Street. As you're aware, Main Street is typically affected to a large degree by cut through traffic (summer, holiday, or otherwise). The feedback supplied to our neighborhood group board appears to be strongly supportive of the closure. Nancy Freitas (a resident of College Hill) has already supplied 3 or 4 videos showing the positive impact of closing the southbound onramp for our neighborhood. Hope this is useful. Thanks, Linda Caplinger Nextdoor.com Lead for LG Main Moderator for College Hill & University-Edelen Neighborhoods Pam M. from Rinconada Hills 18h ago I wish it was closed everyday!!! The traffic is awful! Jean S. from Kennedy North 9h ago I'm wondering why I saw very little media.cverage about this. It affects so many people ( residents and thousands of beach goers alike) why was there No Mercury News to coverage. I so often read about Willow Glen's "Road Diet", can we get the same coverage? He about contacting they're "Road Guy"? The better we educate everyone the better response we'll get. Page 6 of 6 Subject: From: Elizabeth Adams Pilot Closure of 5 Santa Cruz @ Wood Ave Sent: Wednesday, June 29, 2016 9:54 AM To: Town PPW Subject: Pilot Closure of S Santa Cruz @ Wood Ave Hello, To Whom It May Concern, We live on Pine Ave off of LG Blvd and are a family of five. We have lately on weekends made decisions on whether to go anywhere north/south in town, anything using University, Winchester or to a lesser extent LG Blvd, strategic- so avoiding hours when beach traffic was clogging town. We can walk into town to the shops, but if for some reason we require the car, we wouldn't do it, again because of the snarled mess of traffic from beach goers trying to bypass a bit of 17. The closures the Town has made has made a noticeable impact on the volume Friday -Sunday and I suggest closures need to be made permanent for the season, so both residents and business owners feel traffic in town is because LG is the destination, not the short cut. I thank the Town for taking action on this issue, Elizabeth Adams Sent from my iPad 1 Subject: Pilot street closure From: Dennis Grist Sent: Wednesday, June 29, 2016 7:21 AM To: Town PPW Subject: Pilot street closure Dear Town. Staff and Council: Please continue the street closure at Wood Road on the weekends and also the closure of Tait and Massol streets at Highway 9. It seems to be working. Once the cut -through drivers get used to the closure I think they will decide to stay on Highway 17 to get to Santa Cruz and we can have our town back to normal. Thank you, Dennis Grist 1 Subject: Road Closure From: Richardsons Sent: Tuesday, June 28, 2016 8:05 PM To: Town PPW Cc: Lainey and Bruce Richardson Subject: Road Closure Residents should be able to get a sticker / placard that they can show to security and be able to turn onto Massoll / Tait Avse off of Hwy 9.........just like the permit parking The Highway 9 South 17 ramp should have "beautification" work on weekends thereby shutting it down also...........leave only the Lark Ave Southbound 17 exit, then everyone who exits Highway 85 to get onto Highway 9 will have to go back to Lark Ave and anyone trying to be tricky getting off at Lark will end up at Lark after they loop around......... You should poll the downtown shops and see how often these beach goers actually shop? Lainey Richardson 55 year resident 1 Subject: Closure... From: ban O'Gorman Sent: Tuesday, June 28, 2016 7:59 PM To: Town PPW Subject: Closure... It seems like there's more traffic on LGBIvd than ever. It took me about 25 minutes get from Ace h/w to Harding. Another time I took the back streets to vista Del Monte only to find that there was a lot more traffic on those streets as well. Maybe the highway 9 / 17 on ramp should also be closed. Dan i Subject: Special Town Council Meeting - Pilot Closure of S. Santa Cruz Ave From: Philip Kennedy Sent: Tuesday, June 28, 2016 7:01 PM To: Town PPW Cc: Samantha Kennedy Subject: Special Town Council Meeting - Pilot Closure of 5. Santa Cruz Ave My wife and I understand what the Town is trying to achieve through the closure. We have been frustrated by slow traffic in town on weekends. The real problem here is that CA-l7 is improperly structured for traffic and until the state changes CA-17 to make the merge happen AFTER Los Gatos the problem will persist. As mountain residents we need a better solution. We don't need more notice, we had enough notice. The problem is that we need to come to our town, after all we are LG residents as well, and then get back home. If the closure is going to persist anyone that can show their license with either a Los Gatos 95033 address OR a P.O. Box in Redwood Estates (as some of us aren't allowed mailboxes at our houses due to local Postmaster General rules) should be allowed to pass through unobstructed as we AREN'T using town as a cut through. Philip & Samantha Kennedy i Subject: FW: More Public Comments on Pilot Closure From: melinda(alosgatoschambeer.com Sent: Tuesday, June 28, 2016 6:06 PM To: Town PPW; Town Manager Cc: Catherine Somers Subject: More Public Comments on Pilot Closure melinda@losgatoschamber.com has shared a OneDrive file with you. To view it, click the link below. Public Comment on Pilot Closure 6-25-16.docx Good evening, 1 thought 1 would pass along the additional comments we have received via email thus far regarding the pilot closure this past weekend. Please let me know if you have any questions. Best regards, l'earida C`tfstrom-Rybak Office Manager Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce 10 Station Way Los Gatos, CA 95030 408-354-9300 408-502-9823 Direct Public Response to the Pilot Closure of N. Santa Cruz @ Wood Rd on 6/25-26/16 Received by the Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce From: allisonglass Mon 6/27/2016 10:45 AM IT IS A ME S S . YOU JUST SHIFTED ALL THAT BEACH TRAFFIC OVER TO LOS GATOS BLVD!!!! Now all the beach traffic is coming up Bascom Ave, or Hwy 85 to connect to Los Gatos Blvd to Hwy 9 to get back onto Hwy 17, More people are getting offCamden Ave and following White Oaks Rd. to Bascom Ave. They are cutting through a HIGH RESIDENTIAL area now. Many are speeding through the stop signs. Yes Iknow Los Gatos doesn't care about San Jose/ Campbell residents but BEWARE ifa kid is killed b/c of your Los Gatos Town closure you are opening yourselves to a LAWSUIT! The Santa Cruz Ave closure is NOT a solution! From: Colleen Beeson Sun 6/26/2016 9:03 PM Hello, I am mountain resident of 25 years and have done a lot of shopping in the Los Gatos area. It seems to me that traffic has worsened in Los Gatos every day of the week. I remember that just a few years ago there was no traffic in Los Gatos on a weekday and I'm amazed at how many cars there are now on the road during the day. I can only guess that with the economy doing so well and so many people employed that this is a large portion of the reason for traffic. I guess good things can come with a little bad. I go into Los Gatos to shop at the farmers market and get either breakfast or lunch depending on when I can get my kids up on Sunday. I park near the highway that it is easy for me to get back home. I plan to go on Saturday to the Scotts Valley market becuase I assumed that closing down the ramp wouldn't fix the problem and it would just make my life more difficult. Patronizing local businesses is not worth sitting in traffic to get down to the 9 exit on a Sunday. I get that the traffic in Los Gatos sucks. Being a mountain resident and having what we call "flat landers" clogging up 17 and trying to find faster alternates by blasting down my mountain roads making the unsafe frustrates me. I take it because I am happy for the strong economy and the cheaper gas. The traffic is unfortunate but I don't think the right thing is to close the on ramps to the highway. os Public Response to the Pilot Closure of N. Santa Cruz . Wood Rd on 6/25-26/16 Received by the Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce Also I don't understand how if traffic is such a worry for the people of Los Gatos why the town council is even considering the new development on Lark. Thank you, Colleen Beeson Los Gatos CA From: Erik.Nelson Mon 6/20/2016 5:52 PM Just an FYI, The mapping programs that are directing many individuals to travel through the community will not properly reflect these closures, leaving many stranded at Wood, trying to figure out where to go from there. Not sure a solution, just a thought E From: Frank's email Mon 6/27/2016 3:57 PM Please keep all who try to get to the beach by driving through our residential and business streets out of town at all costs. We need our businesses to be successful. If we don't get a handle on this problem, we will become a terrible place to live from the bucolic town we now enjoy! Frank Mandarino Los Gatos From: Pat Blair _ Mon 6/27/2016 4:13 PM Just wait until more traffic with Netflix and the infamous North 40, and then more business to pull from our long suffering downtown merchants ! ! Pat Blair From: Shirley Cantu Mon 6/27/2016 4:15 PM I came home from Campbell on Sat. around noon. I took Winchester south, Lark and then University. University, Santa Cruz Ave and LG Blvd were all backed up almost to Lark. People on University south were barreling down the middle turn lane so as to not have to wait to turn left on BH Rd. I took my usual backroad trek down Englewood and then roaming around to Loma Alta 3 08� Public Response to the Pilot Closure of N. Santa Cruz @ Wood Rd on 6/25-26/16 Received by the Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce where I turn left to go home. Guess who were with me? Yes, two local patrol cars who had no other way to get from BH Rd. to just after the History Club. Can't say I thought this issue south was resolved. From: Brodie Keast Mon 6/27/2016 5:03 PM We live in Monte Sereno on Beck Avenue and have seen traffic levels rise very dramatically on Ridgecrest from Highway 9. On Saturday and Sunday mornings a non-stop flow of traffic comes up to Beck, turns left. proceeds down Hernandez to the downtown area. Also, Waze and Google maps direct traffic through this same residential route on weekday rush hour tunes that extend from 4pm to 7pm. Is there anything that can be done to keep non-residents off of Ridgecrest? All that traffic that used to go on Massol and Tait is now going up Ridgecrest... It seems that the answer has to be with Google (who owns Waze)... Brodie Keast From: kith haskell( Mon 6/27/2016 6:46 PM Out of the gate, I understand the concern for the downtown traffic... grew up in LG ... and know the number of vehicles is 1000 times what it once was. BUT... and this is a huge BUT... diverting traffic onto Hiway 17 at 9 is not the answer... it caused gridlock all over town that prevented me from making my stop in Downtown LG for my coffee and sandwiches before heading over to Santa Cruz... so lost revenue... x how many others? Not to mention... from Harwood and Blossom Hill to Hiway 9 entrance onto Southbound 17 was 45 minutes(yes looking back I should have gotten on Hiway 85 instead... but remember I was getting coffee and lunch?)... In my 45 minute trek across town, I saw terrible road rage, illegal U turns nearly resulting in a pedestrian accident, people behaving badly blocking intersections and running red lights; so, I plead with the Town to find an alternate solution... maybe a Shuttle to Santa Cruz with parking off lark whatever it maybe. 4ogs Public Response to the Pilot Closure of N. Santa Cruz @ Wood Rd on 6/25-26/16 Received by the Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce I feel the reason Sunday was better... is a lot of people heard about the mess and just didn't go down into town off the mountain and the valley folk didn't mass over to Santa Cruz or downtown LG... it was nearly a ghost town... We live in a crowded place... and making areas off limits or diverting around them only hurts the businesses in that area... just look at areas where highway bypasses have been built. In many of those areas, the businesses have had to move elsewhere or close the doors... Traditionally Downtown LG was the gateway to the Santa Cruz highway, don't close that gate... find a way to welcome and invite them to stop instead. Ok, I'll jump off my soapbox now... Thanks for reading Kim Haskell . Los Gatos From: Pamela Shepard Mon 6/27/2016 10:14 PM You need a long range plan. What is that? What are you considering? The only real solution is to widen the freeway at least to bear creek road. Otherwise you are only putting a band aide on the symptom and not fixing the problem From: Katelin Slifer Mon 6/27/2016 10:40 PM Good evening, Wanted to give you feedback on the Hwy 17 Southbound on -ramp closure this past weekend. We sell every weekend at the Los Gatos Farmers' Market and through the Coffee Roasting Company. We also live in Los Gatos and experience the traffic on a personal level. This past Saturday we also had a pop-up event at Orange Theory Fitness in Los Gatos. Our overall take on the traffic this weekend was similar to what your email summarized. Saturday was absolutely crazy. So much traffic, and people not realizing that the on -ramp was closed and then creating a traffic jam going the opposite way. It took us 1.25hrs to get from the Purple Onion on winchester to LG Coffee Roasting Company around 12pm in the afie rnoon. Sunday was much much better. The Farmers Market had a very steady flow of traffic and parking was very reasonable. 9 Public Response to the Pilot Closure of N. Santa Cruz @ Wood Rd on 6/25-26/16 Received by the Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce Thank you for all of the efforts you are making to help relieve this problem. As business owners and residents in Los Gatos, we really appreciate it! All the best, tii_atelin Slifer r Co-Fowalcr From: Audrey Armstrong Tue 6/28/2016 9:29 AM Hi - On Saturday, due to the extreme gridlock in town, my husband was unable to get to the dry cleaners that we have been a customer of for 10+ years He went to St Mary's Church on Sunday morning and bought some flowers at Bunches where he was told by someone working there that on Saturday pedestrians were pounding on gridlocked cars and a bicyclist was hit by a car and emergency services couldn't get to him/her because of the gridlock. Overall, I think the experiment was a disaster. We lived in downtown Los Gatos for 15 years and moved to the summit area of the mountains 4 years ago. We still run our errands in town, but based on last weekend, we are trying out a dry cleaners in scotts valley and plan to take our other business there as much as possible. I'm also concerned for Rural Supply Hardware as many of us mountain dwellers like to nip into town, get our supplies we need for our projects and nip back out on the Wood Rd on/off ramps. I've been told that mountain residents are 50% of Rural Supplies' customer base, so this experiment can only be hurting that wonderful business. Many mountain folk also have PO boxes at the main Los Gatos post office as well. This new ramp closure makes it not worth going into town, it's easier to go to Scotts Valley. FYI, mountain dwellers can obtain special Santa Clara Mountain Resident window decals for their cars (they have to provide proof of residency to obtain them) - if you plan to continue these ramp closures, you may want to consider allowing mountain residents with stickers access to both ramps so that we can get to Rural Supply, etc. What might also help alleviate traffic is to put an electronic sign (like the one at the bottom of the Wood road/Hwy 17 on -ramp) on Hwy 17 before Lark (or maybe even at Campbell exit) with the # of minutes to santa cruz = maybe Public Response to the Pilot Closure of N. Santa Cruz 4 Wood Rd on 6/25-26/16 Received by the Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce some people will just turn back if they see if will take them an hour+ to get there. That's probably a Caltrans project though. Also, I think a lot of the traffic problem is Los Gatos itself - one of the reasons we moved out - all of the new homes/buildings on Los Gatos Blvd made traffic much worse, and if the development at Lark happens that will be the icing on the gridlock cake. Every day that the high school lets out at lunch and at the end -of -school- day town is gridlocked. Los Gatos used to be a small charming sleepy town when we moved to it 19 years ago, but no more. -Audrey Armstrong Los Gatos, CA 95033 PS - I drove to Santa Cruz on both Saturday and Sunday and traffic was surprisingly light for this time of year. From: The Beddos Tue 6/28/2016 10:33 AM Morning, I recently read your "pilot weekend #1" review and have a few thoughts for you to consider. While Iappreciate and understand your efforts to help the traffic issue in our town, there were many issues with the closure plan. First, lam a mountain resident. I live on the far end of Lexington and honestly, we were landlocked. If one ofmy children had been sick or injured and I needed to get down the hill, there would have been no option for me to do so. If one ofmy children needed urgent medical care, or a fire would have erupted, as it did yesterday, emergency vehicles would not have been able to access my home due to the gridlock on both Hwy 17 and OSCH. This is obviously very concerning. Tread a bullet in your review that mentioned mountain residents weren't properly warned of the closure. Idon't agree with this statement, because Itravel into town daily, however, some ofour neighbors do not. I feel was aware of the closure, but it is upsetting that I, a Los Gatos, tax paying resident, was not given any type of consideration for this closure. Ipaythe same taxes as an in town resident, so unless you are going to cut my taxes because lam not a "true" LG resident, then I should be given the same rights, and considerations as a "flatiander." So now, what you've created what? A town where there may be a few less cars, (because from what Isawon Sat., traffic was stillhorrible, especially on LG Blvd), angry business owners, and potentially a huge loss ofrevenue. And then add in your North 40 plan. Thanks for your time, Michelle Beddo Los Gatos Mountain Resident Public Response to the Pilot Closure of N. Santa Cruz @ Wood Rd on 6/25-26/16 Received by the Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce From: Susanne H. Weir Tue 6/28/2016 1:55 PM Hi there - I lived downtown above icing on the cake for four and a half years. My family has since moved up to the mountains. I know what it was like, as a downtown resident, on those gridlocked days. The roads didn't move. The stores were empty. It was impossible to go to and from home. I agree and understand that something has to be done. I am so sad that these new closures mean my family can no longer continue our tradition of going to the Sunday morning farmers market. We usually try to get there when they open and leave via SC onramp. It also means we can't access the hardware store on weekends. We support the spirit of the closure: to redirect thru traffic from surface streets. But us mountain residents feel cut off from and unwelcomed by our community! Can't we allow mountain residents with the 95033 sticker through? I'm sure it's not the town's intention but the byproduct of the full -on closure is that it feels extremely alienating to us mountain residents! Please consider allowing passage to those of us with mountain stickers! Sincerely, Susanne Weir From: anxshfoto( Tue 6/28/2016 2:18 PM I know you've received an earful already, but were are all still completely at a loss as to what this "experiment" is attempting to remedy? On Saturday June 25th we decided to stop in Los Gatos for a nice lunch and do some shopping (we patronize the businesses here often). Shocked at the traffic coming in, it wasn't until afterwards when we attempted to leave that just like the other hundreds of other unsuspecting drivers, we were caught up in a 3 hour merry-go-round of simply trying to escape out of there. There was NO signage anywhere warning us prior to exiting the freeway into town, or even after we arrived. Only only a makeshift sign at N. Santa Cruz Ave and Main St. What an unsafe nightmare that whole experience was! Real life traffic experiments should only attempted after careful studies and consultation with experts like CalTrans, the NTSA etc AND only attempted during the off season. Not in the middle of summer! If your message is to keep non-residents away from local businesses during peak days, then you're succeeding 100%. We can easily spend our money strolling around Santana Row, or any of the other nice communities nearby. Score for trying to fix a problem(?) B+ Score for the execution of it 0- Public Response to the Pilot Closure of N. Santa Cruz @ Wood Rd on 6/25-26/16 Received by the Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce Please reconsider continuing this experimental action until next winter. Thank you for your time. Sincerely, a 45+ year Los Gatos visitor S o S Subject: Attachments: South Santa Cruz Avenue Pilot Closure - Feedback Wanted College Hill on Onramp Closure.png From: Linda Caplinger Sent: Tuesday, June 28, 2016 2:39 PM To: Town PPW Subject: Re: South Santa Cruz Avenue Pilot Closure - Feedback Wanted Hi Matt, Forwarding this via email as my upload resolution was too small to read online. Cheers, Linda Caplinger ### Linda Caplinger from Los Gatos Maen1 m ago Matt @ LG PPW: Attaching a small compilation of feedback from a few folks that live on College Hill (PNG file). Map of our location: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1 btbhH6RdWVx3DMY-Pq3Dot AORo&usp=sharing Out streets funnel down to College/Pageant @ Main Street. As you're aware, Main Street is typically affected to a large degree by cut through traffic (summer, holiday, or otherwise). The feedback supplied to our neighborhood group board appears to be strongly supportive of the closure. Nancy Freitas (a resident of College Hill) has already supplied 3 or 4 videos showing the positive impact of closing the southbound onramp for our neighborhood. Hope this is useful. Thanks, Linda Caplinger Nextdoor.corn Lead for LG Main Moderator for College Hill & University-Edelen Neighborhoods of CJ Spring SI C9, •,5%. .4 ' 94f (04' ,xt -obv_az (c' L"o 06' 0 tY.:1 ps. • c., ) .1000°° ..r• 2 r - • 31 'Mt) i iii c ..:: Li, ..-: •i • 1 0.143,1,4,6, 4 p z 0513e c I Ali; 1 w \\*41,0 .; \ 0 \ 6" CI d Outer Boundary of College Hill Neighbor... 0 > Escape Routes 11 ••4‘ 0 At • P'6' lois I Potential Route Out Santa0""vvY a.) tet. 0 04 77Z .• 2 • 2 0.1 47) ▪ 0.) 0 > 0 0 —) .2 -o ..;-t 03 01 03 0 c a Q. CC 133 0 0 CD 0 0 0 .173 1,30.13•C° (:) c'tk a 6 0.00 0o -- 2- ci Post n Genera Please Share Your Thoughts on this Weekends Onramp Closure unda Capting, Gar.os Mani There are many discussions going on in the greater LG Main group on this week's onramp closure We're quite isolated on College Hill and the blockages have really impacted us in a way that other neighborhoods might not be impacted I would love to hear how everyone felt it worked (or didn't) If you share feedback please make sure to comment on experiences for Saturday and Sunday separately and the times you were out and about 1 think many of us will agree that Saturday and Sunday were quite different. 111 refrain from sharing my own thoughts here so that I don't sway the conversation, Please also let me know if I can share your comment in a compilation document for the town The cnrarnp was due to be opened at 3pm each day - not sure if they did that one time (does anyone know?) fll update this initial thread when 1 know for certain Thank youl Linda Nextdoorcorn Lead for LG Main & College Hill Shared with the Coriege Hill private group in General REPLY 7 • Meredith °Malley !corn Los Gatos Maai did errands 'early" on Saturday hoping to avoid traffic Coming home at Ilarn It took me 30 minutes on Los galas Blvd to get from Blossom hill to Hwy 9 it was smooth sailing from there to College Ave and then up the hill Thankedi Remove rou tnaolceil kleredlitt Maria Young 't=7Ilt.tr. t On Sunday I left College @9ish Stopped at farmers market and then headed to Lunardis No problems Headed back to College around tram and a tad slow from Blossom Hill past Van Meter but after that it was good Later around 5pm coming back from Saratoga. traffic was stow stop/go from Highway9 all the way to Main Street Thanked! Remove YOU thantsed Marel 3of Felix SS ftorn Los Gatos Main We think the closure worked especially on Sun when more signage were up. We came back from Santa Cruz around 2prn sat and saw N Santa Cruz was all gridlocked due to drivers turned back at the closure seems many weren't informed about the closure or didn't believe it On sun_ we drove south bound on LG SW to college around 1pm. Traffic was a bit slow around 17 on ramp dark and hwv 9 Presumably due to people getting on 17, which was slow. Main Street and downtown was great To me, this seems a big improvement over the past weeks Nothing will work immediately and I am happy with the progress we saw for the first week. Thanked! Remove 1u ttiankeri Felix inda e.;aploger from Lis C,atos Main Thanks to everyone so far Anyone else? I'd love to compile data for our "hill" and get to the town Edit Delete Nancy Frettas from. Lcs Ga!os Man Linda. There are already about 3 main posts with a LOT of feedback It might be better to generate all the feedback or those so people are not posting all over the place the same thing The posts are titled "Ramp Closure is Great Success__ for Down Town", "Hwy 17 onramp closure - 1st tesr (this has 85 posts) and 'South Santa Cruz Avenue Pilot Closure - Feedback Wanted(58 replies) Any chance you can just take what you have in this post to add to your compilation document? My feedback, videos and pictures collected in the 2 days are posted on these 3 posts. Thanks! Thank Remove 4cS Linda Caplinger from Los Gatos Man Hi Nancy. My post was only shared with those who are in the College Hill group - there are other volunteers ho are compiling or the other neighborhoods and are doing similarly Unfortunately, many weren't careful to state which date their feedback was about (or the time) when they posted over the weekend - and we already knov,, that Saturday was much worse than Sunday We're trying to normalize the data that we send back. I could definitely scour through all of the other posts, but College Hill is a "group" and doesn't show alongside our posts It's very very laborious to click on each user and then cross reference them to the College Hill group I'll certainly do what can but I fear that feedback from our hill rnav be under -represented. and we're one of the most affected groups Linda Ecitt Delete Nang thanked you Sandy Lours from Los Gatos Maul I only left home a couple of times on the weekend and traffic was AO Hwy 171880 was backed up as usual to Camden. so 1 think all the effort to deter the attempts to bypass the 17 backup worked pretty well Thanked' Remove You thanked Sandy 5 os Subject: FW: Maintenance Service Request - Ticket #: 626639 From: Ma, Paul@DOT [mailto:PauL.Ma@dot.ca.gov] Sent: Tuesday, June 28, 2016 2:29 PM To: Federinko, Dennis@DOT; Gum, Juliana@DOT Cc: Gutierrez, Ramiel@DOT; Lisa Petersen; Jessy Pu Subject: RE: Maintenance Service Request - Ticket #: 626639 Dennis and Julie: We forwarded all public comments about this local street closure to Los Gatos for response, because the closure is not a Caltrans project. You may forward future MSR's on this matter to the contacts below for response. In general, Caltrans does not condone/encourage diversion of freeway traffic onto Local streets and continually works with local communities to address their concerns related to cut -through traffic. The planned closures in Los Gatos are part of a pilot project to help identify potential remedies in the future. Jessy Pu, Traffic Engineer, ipu@losgatosca.gov Lisa Peterson, Town Engineer, Ipeterson@losgatosca.gov P. Paul Ma, MS, PE Caltrans i-Team Traffic Operations & Technology Original Message From: Federinko, Dennis@DOT Sent: Tuesday, June 28, 2016 1:58 PM To: Gum, Juliana@DOT <iuliana.gum@dot.ca.gov>; Ma, Paul@DOT <PauL.Ma@dot.ca.gov> Cc: Gutierrez, Ramiel@DOT<ramiel.f.gutierrez@dot.ca.gov> Subject: RE: Maintenance Service Request - Ticket #: 626639 Thank you. Original Message From: Gum, Juliana@DOT Sent: Tuesday, June 28, 2016 1:52 PM To: Federinko, Dennis@DOT <dennis.federinko@dot.ca.gov>; Ma, Paul@DOT<PauL.Ma@dot.ca.gov> Cc: Gutierrez, Ramiel@DOT <ramiel.f.gutierrez@dot.ca.gov> Subject: RE: Maintenance Service Request -Ticket #: 626639 Dennis, ! am forwarding to Paul Ma, Sr TE of Hwy Ops, to handle. He handles VTA territory issues. FYI, I am also attaching the "Week ahead" document that Brigetta sends out weekly. The 6th item under "continuing items' has information related to this Los Gatos issue (city closed local streets as a pilot, which made on ramp inaccessible, though Caltrans did not close the on -ramp). Thanks. Julie Gum Traffic Management Plans Strategies -----Original Message From: Federinko, Dennis@DOT Sent: Tuesday, June 28, 2016 10:25 AM 1 To: Gum, Juliana@DOT <juliana.gum@dot.ca.gov> Subject: FW: Maintenance Service Request - Ticket #: 626639 Please see below and respond. Original Message From: Gutierrez, Ramiel@DOT Sent: Monday, June 27, 2016 5:54 PM To: Federinko, Dennis@DOT <dennis.federinko@dot.ca.gov> Cc: Mcgrue, Danelle@DOT<danelle.mcgrue@dot.ca.gov> Subject: RE: Maintenance Service Request - Ticket #: 626639 Good afternoon Dennis, hope all is well. As my colleague Juliana Gum is the Chief for the Office of Traffic Management Plans and Strategies, although t'm not certain, I believe that one of her seniors may oversee the branch that keeps tabs on all lane/ramp closures in Distract 4; should they, maybe they would have information on the closure of the on -ramp below (I highly doubt that the City of Los Gatos is responsible for closing it, especially for the reason given.) From: Federinko, Dennis@DOT Sent: Monday, June 27, 2016 2:20 PM To: Gutierrez, Ramiel@DOT Cc: Mcgrue, Danelle@DOT Subject: Maintenance Service Request - Ticket #: 626639 MSR Ticket Number: 626639 Date Submitted: 2016-06-27 09:13:32 California County: Santa Clara State Highway Route: 17 Nearest Town or City: Los Gatos Nearest Cross Street: Mode of Transportation: Car Direction of Travel: Southbound Time Situation Noticed: 9 am - 10 am Type of Situation: Other Describe Nature of Situation: I spoke to Dennis at Oakland office about this Los Gatos town of has started closing on ramp at North Santa Cruz ave. to So Hiway 17 south as a fix for dealing with their traffic problem. They have no right to close a state owned public on ramp For their own benefit. As much as some people want ( myself included) this is not An isolationist world and they can't use our roads to achieve those goals. Mike Tippets Geographic Location of Situation: Los Gatos, Ca. South bound on ramp to hiway 17 north Santa Cruz avenue 2 Subject: Private message: The closure of highway 17 southbound from downtown Los Gatos for the next two weeks From: Susan via Nextdoor Sent: Tuesday, June 28, 2016 11:57 AM To: Matt Morley Subject: Private message: The closure of highway 17 southbound from downtown Los Gatos for the next two weeks Dear Matt, This past weekend drivers went through the usual responses for traffic and folks who are learning and realizing that Hwy 17 is the road to use for going over the hill and that the town of Los Gatos is not a short cut. This takes more than three weekends to learn that downtown Los Gatos is not a short cut to Santa Cruz. I would like to request that the town extend the closure on the weekend until after Labor Day. It takes more than three weekends to change a habit and to gather information in order to make a determination if the closure will be permanent. I hope that the town will realize that as well. People and drivers are being asked to come to visit and enjoy the town of Los Gatos businesses, see family and friends, instead of using it as a "way to get to Santa Cruz easier". Please extend your closure until after Labor Day. I believe that closing for 3 weekends is not going to deter people from going back to the same habit of going through Los Gatos. Sincerely, Susan Rothman View or reply Unsubseribe or adjust your email settings 1