One thing he mentioned (that the planners didn’t) was they were looking at timing lights to keep the traffic moving at a rate that won’t fill up the left-hand turn pockets, as opposed to the “let’s turn every light red at the same time” technology they have in place now. I’d guess this would be a slower average speed, but if it’s more constant with fewer lights, I’m up for that.

Regardless, more info on the traffic studies would be welcome. CC is pretty much a clusterfuck eastbound in the morning and westbound at night, and I really don’t see it getting much worse. If they can smooth the flow and get the left hand turners out of the way it will be a huge improvement IMHO.

The planners stated that the bike plan EIR had looked at eliminating a lane of traffice but were to timid to admit that the EIR shows that eliminating a lane will cause massive traffic jams.

The planners (as they have throughout the process) insisted that the plan would not significantly impact vehicle traffic, but admitted that they STILL have not done any traffic studies. So basically the “public” part of this process is now complete, without the public ever having been informed of what the impact of the project will be.

These meetings are basically a joke. The planners do not provide relevant information and dodge the tough questions. The whole process has had a pre-determined outcome. I and others suggested that the planning department actually look at altnernative approaches to making CC safer and prettier, but these suggestions were curtly dismissed.

This plan was driven entirely by a few residents who live near CC. They and the planning department apparently don’t care that thousands more people depend on CC every day.

Anyway, my issue is not with the expansion. It’s about the abrupt transition from residential to hospital, as well as the unfriendly effect of buildings backed right up to Cesar Chavez and Valencia.

Pierre, do you live in the neighborhood? If not, different points of view indeed.