Petition for a Speed Hump on Your Street

Pretty exciting news! A number of streets in East Palo Alto are now eligible for speed humps even if buses run on them. This is a recent change to the speed hump petition rules approved by City Council in May 2024 following a recommendation by our Public Works & Transportation Commission on April 17, 2024. I am writing this blog post to encourage and show EPA neighbors how to request a speed hump on your street.

Residents and businesses along Pulgas Ave, Clarke Ave, and parts of the University Village (to the north) should jump on this opportunity.

Why is this a big deal?

For one, in 2020 around half of East Palo Alto residents surveyed wanted speed humps/traffic calming.

At least 20 people have asked me how they can get a speed bump/hump installed on their street, after they learn that I volunteer on our Public Works & Transportation Commission. I have heard complaints about speeding from EPA residents in all of the neighborhoods, and I also experience it myself every day as I face Pulgas Ave and hear speeding especially at night. A lot of residents walk across Pulgas Ave to access their parked cars - and I walk across it at the end of my runs - and speeding cars make it all the more dangerous.

How to Request a Speed Hump

The City of East Palo Alto's Public Works department has a Speed Hump Requests webpage with a Speed Hump Installation Criteria and Review Process form. Taken verbatim from the document:

In order for a street to qualify as eligible for speed humps the street must:

1. Be classified as a local/residential street
2. Have a street width of 40 feet or less
3. Have no more than two lanes (one in each direction)
4. Speed humps petition requires at least 67% of residents of the addresses
5. Have a speed limit of 25 mph or less
6. Be able to have a warning sign posted before the hump at a distance equal to at least the minimum safe stopping distance as defined by the City Engineer
7. Be visible to oncoming traffic for at least the minimum safe stopping distance as defined by the City Engineer
8. Be able to accommodate an installation without extending over a manhole, catch basin, or other utility access point
9. Have curbs and gutters

Prior to City Council's revision approved on May 21, 2024, there used to be an additional requirement that the road may not have buses operating on it. Luckily, somebody reached out to SamTrans (which operates 5 or 6 bus routes in East Palo Alto) and learned that SamTrans did not mind speed humps, as they do not affect bus service at 25 mph. Our adjacent City of Menlo Park has capitalized on this a few months ago as I noticed they had added many speed humps along Newbridge St which SamTrans buses also operate on.

If your street fits these criteria, you will want to print out this form and go talk to your neighbors, specifically the ones whose addresses are "any residence or business with frontage on the street where the speed hump is requested." I went through the process of counting these using the East Palo Alto Zoning ArcGIS Map, or you could also use the San Mateo County Parcel Map. I counted the number of parcels that front the street segment I submitted a speed hump request for: Pulgas Ave between Bay Rd and Weeks St. I generated this diagram and also emailed our Public Works engineers to confirm that I was counting them correctly.

It took me around 5 hours of time overall to get signatures, but it was spread out over 3 weeks. I door knocked, emailed, enlisted the help of a neighbor, and talked to people to reach the executive director. It was not easy and I wish this step was easier. I am not sure how to make it easier, as I met most of these people for the first time. I did make sure to collect everyone's emails so that I could write updates in an email to everyone on the progress.

Yesterday I submitted the speed hump request with 10 out of 15 signatures to our Public Works department. I am told it will take a few weeks to review, and then if it seems eligible, then I think it will be brought to our Publi Works & Transportation Commission meeting. Per our June 20, 2024 meeting notes, speed humps will be installed at our next Annual Street Resurfacing project, which is slated for this summer/fall. In August the City takes a break so that means that the time between now and end-of-August is the best time to gather signatures to petition for speed humps. Assuming the City needs a couple of weeks to review, this could get speed humps reviewed in mid-September and potentially slated in for installation with this year's annual street resurfacing.

Roads With Buses That Are Now Eligible

From the SamTrans Live Map, these are the roads in East Palo Alto have buses which previously were all not eligible for speed humps (first photo).

I have overlaid the photo in red to mark streets that appear to be eligible based on the updated criteria (second photo).

I summed this up in Google Earth to 3.61 miles of roads in East Palo Alto that have recently become unlocked to potentially have speed humps. This is a big deal, particularly as these roads

Note that the wider sections of Pulgas Ave may not be eligible depending on how the City measures the width of the street; my measurement in Google Earth is around 41 to 42 feet wide from widewalk edge to sidewalk edge. Also note that the section of Runnymede St between Clarke Ave and Pulgas Ave is not eligible because it does not "have curbs and gutters." But our Public Works director did mention at a previous Public Works & Transportation Commission meeting that they have applied for a grant to make Runnymede into a complete street in the future. Also notice that Bay Rd, Newbridge St, University Ave, Donohoe, and some portions of East Bayshore Rd are not eligible because their street widths are wider than 40 feet. I hope that the City might be able to relax the rules in the future, as some of these streets such as Newbridge St are 2 lane roads and have a buffer in the center with trees which make them effectively narrower streets. The small section of East Bayshore Blvd I have highlighted may be eligible as long as the speed limit is 25 mph there. It is confusing because as you drive southeast and cross into Palo Alto the speed limit is 35 mph, and I am not sure what the official speed limit is in East Palo Alto as I could not find speed limit signs on that section.

Other Traffic Calming Measures

Speed humps are not the only way to slow down traffic on our city streets.

There have been other traffic calming measures installed recently on these streets that are now eligible for speed humps. Pulgas Ave has 2 temporary traffic circles which are currently being designed to become permanent mini roundabouts.

Our Public Works & Transportation Commission has also approved public works staff's recommendations about adding a stop sign on Pulgas Ave & Gaillardia Way based on collision history. Recently a topic came up about Pulgas Ave & Sage and we could not recommend a stop sign based on staff's recommendations, but our public works director did mention the City could look into doing a bulb out to help improve sight lines and to calm traffic.

While bulb outs and roundabouts are effective at reducing speeds at intersections - primarily for pedestrians' safety - and also preventing cars from illegally blowing through intersections, they do not protect the segments in between intersections. I think that speed humps can complement the intersection improvements in this way, by slowing down speeding along the roads.

Conclusion

Please feel free to reach out via our Contact page if you have questions or would like help filling out the City's speed hump request form.

Remember that a significant portion of the drivers on EPA streets are outsiders cutting through, and they may not have the same level of care for the community as our own residents do. The 2020 Mobility Study found that around 80% of AM/PM rush hour traffic on University Ave is from cut through traffic via the Dumbarton Bridge. Smaller streets like Clarke (25% AM cut through) and Pulgas (20% cut through) are also affected.

This is a great opportunity for us to make our streets safer for EPA residents.