How To Build The Best Menlo Park Bike Network


Last Update: August 1, 2018

Closing The Biggest Gaps In The Menlo Park Bike Network

Here is a rundown of the top trouble spots along with recommendations for fixing them.

Overview

Despite its location adjacent to Palo Alto, a national leader in suburban bike network design, in a region that is a hotbed of cycling, Menlo Park offers bike riders only average public bike infrastrucure.

Unfortunately the City of Menlo Park has a poor understanding of where bicyclists currently ride – and what new bike facilities they want – because it has never systematically monitored street usage nor surveyed residents. Re-Imagine Menlo Park has conducted some research using both techniques. Monitoring the intersections where bicyclists cross El Camino would be a great place to start: Valparaiso-Glenwood, Oak Grove, Santa Cruz, Menlo-Ravenswood, and Roble. Currently, Santa Cruz is favored by Hillview School students and Ravenswood by Adults.

Existing Menlo Park Bike Network

Bicyclists currently use a combination of streets to access popular destinations on either side of El Camino Real.  A small number have bike  lanes, a few have sharrows (“share the road”) street markings, and most are simply residential streets with low volumes of vehicle traffic. The biggest problem is the lack of safe, convenient and stress-free ways to bike to destinations on the opposite side of cross El Camino Real. View a bike network map and popular destinations.

How To Improve The Menlo Park Bike Network Planning Process

Despite its location in Silicon Valley, a center of innovation and technology utilization, City Council members, staff and volunteer commissioners; residents and local businesses – are ALL severely handicapped by the existing pre-modern planning process it still employs and produces sub-optimal decision-making. Review and recommendations.

Contemporary Bike Network Design

Leading urban and suburban communities are now making big investments in professionally designed bike networks in order to encourage residents and visitors to use bikes rather than motor vehicles to travel to regular destinations like schools and workplaces. And this trend will continue to strengthen as vehicle congestion remains a major problem. Palo Alto is an excellent local example. This strong interest in treating biking as an important transportation alternative has led to improvements in the tools available to design networks, the knowledge of how to apply them in particular areas and specific settings, and new government standards for bike facilities.

In 2012 the first comprehensive methodology for identifying the need for and placement of individual bike facilities within a community bike network was published, and it is now widely accepted as the bible for city and professional bike network designers and planners. Low-Stress Bicycling and Network Connectivity emphasizes the importance of considering how bike networks serve the needs of different types of bicyclists. The methodology begins with a focus on bicyclists and then identifies the kinds of bike facilities most suitable for different bike riding environments. At its core it recognizes that a well-designed bike network has individual bike route options that are NOT appropriate for all bike riders.

Bicyclist Needs & Preferences

Good bike network design recognizes bicyclists vary a great deal in terms of not only their knowledge and skills but also in how they view the convenience, comfort, and safety of particular bike routes. Designers evaluate how the physical characteristics of and traffic patterns on bike routes alter how bicyclist gauge their relative appeal.

  • Convenience.  Bicyclists prefer the most convenient route to a destination and this is usually the shortest one. They dislike significantly longer routes (detours), especially those that require more stops due to traffic and traffic controls.
  • Comfort. Bicyclists will avoid the most convenient bike route if it makes them too uncomfortable, i.e., are too difficult or stressful. Typical concerns include steep hills, rough road surfaces, and lanes shared with much faster vehicles.
  • Safety. Bicyclists often accept a little inconvenience and discomfort in order to reach a destination but typically avoid bike routes they perceive as unsafe.

Bike Network Design

Professional bike network designers use a well-defined standard design process that includes the following steps:

  • Map the most popular (a) bike destinations within a city and (b) the locations where bicyclists access the community. Middlefield Road is a good example of the latter case.
  • Evaluate how bicyclists travel to popular destinations using streets both in and outside an existing bike network. This clearly demonstrates how the active bike community currently makes trade-off decisions about convenience, comfort and safety.
  • Identify popular existing bike routes where there are opportunities to significantly increase bike comfort and safety. These might be improved by adding or upgrading bike facilities on specific streets and adding suitable signage and traffic controls at interections.
  • Identify popular bike routes and streets where there are NO opportunities to significantly increase comfort and safety BUT there are alternative bike routes and streets that would be viewed as significantly safer and/or more comfortable but NOT too inconvenient.

Industry & Government Standards

The State of California Highway Design Manual refers to the Guide for the Development of Bike Facilities published in 2012 by the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials (AASTO).

The NACTO* Urban Bikeway Design Guide (part of the Cities for Cycling initiative) provides cities with state-of-the-practice solutions that can help create complete streets that are safe and enjoyable for bicyclists. (*National Association of City Transportation Officials). NACTO is an association of 62 major North American cities and ten transit agencies formed to exchange transportation ideas, insights, and practices and cooperatively approach national transportation issues. The guide is updated annually.

Menlo Park has adopted the NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guidelines and must comply with the State of California Highway Design Manual.

Menlo Park Bike Network Improvements

The first and only Menlo Park bike network development plan was approved in 2004. Since the City has added new bike facilities only once.

  • In 2017 buffered bike lanes were added to University between Middle and Live Oak and on Oak Grove between Crane and Mancussen.
  • In 2016 the existing bike lanes on Valparaiso and Glenwood were upgraded to improve school bike safety and meet contemporary state and local standards.
  • In 2015, Menlo Park studied the opportunity to add bike lanes to El Camino as part of the El Camino Corridor Study. The proposal to conduct a field trial which had already been approved was tabled due to  due to concerns about bike safety. Re-Imagine Menlo Park publically opposed the field trial as did the Menlo Park Fire District.
  •  “Sharrows” have been added to many other streets, e.g., Oak but these are street marking, NOT bike facilities.

Peninsula Bikeway

Up and down the Peninsula, cities are working to improve conditions for bicycling. The Peninsula Bikeway is an idea that has grown out of the coordination of four cities—Redwood City, Menlo Park, Palo Alto, and Mountain View—to better connect our cities and the region. The interim Peninsula Bikeway launches on September 8, 2018.

Where could a permanent high-quality Peninsula Bikeway be located? Options include El Camino Real, the Caltrain tracks, Middlefield, or a combination of these and other local routes. Each option has unique opportunities and challenges.

City Bike Network Planning History

A brief summary of some of the more significant actions and decisions the City of Menlo Park has made since 2004.