The Campbell Reporter

News

Speeders and children in crosswalk equal chaos

By Alicia Upano

Unlike in the quiet days of summer, crossing Harriet Avenue to McCoy Avenue before and after school is like a game of Frogger, according to residents.

Inwood Drive resident Shannon Gomez calls morning traffic chaotic. Cars speed through the small intersection between the Bucknall Road stoplight to the north and the Westmont Avenue stop sign to the south, while students negotiate their way on foot to nearby Forest Hill elementary and Westmont High schools.

Parents say the problem is exacerbated because there's no stop sign, traffic signal or crossing guard at Harriet and McCoy avenues.

Parent Greg Matheny knows the dangers firsthand. Matheny said he has been in the crosswalk with his two young children as cars sped by.

"We are literally looking eye to eye with people driving through the crosswalk, and they're looking at you like you're stupid," Matheny said.

Matheny said he witnesses near- misses frequently at the intersection, although last year such an event hit closer to home. During the first week of school, when Matheny's youngest son was entering kindergarten, he and his sons walked to school together.

"He was excited about being in school," Matheny said. "He's new at this, and he shot out from behind me to run through the crosswalk."

A driver sped toward Matheny's son at 40 mph, he said. The boy stopped abruptly, and the driver continued north on Harriet Avenue. "She didn't even blink," Matheny said.

Both Gomez and Kris Anderson live only a block away from Forest Hill but drive their children to the elementary school because they deem the intersection too dangerous to cross on foot.

The problem worsened five years ago when the city of Campbell eliminated the crossing guard at the intersection because there weren't enough children walking to school.

Anderson thought the city would replace the crossing guard with a stop sign or traffic signal. Campbell did plan to install a traffic signal at the intersection of McCoy and Harriet avenues. Planners wanted to implement traffic calming measures in the area to reduce speeding and improve safety for residents and students crossing Harriet. The city was awarded a $200,000 grant from the Federal Hazard Elimination Safety grant program to pay for the project.

The McCoy signal plan was part of a larger city plan to increase safety along bicycle, pedestrian and auto routes to schools.

However, at a May 13, 2002, community meeting, residents living in that neighborhood told the city a traffic signal would be "unattractive and detract from the rural flavor" of the San Tomas area, and would increase speeds, with drivers accelerating through yellow and red lights, according to city documents.

Neighbors also said a signal wasn't needed because congestion only happens during 30 minutes in the mornings and afternoons when children were arriving at or leaving the schools. In evaluating the process city planners determined installing stop signs at Harriet Avenue would not an appropriate solution. In fact, according to the options proposed in the Harriet Avenue/McCoy Avenue Improvement Project, a stop sign would make things worse, by creating "significant" delays.

In the end, strong residential opposition to a traffic light and the city's decision not to put in a stop sign shifted the $200,000 grant further west. The monies funded the installation of a traffic light at Campbell and Victor avenues.

Westmont Avenue received only minor work, according to Campbell traffic engineer Matthew Jue. He said the city restriped portions of Harriet Avenue for bike lanes and striped a median at the intersection, but there were not enough funds to install a median.

Campbell Planning Commissioner Tom Francois is one of the residents opposing the traffic signal installation.

"I'm adamantly opposed to that and so are the neighbors," said Francois, who's lived on Harriet Avenue for 44 years. "A stoplight on a residential street just doesn't make any sense. Now they're really going to have traffic queued up; it's going to create a bigger problem with people busting through the light."

Yet Francois agrees there's a speed problem, and would like to see a landscaped meridian, parking and bike lanes on both sides of Harriet Avenue. These improvements would make the street narrower and force drivers to slow down, he said. Unfortunately, the funding doesn't exist.

Anderson, Gomez and Matheny are sympathetic to the city's budget woes, but would like at least to see a crossing guard return to that intersection. Francois supports their idea.

"I think it would be the easiest way," Francois said. "We need to find the funding for that because it's important."

The parents have called the city numerous times.

"It's going to take a child getting killed for someone to stand up and do something about it," Matheny said.