The town will install temporary speed humps and bulbouts on Johnson Avenue, between Cross Way and Johnson Hollow. Neighbors requested those improvements through the town's traffic calming policy.

At the same time, some Massol Avenue residents recently filed a petition to set the policy in motion on their street to combat speeding drivers.

The town's traffic calming policy, adopted this March, requires a neighborhood petition to get the ball rolling. "The first step is consensus of the problem and that neighbors want to work with the town on solving the problem," said Los Gatos Traffic Engineer Jessy Pu.

Town staff then study the traffic in the area and determine if the street meets the following criteria for calming measures: 85 percent of the cars exceed the speed limit by 5 mph; a minimum vehicle volume and a minimum truck volume, which differ for local and collector streets; and a curb parking occupancy of more than 70 percent between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m.

Johnson Avenue met the criteria, and as a result of a neighborhood meeting and majority approval from a postcard vote, the town will install the speed humps and bulbouts as a three- to six-month pilot project.

Massol Avenue, however, has yet to reach that point, since resident Jerry Bannan just finished gathering signatures for his petition. Bannan enlisted support from 15 of the 19 occupied homes on the 100 block of Massol—between Bean and Nicholson avenues—and gave the petition to Pu on Sept. 19.

The town will most likely not get to Massol Avenue until early next year, since it has a list of already-approved traffic calming projects, said Mary Gillespie-Greenberg, administrative analyst for the Los Gatos Parks and Public Works Department.

"We would get involved if it's a safety issue, and it has not been identified as a hazardous street," Pu said. "It's a straight street; it's not like a blind corner."

The Los Gatos Town Council on Sept. 16 approved the Johnson Avenue improvements. A few of the neighbors objected, saying further study was needed before installation.

Los Gatos Parks and Public Works Director John Curtis said, however, another review will be conducted after the bulbouts and speed humps have been in place for several months. The town will collect data in the meantime.

Curtis also said 72 percent of the neighborhood respondents, "on a very good return of voting," had voted in favor of those devices.

"This is only temporary," said Mayor Randy Attaway, "but even on a temporary basis you have to acquiesce to the majority."

And, as Councilman Steve Blanton pointed out, the town has received three petitions from Johnson Avenue residents in the past 15 years, emphasizing the need. "I think speed humps are plagued, but they actually work," Blanton said.

According to Gillespie-Greenberg, speed humps are wider and more gradual than speed bumps. With speed bumps vehicles practically have to come to a stop to avoid damage; cars can still go over speed humps at 15 to 20 mph. Speed bumps are in the Los Gatos Boulevard Kinko's parking lot; speed humps are on Englewood Avenue, Gillespie-Greenberg said. Bulbouts are curb extensions meant to slow traffic and make sidewalks more pedestrian-friendly.

"In the best possible world" it will take six to eight weeks for the temporary devices to arrive, Gillespie-Greenberg said, but more likely it will take two to three months.

For Massol Avenue residents, speed humps would not solve the problem, since Bannan said he thinks it's both speeding and the amount of traffic that's impacting the neighborhood.

"It's 'eliminate the traffic,' period," Bannan said, though he admits he does not know what can be done and cited closing off Massol before Bayview Avenue as an option.

Bannan has done studies of his own in the last 15 years, at times when he noticed the traffic was getting worse. Bannan notes that there are at least 1,500 cars using Massol on a daily basis—primarily cut-through traffic and cars usually going well above the 25 mph speed limit—and said the situation is "real aggressive" between 5 and 7 p.m. on weekdays.

Bannan has been in contact with the police department but said he knows more drastic measures are needed. "My feeling with the police is that it's not their job to keep the traffic out. They do a good job with the resources they have," Bannan said.

"I do know that our officers are working that area more heavily," said Los Gatos­Monte Sereno Police Sgt. Dave Gravel. But because there's "no accident history to speak of," Gravel said, it's a matter for the town's traffic engineer.

"The successful downtown is great, but we're paying the price," Bannan said. "Everybody in town has been real nice, but it's pretty much up to us. You know, 'take the neighborhood' kind of thing."