Los Altos’ Complete Streets Commission is scheduled today to further review plans for swapping out the controversial asphalt speed humps on Cuesta Drive with rubberized ones. The virtual meeting is set for a 5:30 p.m. start.
City staff presented plans at last month’s meeting in accordance with Santa Clara County Fire Department requests for 3-inch-high, staggered, split-lane “traffic tables.” The design would allow trucks to veer around them in emergencies. Cuesta is considered an evacuation and emergency route. The rubberized design was intended to make it easier for vehicles to travel over.
However, the plan met with mostly skepticism from commissioners and residents who spoke at the meeting. Concerns ranged from the potential noise of the rubberized humps to whether the new plan would address the overarching goal of limiting traffic speeds along Cuesta to 25 mph – 15 mph over the speed humps.
The new plans were put forward after the fire department informed the city that the asphalt bumps – ranging in height from 4.25 inches to 6 inches or more – were out of compliance. Motorists also complained about driving over the humps, five of which were installed in 2020 along Cuesta between El Monte Avenue and Springer Road.
The “traffic tables,” as they also are called, were part of a traffic-calming project designed to slow speeding motorists. An additional seven smaller speed humps were installed along parallel-running Arboleda Drive as part of the project, but those humps, only 3 inches high, are in compliance.
In response to concerns about the speed humps intruding into Cuesta bike lanes, city staff agreed last month to shorten widths to 10.5 feet from the original 12 feet. To address the potential of auto traffic also weaving around the humps, staff recommended flexible bollards, or vertical posts, at the street’s edge to keep vehicles in their lanes and avoid intrusion into the bike lanes.
According to Marisa Lee, transportation services manager, staff also is moving forward with the vertical posts, or delineators, at the road’s edge and a hardened centerline of “Botts’ dots” (raised pavement markers) in the center of the roadway. She said both elements, which received support at last month’s meeting, are designed to deter vehicles from swerving to avoid the speed tables.
Because the project is intended to meet fire codes, it does not require Los Altos City Council approval.
To view and participate in today’s virtual meeting, visit losaltosca.gov.
