Middlefield Road Safe Streets

Bicyclists in buffered bike lanes on Middlefield Road

The Middlefield Safe Streets project is identifying improvements to Middlefield Road to improve safety for all users. In early 2023, the City converted a portion of the road to three lanes (one travel lane in each direction plus a center turn lane) and added buffers to the existing bike lanes as a pilot.  

The City will be conducting outreach on the pilot and evaluating additional safety improvements at the sections that were not repaved as part of the CalWater utility project, with a focus on the segment of Middlefield Road Willow Road and Woodland Avenue. 

 

Status

The City is preparing to conduct outreach on potential safety upgrades to Middlefield Road between Willow Road and the City limit with Palo Alto. The City will also be conducting a survey about the pilot striping changes between Ringwood Avenue and Willow Road.

Events

coming soon

Background

In late 2022 and early 2023, CalWater replaced a water main on Middlefield Road. As part of this work, CalWater repaved a significant portion of Middlefield Road between Ravenswood Avenue and Willow Road. The City used this opportunity to address concerns about traffic safety, speeds and pedestrian safety. The City installed new lane markings as a pilot, convert the repaved section to three lanes (one in each direction plus a center turn lane). This provides separate left turns (including for driveways) and can maintain roadway capacity and increase safety by separating vehicles traveling at different speeds. View a simplified concept of the striping changes(PDF, 1MB) .

Staff used data from 2019 (pre-pandemic data) to evaluate the potential striping change. Traffic volumes on Middlefield are generally lower than those on Willow Road between Gilbert Avenue and Middlefield Road, and on Santa Cruz Avenue between Olive Street and Johnson Street where we have a similar three lane section (though the time of day patterns on Santa Cruz Avenue are different).

 

 

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Location

Middlefield Road between Ravenswood Avenue and Willow Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025  View map

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