VIDEO. Bike lane disappears for about 100 yards. John Doughty, Public Work for City of Half Moon Bay, said this is temporary.
“I wanted to give you a heads-up that we are not satisfied with the current layout and are currently in the process of re-design of construction zone with Caltrans.
This will include a dedicated lane for bicycles and likely detour of vehicles (and bikes) at Main/Higgins Canyon Road. Final design is not complete, but for the safety of all, bicyclist may be routed to Seymour-Main-Higgins Canyon Road for their safety—something we are still discussing. Cannot get into too much detail as we are in process of design. Caltrans seems amenable to the concepts.
Immediate steps taken includes signing the zone for 25 MPH speed limit and placement of a VMS sign at transition point alerting folks of speed change and potential presence of bicyclists. We also relocated barriers to improve line of site at Main/Higgins Canyon and Highway 1.”
~ John Doughty, Half Moon Bay, Public Works
Contact John: JDoughty@hmbcity.com
More on Coastside Buzz About
The South Gateway Hwy 1, Main and Higgins
More on Coastside Buzz
Hyatt Hotel at South Gateway
City HMB Breaks Ground on New Intersection Design for South Gateway at Hwy 1, Main and Higgins
Half Moon Bay, CA – October 1, 2020 – The City of Half Moon Bay officially began work on significant safety improvements to a critical Highway 1 intersection serving Downtown, the community, and the coastside. A small groundbreaking ceremony today commemorated the start of reconstruction and improvement of the intersection of Highway 1/Main Street/Higgins Canyon Road.
[updated] INCREDIBLE DANGER at intersection of Hwy 1 & Higgins Canyon/South Main St.:
Dear Michelle –
Am so grateful you are there.
[[An earlier version of this email was sent to your “Contact” section on Buzz. Sorry for sending a slightly update letter in, again, but someone’s life could be at stake. ]]
THANK YOU for your article of Nov. 18!!
i just discovered the horrid danger a few nights ago. Then met the man who almost died in the accident there, a day before you wrote your article.
i would LOVE to speak with you about how we, the public, can get this danger fixed QUICK!!!
1. THE ALMOST FATAL ACCIDENT: Jose Luis Alcantar has photos of his car that was totaled (in the front) on Nov. 17. He was crossing the north-bound lanes on Hwy. 1 to go south. Neither he nor the other driver saw each other, because the concrete barriers blocked their vision. (Both drivers were in cars lower to the ground than most vehicles.)
Miraculously, he wasn’t hurt. (There must have been so many other drivers who also have been spared from death at that place. i was almost hit there on Thanksgiving night.)
2. SHERIFF’S RESPONSE TO DANGER: The next day, i spoke with Sgt. Jim and 2 deputies. Only one (not Sgt. Jim) quietly stated since the accident some changes have been made, but more are needed. An understatement! Jim and the other sheriff said it was safe: “It’s the drivers’ responsibility to look before entering the intersection.”
What if you don’t know that you will not be able to SEE a smaller-in-height vehicle, because it will be hidden by the concrete barriers until it is upon you?
3. WHAT ABOUT THE BICYCLISTS??? One possible CORRECTION: IF Cal Trans could act quickly (which am told it will not): cones could be placed in the “slow” lane long before the beginning of the barriers, guiding cars into the “fast” lane. A new Bike Lane could then be painted in the now un-used “slow” lane, next to the barriers. IF the intersection at S. Main/Higgins Canyon Rd. still has drivers going north or south, bikers would be alerted it is coming. Right now, there isn’t one of those generic highway signs that shows another road is ahead, intersecting.
4. HMB City response? Victor Gaiten from the City returned my call this morning. He’s a good man. Off the record he felt a delegation to speak with Matthew Chidester would help.
After just discovering your article, it is apparent more than that is needed. Neither of the administrators here at Senior Coastsiders housing departments are willing to get involved in a delegation meeting.
However, one of their staffers has great respect for you and had some ideas.
a. We should flood the HMB Council meeting tomorrow night – to speak about this.
(Yipes – there isn’t another Council meeting until Dec. 15. Someone could be killed at the intersection before then. This gal said THAT would result in the necessary changes. What the hell – it needs someone to get killed to get action ~ when it’s obvious that could happen now?)
b. She also suggested getting an article written in the HMB Review. How great if you – and someone from the Review (if they can’t pick up the story you might want to create) could be watching in to the Council meeting tomorrow night.
c. COUNCIL MEMBERS:
Am new to HMB. It seems, though, most of the Council members would be sympathetic to protecting their constituents from someone getting killed at this dangerous intersection. Would it not be wise to contact them first during the day, to give them a little “heads up” that this issue will be addressed Tuesday night?
Perhaps, a one- pager could be sent to them first, offering a few suggestions on quick fixes to this danger – – – that HMB could do immediately – not having to wait for CalTrans to do something.
i’d love to get your feedback on a draft of a one-pager i’ve done.
Am hopeful Jose might be willing to speak at the Council meeting. Somehow, perhaps the photos of his smashed car could be shown.
d. HOW CAN WE GET MORE FOLKS ALREADY AWARE OF THIS DANGER, to participate in the Public Comments Tuesday night?
So far, the only concrete thing i’ve done: after almost being hit, made 4 poster board signs Thanksgiving night. Taped them to A frames at the intersection – – – 3 of them specifically next to the lane going south on Hwy. 1 (Have a photo : )
mary bernier
(650) 222-6361
InterfaithPeaceCoalition@gmail.com