Allowing cars to block bike lanes heading to schools has to be the dumbest ever road design. I'm glad that the city is coming to their senses.

Now if Atherton would address the mess around Laurel School and Ringwood Ave. Too often those picking up kids block the street to through traffic, people are crossing all along the roadway. It's no wonder that there hasn't been an accident yet.

This article misses a critical piece of the solution that was recommended by staff and voted on by Transportation Commission. After the community meeting and before the transportation commission meeting, city staff worked with the school staff and identified a plan for the school to reconfigure its parking onsite. The newly available onsite parking will be available for parents to pick up, drop off, and park - replacing the same number of spaces that will be unavailable by using the bicycle lane for bikes. This change will be implemented over the summer. The change to clear the bike lane wouldn't go into effect until after the onsite parking had been reconfigured to make more room for parents.

Also, the article notes that "The parking issue arose when a resident whose child attended Encinal Elementary School, located not far from Laurel Street, complained to the city that parents from Nativity School parked in the bike lanes."

However, the bike lanes on Laurel have been identified in the city's Bicycle Plan, the El Camino Real Downtown Specific Plan, and two different Safe Routes to School Plans for Encinal and the Valparaiso area. Laurel is a key link in the city's overall bike network - it is the north-south low-stress route parallel to El Camino. It has much lower traffic than Middlefield which is the other north-south route.

Laurel isn't one person's recently identified issue, it is a key link in the city's bicycle network which has been planned and reinforced for over a decade.

We all just want a nice big free parking space! Web Link