Esteemed Menlo Park City Council,

					I live at 5 East Creek Place in the southwest corner of Menlo Park not far from the proposed bike tunnel to El Camino.  While I support the move to develop bike access between the west and east side of El Camino I do not think that a tunnel is a wise use of city tax dollars.  
	I am an avid bicyclist who rides to work every day rain or shine.  Menlo Park is very bicycle friendly with wide streets and little automobile traffic in the neighborhoods. What is perplexing to me is a proposal to tunnel under the train tracks between Ravenswood and the Palo Alto border.
	If I head either north or south from the intersection of Alma and Willow Road, it takes only a couple of minutes (and I am no Lance Armstrong) to get to El Camino.  Granted, the Ravenswood/Alma/train tracks are difficult to navigate during commute time but there are crosswalks and traffic lights that make the crossing safe.  On the Palo Alto end, one can cross the bike bridge and remain on the bike path all the way to El Camino. Once across El Camino there is a beautiful bike path the runs parallel to Sand Hill Road that connects to the San Mateo Ave. bike bridge.  This, of course, takes riders to the west side with very little auto traffic.
   	Constructing a tunnel that brings bike traffic to El Camino at Middle does not change the fact that riders still must negotiate a crossing of that very busy street before peddling up Middle.  To place the tunnel further south, at Cambridge for instance, makes even less sense because it places riders on a narrow residential street with no bike lane.  If lots of riders use that street it could be quite dangerous.
	Please reconsider this very expensive proposition.  The tunnel is simply unnecessary because pathways at Ravenswood and Alma could be improved for bicycle accessibility.  What would be much more beneficial would be to improve the bike lanes through Menlo Park and effectively connect them to the bike lane in Palo Alto at El Camino Park.  

Sincerely,

Doss Welsh Received on Tue Jul 22 12:21:43 2008