A few months ago, few Willow Glen residents had any idea what a “road diet” was, much less that Lincoln Avenue, the main street through the neighborhood’s business district, was about to embark on one.

The goal of the road diet on Lincoln Avenue is to make the busy street less congested and safer for everyone by reducing it from four lanes to two. It’s been a topic of speculation for years, but until now, no one did anything about it.

Now the talk becomes reality as the Department of Transportation on Feb. 21 began grinding out existing striping for a three month road diet trial run. Water-based stripes in the road diet configuration will then be put in. At the end of three months, the experiment will be evaluated, and if deemed a success, it will become permanent.

The San Jose City Council approved $25,000 for the trial when it was proposed in June 2014 by District 6 Councilman Pierluigi Oliverio.

“Traditionally, changes like this go through an expensive process that includes an environmental impact report before implementation. The problem,” he adds, “is that all those traffic studies don’t really tell you the impact on neighbors.”

Citing a similar situation on Hedding Street, he recalls, “I got an earful from residents who felt the new street configuration caused too much congestion and diverted too many cars into the surrounding neighborhood.”

The lane reduction will begin on Lincoln at Minnesota and continue to Coe Avenue. There will be a dedicated center lane for left turns and bike lanes in each direction. Transition areas will extend to Nevada Avenue at the southern end during the trial and Paula Street to the north.

Traffic will be measured before, during and after the trial at 45 locations; delivery trucks will be required to park in designated loading zones. No parking spaces will be removed during the trial.

The road diet is the result of community meetings with the Willow Glen Business Association and the Willow Glen Neighborhood Association. A Road Diet Working Group was formed in November 2014 and has been providing community feedback to the city’s Department of Transportation regarding different facets of the trial.

“We are very excited to see this road diet trial come to fruition,” says Tim Mulcahy, president of the Willow Glen Business Association. “This temporary measure will allow our community to determine if it is a viable solution to improving safety for everyone who comes to enjoy downtown Willow Glen.”

Questons and comments can be made at lincolnroaddiet@gmail.com. Answers to frequently asked questions can be found at willowglenroaddiet.com.

Full implementation of the road diet trial is scheduled for March 1.

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