Menlo Park staff is working closely to manage the additional traffic on detour routes from the Town of Atherton’s Marsh Road Retaining Wall Repair project. We have staff on-call following the closure to respond to issues as they arise. Additionally, we modified signal timing on the detour streets (Middlefield Road, Marsh Road, Willow Road and Ravenswood Avenue) in anticipation of the added traffic. These changes were in place before the Marsh Road closure, but additional refinements continue.
Staff members identified several key observations from Tuesday, May 31 (Day 1 of closure) and acted to minimize problems/delays:
- Traffic congestion at Middlefield Road/Ringwood Avenue/Ravenswood Avenue
- Staff adjusted signal timing to provide additional time for Ringwood Avenue-to-Ravenswood Avenue traffic and maximize left-turn capacity. This may cause additional delays in other directions, especially during off-peak times.
- Unsafe left turns from westbound Marsh Road to southbound Bay Road
- Staff worked with Atherton’s project team to adjust detour/street closure signs and traffic control to allow turns onto northbound Bay Road into North Fair Oaks. Staff adjusted the traffic signal at Marsh Road/Bay Road to discourage unsafe maneuvers.
- Backups at the Ringwood Avenue/Bay Road intersection (back to Marsh Road, past Flood Triangle, Suburban Park and Lorelei neighborhoods to Marsh Road and back to 101 freeway)
- Menlo Park Police plan to conduct manual traffic control at this intersection during morning commute hours and closely monitor congestion over next few days, until commuters settle into alternative routes with closure in place.
Additionally, the Menlo-Atherton High School graduation is Thursday, June 2, in the afternoon/evening. The Town of Atherton has coordinated with Menlo Park Police to provide manual traffic control after the event to help with egress. We are placing changeable message board signs alerting drivers on Ravenswood Avenue and Middlefield Road to the event and advising them to expect additional delays during that time.
City of Menlo Park staff continues to monitor the area, and are responding to issues as quickly as possible after they arise.
For questions related to the project or detour routes, please call Atherton’s
project hotline at 650-847-4045.
