Travel times on Highway 1 are now available

According to the 511 website, at 7:27am on Wednesday 05/31/06, it takes just 10 minutes to travel from Montara to HMB.

Comment 2 by Martha Cravens  on  May 31  at  12:50pm  •  All my comments • 

Yahoo! This was a big help, and spang on timing this morning at 7:10am.

At 8:13am on Thursday 06/01/06 these are the travel times reported on the 511 website:

Montara to HMB: 17 minutes El Granada to HMB: 13 minutes HMB to 280: 12 minutes

So, where are the huge traffic delays that people keep citing as justification for eliminating the so-called “free right turn” from NB Hwy 1 onto Hwy 92?

Comment 4 by Jonathan Lundell  on  Jun 01  at  11:06am  •  All my comments • 

Has morning traffic been lighter than usual this week? I believe that CSM finished their term last week; any other reasons?

Mr. Lansing,

I have noticed in the past week or so that traffic is lighter than it has been on the tail end of the morning commute. I have no explanation. However, it is my understanding that the early commute (from 6am to about 730am) is still hell.

Is there a way to see trended data on 511.org for a particular time of day?

Brian Dantes El Granada

Here’s a summary of data collected on Coastside driving times from the 511 website over the last three days:

Wednesday 05/31/06 7:27am MONT-HMB 10m (m = minutes)

Thursday 06/01/06 8:13am MONT-HMB 17m, ELG-HMB 13m, HMB-280 12m

Friday 06/02/06 5:46am MONT-HMB 10m, ELG-HMB 5m, HMB-280 12m 6:08am MONT-HMB 12m, ELG-HMB 7m, HMB-280 12m 6:28am MONT-HMB 12m, ELG-HMB 8m, HMB-280 13m 6:48am MONT-HMB 10m, ELG-HMB 6m, HMB-280 13m 7:06am MONT-HMB 10m, ELG-HMB 6m, HMB-280 13m 7:26am MONT-HMB 10m, ELG-HMB 6m, HMB-280 16m 7:54am MONT-HMB 10m, ELG-HMB 6m, HMB-280 13m 8:11am MONT-HMB 10m, ELG-HMB 6m, HMB-280 13m

The data for today (Friday) show no significant traffic delays. I have heard people say that Friday traffic is typically lighter than normal. Comparing the 8:13am data for Thursday to the 8:11am data for Friday seems to bear that out. But even Thursday’s time of 13 minutes from ELG to HMB does not seem that bad. I’ll try to post similar data again on Monday.

If Caltrans wants to eliminate the so-called “free right turn” from Hwy 1 onto Hwy 92, then the burden of proof is on them to show that the stoplight is needed. So far, the data do not support such a conclusion.

Mr. Lansing,

Since you were there, I know you recall that Mr. Keyhan Moghbel at Caltrans told the HMB City Council that his traffic engineer travelled SR1 four or more different times over several days. From that data, they determined that the SR1/SR92 intersection was the root cause chokepoint and thus decided to install the metering lights.

I have no explanation for the apparent sudden decrease in transit times. It’s certainly good news - but I hesitate to rely on it as an established trend. The last time I drove ELG-HMB at 630am was on Thursday, May 25th, and it took 35 minutes.

And while I would agree with you that Caltrans should use good data to make decisions, I still think you and others are wrong to insist that Caltrans has any legal burden or obligation whatsoever to a city when implementing traffic mitigations on state highways.

What is especially heinous is this spurious three week delay that the HMB Council somehow forced on the entire Coastside before discussion would even begin. If Caltrans had proceed as they originally planned, we would already had answers by now.

It may be that other factors are at play - and maybe the metering lights exacerbate rather than help. But that’s not the point — the point is how HMB officials managed to force their self-serving interests on the rest of us regarding a shared resource - not only with the resistance to the Main Street closures but with this. To resist even trying alternatives is bull-headed in the extreme.

Please Mid-Coasters, show up at the June 6th HMB City Council meeting and let them know how you feel.

Brian Dantes El Granada

I suspect that a number of people took the whole week off, taking advantage of the holiday. It will be interesting to see what the numbers look like next week and after schools all get out. Thanks for posting the data Kevin.

Below is some updated data from 511 website that includes today (Monday)

Wednesday 05/31/06 7:27am MONT-HMB 10m (m=minutes)

Thursday 06/01/06 8:13am MONT-HMB 17m, ELG-HMB 13m, HMB-280 12m

Friday 06/02/06 5:46am MONT-HMB 10m, ELG-HMB 5m, HMB-280 12m 6:08am MONT-HMB 12m, ELG-HMB 7m, HMB-280 12m 6:28am MONT-HMB 12m, ELG-HMB 8m, HMB-280 13m 6:48am MONT-HMB 10m, ELG-HMB 6m, HMB-280 13m 7:06am MONT-HMB 10m, ELG-HMB 6m, HMB-280 13m 7:26am MONT-HMB 10m, ELG-HMB 6m, HMB-280 16m 7:54am MONT-HMB 10m, ELG-HMB 6m, HMB-280 13m 8:11am MONT-HMB 10m, ELG-HMB 6m, HMB-280 13m

Monday 06/05/06 6:43am MONT-HMB 22m, ELG-HMB 18m, HMB-280 16m 6:58am MONT-HMB 28m, ELG-HMB 24m, HMB-280 17m 7:09am MONT-HMB 22m, ELG-HMB 17m, HMB-280 19m 7:24am MONT-HMB 25m, ELG-HMB 20m, HMB-280 15m 7:42am MONT-HMB 32m, ELG-HMB 28m, HMB-280 20m 8:02am MONT-HMB 40m, ELG-HMB 36m, HMB-280 17m 8:19am MONT-HMB 31m, ELG-HMB 27m, HMB-280 17m

The reported times from Montara and ELG to HMB appear to be about 20 minutes longer on average on Monday 06/05 versus Friday 06/03. According to the data, it takes just 4-5 minutes to go from Montara to ELG, but then the drive slows down considerably, presumably due to the ELG exit-clog.

Between 850am and 930am this morning, the traffic was quite thick from Princeton’s Landing all the way to SR92. So I don’t think the traffic at Capistrano Road in El Granada was the only issue. In all fairness, I did not notice any issue with merging with northbound SR1 traffic this morning, but this was well after folks would have dropped kids off at school. But now that school is almost out — we’ll never know if the metering lights would have helped with that traffic. Thanks a lot HMB.

Brian Dantes El Granada