Examples of limited street width: Redwood Shores, CA This series of satellite images captured from Google Earth illustrates Streets, parking bays, and.

Examples of limited street width:Redwood Shores, CA

This series of satellite images captured from Google Earth illustratesStreets, parking bays, and sidewalks in the Sandpiper Lagoon development in Redwood Shores. This is where this writer kept a room for several years while working at Oracle Headquarters (Redwood Shores) on weekdays.

Sandpiper Lagoon demonstrates problems with narrow streets and use of parking bays to partially mitigate narrow street widths. Characteristics are:

24-foot street width, curb-to-curb Sidewalk on one side only, 4 feet wide, separated from street by grass strip 6 feet wide Parking bays provide limited area for parallel parking. Streets are private, with a 15 mph speed limit. Curb parking is strictly prohibited, subject to prompt tow-away. Almost all parking is in 2-car garages and in driveways. Driveways fill at night: Typical parking is 2 cars per driveway, Some driveways tightly pack up to 4 vehicles: 3 abreast and one crosswise.

Sandpiper Lagoon, in Redwood Shores

Sandpiper Lagoon typical conditions

4-bedroom homewith 2-car garagee

All streets 24 feet widee

Sandpiper Lagoon weekday conditions

Parking Bay, 4-car capacity,Parking for visitors onlye

Illegally parked pickup truck,Curb parking is strictly prohibitede

Parking Bay beneath trees, 2-car capacity, visitors onlye

Street width limits parking & traffic

Vehicles could not pass in opposite directionswith reasonable safety if curb parking were permitted on only one curb of a24-foot-wide street.

xxe

Image of illegally parked pickup truckis duplicated twice to illustrate 2-way trafficclearances, or alternatively1-way traffic withparking at both curbs.

Sandpiper Lagoon midday parking conditionsat a location with few trees obscuring a view from above on a weekday

Unobstructed view of a parking bayNear access to slough and walking/biking trail

3 of 4 driveways have1 parked car

Street width limits parking & traffic

Image of pickup parked in driveway is replicated to illustrate vehicles 2-abreast and 3-abreast between curbs.

If parking is permitted onone curb, only one lane isavailable to traffic.

SafetyResidents were exceptionally concerned about safety.legitimate reasons are roadway width and sight distance at corners.

Result: Posted speed limit of 15 mph, with many homeownersbeing extremely sensitive to speeding. This included both actual speeding and imagined speeding.

Speeds over about 20 mph can be legitimate risk factors at intersections in this neighborhood, but the constant annoyance is homeowners’ discomfort.

A second-order effect is conflict due to false speeding claims.These are handled by the HOA because this development has private streets.

ParkingParking is a constant nuisance in this development.

Visitors unfamiliar with the Sandpiper Lagoon parking rules often park Illegally at the curb. In addition to obstructing traffic, often their vehicles are towed and impounded. This occurs even when their visit is only an hour or two. Parking bays are reserved for use by visitors. Residents are limited to parking in garages and driveways, but often need to cheat by finding a parking-bay spot until space opens up in their driveway. A large majority of homes have more vehicles than can be housed in the 2-car garage attached to each home. Consequently, driveways fill up in after-work hours. ------ Median overnight parking probably is 2 cars per driveway.------ Some homes have up to 4 cars per driveway overnight. 3 is a tight fit, 4 fit only by parking one perpendicular to the others, blocking them in.