Ripon is looking to discourage cut-through weekday commuter traffic along the city streets.
One solution could be adjusting the traffic signal at Jack Tone Road and Main Street to meter the traffic entering town, with the plan of getting it to the point where the capacity of the road network to the east is not exceeded, according to the Ripon City Council.
Elected leaders, who unanimously approved the staff recommendation at Tuesday’s meeting, are aware that this might cause an inconvenience to the community.
“We’re trying to do something about this (problem),” Mayor Mike Restuccia said.
He and his colleagues recently discussed the significant increased number of vehicles cutting through Ripon to avoid congestion that occurs during the evening commute on Highway 99 and Highway 120 Bypass.
“This increase in commute traffic is beyond what our city streets were designed for and is resulting in significant delays to Ripon residents along with an increase in moving violations,” City Administrator Kevin Werner said in his council report.
It’s also kept busy the Ripon Police Department.
Police have issued 42 speeding tickets coupled with six for failing to halt at stop signs among the 56 citations of the past six months.
Those from City of Fremont — this Bay Area community has similar, if not, worse problems with cut-through commuter traffic – have been helpful in working with Ripon on finding a possible solution. “They made it longer for people to come through town,” Werner said.
Staff, as part of the “Doak Boulevard Traffic Plan Solution,” also listed possible traffic calming measures such as:
uRestricting right turning movements for vehicles traveling east on West Ripon Road on both Ruess Road and South Highland Avenue.
uInstalling a landscape median on Main Street between Jack Tone Road and Wilma Avenue
uInstalling concrete bulbs outs at various intersections on Second Street between Wilma and Stockton avenues.
Werner wasn’t sure of the time frame in moving forward with adjusting the phasing of the traffic signal at Jack Tone Road and Main Street.
What comes of this will come back to council members.
They’ll evaluate the need for additional measures after determining the effectiveness of this measure.
