Wednesday night's Transportation Commission meeting and the agenda item about Caltrans's project on Otis Drive next to Krusi Park were extremely disappointing:

When presented with 42 pages of correspondence from Alamedans about traffic safety issues that should be addressed by improving Otis Drive, a Caltrans staffers spoke to the economic activity of getting as many drivers as possible to South Shore Center.
When asked whether they have completed "complete streets" analyses and documents for Otis Drive as required by a Caltrans-wide policy announced in 2021, the Caltrans traffic engineering project manager said no... but that's just paperwork.

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The Complete Streets Decision Document that has not been completed for this project requires a written explanation of included safety improvements for pedestrians and cyclists. The CSDD requires signatures from up and down the entire Caltrans district office — including the signature of the district director.

When asked if Caltrans measured the current speeds of drivers to inform their designs, the Caltrans staffer responded that no, they did not – but if they did conduct a speed study he imagined they would probably find that drivers are often speeding over 25 MPH and therefore Caltrans would then raise the posted speed limit.

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I've previously blogged about how the City of Alameda, unlike Caltrans, no longer follows the "85th percentile speed" commandment of traffic engineering.

When asked how their project to rebuild Otis Drive could be improved, the Caltrans staffer suggested that after Caltrans finishes this project in its currently planned form in 2027, then the City of Alameda try to secure its own funds to rip up and rebuild the road yet again. He mentioned that ACTC and MTC sometimes have funds available that Alameda could apply for. He also mentioned that the City of Alameda has been using this approach to build a "complete street" along Central Ave.

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The City of Alameda has been hard at work for over a decade to navigate the process and politics of the Central Ave Safety Project, especially the complexity of modifying Caltrans-owned roadway. To suggest that the city follow that template after Caltrans sinks money into Otis Drive is madness — well, or just an under-baked attempt at deflection.

To summarize: a single traffic engineer project manager, representing Caltrans (a state agency of 20,000 employees) said no, no, nope, nope, no to considering any and all public input on its Otis Drive project.

All of the members of the Transportation Commission who were in attendance on Wednesday spoke of being disappointed by this response from Caltrans and the proposed plans.

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I have summarized some of the questions from other TC members above, as well as my own. But I won't try to further characterize any specific TC member comments. The full video is available to watch.

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To be clear: This criticism is of Caltrans District 4 as an organization and the plans and decisions that are coming out of that organization. This criticism is not of the individual tasked with representing that massive organization. I appreciate that he came on such a late evening to Alameda City Hall, along with two colleagues who sat in the audience.

What's the next step? Well, in my own case the next step was to get some sleep and the next day make treats for my son to bring into school to celebrate his birthday. Afterwards his teacher texted to ask for the recipe, so since I wanted to write it up anyway, I'll use this as a sweeter way to conclude this blog post:

Ingredients

1 stick of unsalted butter
1 bag of marshmallows (~10 oz.)
6 cups of Special K cereal

Steps

In a large pot over medium heat, melt the butter. Continue until the butter is brown. Have the marshmallows ready to add when darker specs start appearing.
Add the marshmallows. Stir with occasionally (a silicone spoonula works well for this) until all have melted and the marshmallows and butter have combined into a goo. Turn off the heat.
Add the cereal. Mix to combine.
Spoon the gooey cereal mix into a 13" x 9" baking dish (non-stick can work, or use parchment paper). Press it down and level it as best you can (or care to).
Let cool for a while (an hour?)
While the gooey cereal mix cools, email Caltrans to again request project documents (even though the docs were requested by City of Alameda staff in advance of the meeting, referenced by the Caltrans staffer during the meeting, but not attached to the meeting packet or provided to commission members or made available to the public).
Slice into bars (or remind all other members of your household that if they wish to cut stuff in the non-stick baking dish from William Sonoma that they should remember to please only use a plastic knife :)
Sample one of the treats to ensure it is complete.
Eat and/or share the rest of the browned butter Special K treats.

Quantity: I doubled this recipe for 25 kindergartners.

Nutritional facts: [redacted :]

Keeps for: The treats rarely last long (but this Caltrans project is planned to last on Otis Drive until at least 2037)

Browned butter Special K treats