I drove Diable Rd recently between Green Valley and turn off to Mt. Diablo. I don't understand why that portion isn't already closed to bicyclists. Between the curves and no bicycle lanes it's extremely unsafe.

Lets see:
- 1,000 more car trips a day for 69 additional homes = 15 per house...hmm!
- Over 100,000 bike trips a year = Over 274 bike trips on the average day...hmm!

Sounds like the President's admin math, and positioning.

Safety, of course should be fully studied but are these numbers real? There are roads that are closed to trucks of certain sizes for safety. Should there be roads closed to bikes due to safety. What action will be taken if the number of bike trips exceeds an avg of 274/day? SOS-Danville forgot to add; 69 homes will lead to 25 extra bike rides a day, further supporting their point...I GUESS!

How much of the taxpayers $ has the Danville Town Council spent on legal fees during their support of the Summerhill development?

Good News!! Thanks SOS-Danville for all your hard work in preserving the public's will and safety!! Bicycle safety needs to be at a high priority.

NUMBER OF CARTRIPS FROM THE PROJECT: The Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) dated November 2012 for the “Magee Ranches” project, prepared for the Town of Danville by Denise Duffy & Associates (and paid for by SummerHill Homes), states that “the project (with a minimum of 25% of the properties assumed to include second dwelling units) would generate 949 daily trips, including 109 AM peak hour trips, 98 school PM peak hour trips, and 80 PM peak hour trips. (p. 4.12-19). Please note that the DEIR, together with the Final EIR, constitute the EIR for the project. A trip made by a resident of the project away from the project and back equals 2 cartrips. A trip made by a non-resident (such as a delivery person or housekeeper) to the project and then away from the project constitutes 2 cartrips.

NUMBER OF BICYCLIST TRIPS PER YEAR: Diablo Road is the gateway to Mt. Diablo State Park for many tens of thousands of bicyclists every year and the number is steadily increasing. In fact, we believe that the number of bicyclists traveling Diablo Road to get to the Park during the 2012/13 fiscal year was probably well over 40,000 judging from the following California State Park System Statistical Reports, found at Web Link .
California State Park System Statistical Reports
Fiscal Year Free Day Use (entering through the north or the south entrances)
2012/13 79,824 (page 21)
2011/12 74,631 “
2010/11 66,965 (page 21)
2009/10 63,845 “
2008/09 53,918 “
2007/08 47,693 “

The “Free Day Use” statistical category is almost exclusively bicycle traffic, rather than pedestrian; very few pedestrians enter the park through either of the two entrance gates because those gates are too far from residential neighborhoods and parking areas outside the park. Information received from Park Superintendent Ryen Goering (Contra Solano Sector Superintendent, California State Parks) indicates that more than half of the counted bicyclists typically enter through the south gate. So that implies that for 2012/2013, over 40,000 cyclists entered the Park through the south gate. And that number is clearly an underestimate, according to information from Superintendent Goering and Supervising Ranger Dan Stefanisko, because many cyclists enter the gates when due to understaffing there is no ranger there to count them (such as on most weekdays).

Based on our observations and information from local bicyclists, we believe that the vast majority of those bicyclists using the South Gate entrance travel east along the narrow, winding, no-shoulder, dangerous section of Diablo Road from Green Valley Road to Mt. Diablo Scenic Blvd. to get there, rather than traveling from Blackhawk Road west to Mt. Diablo Scenic (a route that also has no bicycle lanes). Most of those bicyclists then travel west along Diablo Road as they return home. In addition some of the bicyclists entering through the north gate park entrance subsequently exit the park through the south gate and then travel west along Diablo Road.
So it is reasonable to believe based on the Park’s counted bicyclists for fiscal year 2012/2013 that there were over 80,000 bicyclist trips on Diablo Road associated with travel to and from Mt. Diablo State Park. Furthermore, there has been a tremendous 67% increase in bicyclists between fiscal years 2007/2008 and 2012/2013, and there is every reason to believe the numbers will continue to grow.

Our estimated 100,000 bicyclist trips per year is based on 40,000 counted cyclists, plus increases since 2012/2013, plus increases to account for a significant undercount due to lack of staffing at the Southgate Road entrance, times 2 trips per cyclist (to the Park and back). That’s 100,000 cyclist trips per year, about 1000 cyclist trips per week.



The tremendous numbers of bicyclists coupled with the high volumes of traffic on Diablo Road have created an intolerably dangerous situation. Although Diablo Road west of Green Valley Road has safe bicycle lanes in both directions, the 1 ½ mile stretch of Diablo Road east of Green Valley Road to Mt. Diablo Scenic Blvd. (“the stretch”) is narrow, winding, upslope, with virtually no shoulders, limited sightlines, and no bicycle lanes. The stretch is extremely congested with thousands of vehicles every day. Despite the double yellow lines the length of the stretch, many vehicles’ drivers break the law as they veer across the lines to avoid the cyclists. Others slow to well below the speed limit, creating back-ups and the risk of rear-end collisions as they travel behind the cyclists.

Danville police accidents reports show that from 2005 until March 2014 there were 6 bicyclist accidents along the portion of the stretch patrolled by the Danville police. The number of accidents is undoubtedly much higher because of the following: 1. the reports do not even identify whether there was a car or bike involved in many of accidents; 2. Danville’s reports do not include accidents reported to the California Highway Patrol, which patrols the one-mile northern portion of the stretch that is contiguous to the community of Diablo; 3. no police reports ever get taken for some of the accidents. For example, there was a bicyclist/car accident on Diablo Road at Alameda Diablo in March 2015, but by the time CHP arrived, the victim had been taken to the hospital so no report was filed.

So I'm still stunned why the vast majority of residents voted last November to re-elect the incumbents, Robert Storer and now the current mayor, Karen Steppar. Did anybody pay attention to the Summerhill situation or the empty new development that has ruined downtown Danville. Why?

The bottom line is that this proposed development is WAY too big for this challenging area, which has limited infrastructure, narrow winding roads, restricted emergency ingress & egress, existing traffic congestion (bumper to bumper at several times during the day), sensitive and critical habitat, flooding and erosion problems, and overcrowded schools. This project should have been scaled WAY back by the Town of Danville as a condition of approval. But instead of protecting its citizens, the Town of Danville chose to greenlight the project for the developer, then spend our tax dollars fighting side by side with the developer AGAINST its own citizens.

Danville Voter,

Why not be part of the Solution instead of Criticize the current incumbents. Run for office and make the changes you feel are needed on all of our behalfs?

Hey Really, loved your comment because I'm Tony Adamich, I ran for Town Council and lost to the incumbents although my platform was built on the illegality of Summerhill, supporting a downtown that is now wrought with shops going out of business etc etc. I couldn't break the Town Council mold but will definitely support future candidates that bring innovative and effective programs to our Town.

The traffic on Diablo Road has increased significantly over the past 12-18 months as more and more cars are coming from Dublin down Camino Tassajara and clogging both Sycamore and Diablo Rd. Especially if there is an accident on 580 or 680, its a straight shot from the outlet center exit in Livermore through Danville. As more of that area is developed this traffic will continue to increase - does the Danville Town Council have a plan for that traffic? How many car trips does that traffic currently and in the future add to Diablo Road?

So, didn't the court of appeal ultimately rule that Measure S was not violated, so Adamich's argument regarding the illegality of the development was wrong?

The bicycle safety issue is a separate issue for the environmental impact report, and doesn't have anything to do with Measure S, right?

The traffic and safety issues along that corridor is ridiculous.
The Town Council needs to plant there butts over there and go LOOK before being in the bag for development over safety and congestion.
This project needs to go back for a vote of the people and maybe at the same time a re-vote on the Council members. Great job SOS keep the pedal to the medal.

Building houses on that parcel is / was absurd. Gimme a break. All about $$ for these developers and builders. They could care less about the community at large. Unbelievable greed.

Why do politicians generally, and CA politicians in particular, get so bound up in their underwear? Fix the road (which is decades delinquent) and build the homes. Stop the studies, already - a politicians and quislings (but I repeat myself) way to avoid making a decision.

Bottom line is still the same---people do not want more houses built next to them and are selfish. Once they have their homes and views (which were someone else's views) then they want to keep everyone out. I guess these folks do not read the newspapers about the huge housing shortage in the Bay Area---or they do and love the shortage so that it drives up the values of their homes---This project will be built and just cost so much more than it should have---selfish people not withstanding

Bottom line is still the same---people do not want more houses built next to them and are selfish. Once they have their homes and views (which were someone else's views) then they want to keep everyone out. I guess these folks do not read the newspapers about the huge housing shortage in the Bay Area---or they do and love the shortage so that it drives up the values of their homes---This project will be built and just cost so much more than it should have---selfish people not withstanding