But I did have the "pleasure" of navigating ECR through Menlo Park on Monday morning. I was not surprised that the roadway was severely congested and that traffic was backed up several traffic lights but it was far worse than I had imagined. Then, as I got closer to Oak Grove Avenue, the real problem became evident. Menlo Park workers had chosen that time - Monday morning at 8:30am - to close down a full lane of traffic to trim plants on the median. That took the peninsula's principal north-south surface arterial to a single lane at one of the very busiest time of the day and week. I did notice several drivers shaking their heads in disbelief. I guess scheduling this work to avoid rush hour would have been too much of burden.
Regardless of how you feel about mass transit, you must realize that this decision didn't just inconvenience drivers in cars... it also delayed carpools, buses, commercial drivers, workers, parents trying to get their kids to school and people trying to get to their doctor's appointment, like me.
I don't know if this is a frequent occurrence and I will hopefully never experience this again firsthand. If I do have to travel during that area at that time, I will now cut through those quiet neighborhoods to avoid this debacle. You're welcome.
But it does tell us something about the city's management that they would deliberately do this kind of work at this time of day. Amazing.
