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From:Cameron Matthews <br />To:GRP-City Council <br />Subject:[Alert. Email sent from outside the United States.] Public comment on Agenda Item 11.B - Jefferson Ave <br />Improvement Project <br />Date:Monday, January 26, 2026 10:38:56 AM <br />You don't often get email from cam.matthews@gmail.com. Learn why this is important <br />Dear Redwood City Council Members, <br />I am writing to strongly support the approval of the Engineering Department’s <br />recommendation for the Alternative B design of the Jefferson Avenue Traffic Safety <br />Improvement Project. My family and I moved to 472 Jeter St in 2013 and are temporary <br />residents at 518 King St while we remodel our Jeter St home, both one block from Jefferson. I <br />am the Chair of the Mt. Carmel Neighborhood Association and the co-chair of the Orion <br />Alternative School PTO Traffic and Safety Committee, as well as a long-standing volunteer <br />coach with local youth sports programs Redwood City AYSO, Redwood City Little League, <br />Redwood City Girls Softball League, and Redwood City After School Sports Program whose <br />participants regularly use and cross Jefferson Ave to access adjacent athletics facilities at Red <br />Morton Park, Hawes, and school campuses. My two children, ages 10 and 7, use these and <br />other facilities like the Red Morton Youth Center regularly but are limited in their ability to <br />safely access them due to having to cross Jefferson Ave. Navigating Jefferson is a part of our <br />daily life. <br />Jefferson Avenue is an arterial road that carries more than 18,000 vehicles on a daily basis. <br />The corridor, however, is surrounded by residential neighborhoods and major community <br />destinations including six schools (Orion, McKinley, North Star, Redeemer, Our Lady of Mt <br />Carmel, and Sequoia High School) serving nearly 4,000 TK-12 students, Red Morton Park and <br />sport facilities, Veterans Memorial Senior Center, YMCA (in future), and several shopping <br />destinations. <br />Jefferson, as currently configured, is unsafe for walking and biking to these activities and <br />destinations due to limited crossings, narrow sidewalks and margins between pedestrians and <br />vehicle lanes, high vehicle speeds, and shared bike facilities that are not safe for anyone but <br />the most experienced cyclists. Around the Orion Campus, which borders Jefferson between <br />Ave Del Ora and Myrtle, walking and biking to school is very challenging and many families <br />opt to drive even short distances to avoid crossing or traveling along Jefferson. Data and <br />observations from recent “walk and bike to school” events and the Orion Walk Audit hosted <br />by San Mateo County Safe Routes to School show that Jefferson safety is a major hurdle to <br />families choosing to walk or bike. This creates increased vehicle traffic around campus, <br />conflict with local residents in Eagle Hill and Mt Carmel neighborhoods for street parking, <br />and unsafe street crossing for students especially at morning drop off. <br />The Alternative B design, which adds safe crossings, reduces vehicle travel lanes along this <br />section from four to two, and creates a protected bike path along the Orion campus, would <br />significantly mitigate many of these problems and promote safe, alternative forms of <br />transportation to and from school. It would also enable many children and families from Mt <br />Carmel, Central, and further neighborhoods to more easily, safely, and independently access <br />school and park facilities on either side of Jefferson. As a longtime resident who frequently <br />uses and crosses Jefferson on foot, bike, and car, Alternative B implementation can’t come <br />soon enough.