Is it just us, or does the roadway on Cowell Rd. at Galindo/Monument seem worse than it was before the recent upgrades?
The road, and surrounding areas were upgraded as part of the $5-Million Monument Boulevard Class 1 Pathway project.
The shared use pathway, which runs between Cowell Road and Systron Drive, was built with the intention of creating a safer way for pedestrians and bicyclists along the Monument Corridor to access the Downton Concord BART station and the downtown area.
It appears someone added a speedbump that wasn’t part of the plan.
View the video shown above, and tell us your thoughts.
“Shared roadway improvements” are mandated by the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) and the State . Elected officials in Sacramento and ABAG bureaucrats know better, right?
I agree.
These intersections are designed for 20 years in the future when 70 % of the traffic will be motorbikes, motorcycles and scooters along with cars and trucks. They’ll even be driving on the pedestrian pathways by then (they are now wide enough at that intersection.)
Check out youtube videos of towns in India, Indonesia and Brazil for example. The traffic is crazy with anything that moves. That’s “Our future”.
And YES this intersection should not have been signed off in that condition by the City Engineer / Inspector.
Looks like they need to review their book of standards a bit closer.
Geez Jimmy…. your traffic prediction sounds like we’re turning into Viet Nam.
Or is it just the same, lowest bid, work that is the same all over concord (i.e. Reganti, Ernst, Orange)??
It may be a bit unsafer for pedestrians crossing Monument due to drivers not looking right before turning right on red off of Cowell Rd.
Worse. There is bump in the road when turning right off of Cowell onto Galindo and traffic continuously backs up on Cowell. There was absolutely no reason to build a walkway on that side of street (bart side). Most of the housing is on the other side of Galindo/Monument. The pedestrians could have walked to the cross walk at the intersection of Galindo and Laguna and crossed at that point. The monies used should have been spent in a different area of Concord. I swear the Concord City Council have no clue how to run a city.
Exponentially worse.
Rarely see any pedestrians/cyclists using the new lane.
I actually drive this way 2-3 times per week and it’s so bad! They have basically added multiple speed bumps to that intersection. When I was a teenager, these were the exact type of intersections that my friends and I would look for to jump our cars! We found one intersection that if you did about twice the legal speed limit, you could get all 4 wheels off the ground haha! Yes, we were young and dumb but also shame on the city for not fixing the obvious problem!!
Taking a right turn from Cowell Rd on to Galindo St is the Worst. When taking that turn the right side of the car will jump up making you feel like your on the curb,etc … I DON’T think they are speed bumps. I just think the road crew screwed up on the elevations and they had to do it this way for drainage.
It is worse. I circumvent it when I can.
It’s a severe bump… The van I utilize hits bottom and I could easily lose control if I was not paying attention. They need to smooth out that bump. Egad!
OKFine, let’s begin posting worst improvements . . . . . .
Aww heck, post what needs fixing.
Take PICs of Bad Potholes with a sheet of paper next to it with a politicians name on it.
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Tom Peters management lecturer from years back related a story of a no nonsense mayor that was seeing an increase in abandoned vehicles on his streets. Using his extensive vocabulary of swear words sent out an email saying I saw seen an abandoned vehicle and I’m not going to tell you where it is but if it is still there at end of the week people are going to be fired. Almost 400 vehicles were removed that week.
.
https://youtu.be/P3sbGD_9vX0?t=104
It is way worse honestly. Used to be a smooth turn but now it’s a front bumper killer.
Yes it is worse!!!! The speed bumps are awful and dangerous if you don’t know they are there. The road is too narrow in parts. The lanes don’t match. How much did this disaster cost us?!?
What bothers me is that wide swath of vegetation along Galindo between Systron Drive and Cowell, where they also put in an overly broad walking/biking trail. Was their main purpose to dangerously decrease the width of the roadway, because that’s what was accomplished.
Absolutely terrible. Just as bad as the “improvements” on concord blvd just after concord high school. The painted lines look like a 6 year old did them! So glad we widened the road for Springwood swim club parking on concord blvd that does not exist anymore too. Way to go planning department.
Worse.
One of the biggest problems in Concord is overpopulation, so it doesn’t matter how many improvements are made because they will never keep up with the ever-increasing number of vehicles on the road. The city is constantly building more housing, which will attract more people and add to the traffic. One other concern I have is traffic lights are not timed, and stay red way too long which causes unnecessary idling, wasting gas and contributing to air pollution.
And how about adding flashing yellows on left turn arrow so one doesn’t have to sit idling forever…
Overall it is a good addition. We have a serious under-investment problem with pedestrian crossings. They are unsafe, tenuous, and sparse here.
The big one is the crossing from the Walnut Creek BART station over Ygnacio into downtown. When are we going to build a pedestrian bridge there? Similar to what was built over Treat for the Iron Horse trail. It’s an embarrassment that all those people have to cross 8 lanes of traffic on foot during the busiest parts of the day.
It is my understanding that the project was fiscally unfeasible based on the proposed design to get an ADA compliant grade to cover that height and distance.
If their intention was to make everyone avoid this intersection they did a great job. We now take a different route to get to Costco.
The worse. Causes more traffic
That’s the worse intersection in concord what a waste of money
What about Detroit ave -laguna Street Mullins wasted on making the bike lane for what? Have notice guys fixing theirs cars on that lane or parking their cars because they don’t care about the traffic law? No tickets either no patrols
The city hires a company that employs”newcomers’.What do you expect?
Worse. There has never been a stampede of pedestrians at this intersection. For the very few, all they need to do is OBEY the pedestrian lights: not the automobile lights. There was no reason for this change that took how many years??
Yes – worse – causes more delays, traffic backs up …. what were they thinking?
And PLEASE tell me why they didn’t add another lane in that area??
This is my hood and the traffic is so much worse. I drive through this intersection twice a day and have to use the the left turn lane to go around traffic turning right from Cowell onto Galindo/Monument just so I can continue straight on San Miguel. Not exactly the safest move, but I’m not sitting through multiple light cycles just to wait for others trying to make a right. Turn signals would be immensely helpful so we know which way you intend to go.
Make that turning right from Mesa St. at Cowell. Same intersection. It’s a cluster.
It’s an absolute joke. All of the people involved with it should be fired!
Fix the damn thing!
Also, fix all of deteriorating roadways that have only seen their maintenance delayed year after year to stretch out the budget for other unnecessary projects.