Police Test Traffic Solutions Around Shoreline Amphitheatre
MOUNTAIN VIEW (CBS SF) -- Many South Bay commuters have become accustomed to traffic gridlock every time there is a weeknight concert at the Shoreline Ampitheatre in Mountain View.
On Thursday evening, anyone coming to the Keith Urban concert at Shoreline will be heading into a full blown traffic beta test aimed at solving some of those headaches.
It's almost like a science experiment. There's a hypothesis and we're testing it, said Katie Nelson with the Mountain View Police.
Concert traffic into Shoreline has been bad for decades, but add to that the booming number of tech workers in recent years, and the backup can be downright maddening.
So, concert promoter Live Nation is working with Mountain View police to try out a pilot program, experimenting with various lane closures and detours.
Thursday, they are trying a shutdown of Shorebird Way as it connects with Charleston Road. As of early Thursday evening, it was working.
Recently, in an effort to keep traffic flowing, they tried shutting down La Avenida Street and stiopping drivers from turning left on Shoreline Boulevard to get onto 101.
By forcing everyone to detour and turn right, straight into concert traffic, it added at least 20 minutes to the commute of people workers trying to get home.
Local business owner Judy Anne is OK with it, since it's supposed to benefit several thousand people backed up on the highway.
I think it's for the greater good. And I think, if it works, I hope they do it for the morning commute traffic, said Anne.
Area commuter Jim Laarveld said it's a great idea that's failing.
The inconvenience of a couple hundred people here, saves a lot of headache for a couple thousand people out there, said Laarveld. I guess it would be fair if it worked.)
Mountain View police say it's still too early to say if closing La Avenida is working and that the one-mile stretch is a constant work in progress.
It is a pilot program. It's only closed for a couple hours, and we absolutely hear their concerns, said Nelson. We're going to see if that is the right course of action, or do we need to go back to drawing board and think of something else?
