The Orinda City Council on April 7 considered a pilot program of changes to the traffic patterns around Ivy Drive, Coral Drive, Eastwood Drive and Ardith Drive, known as the Ivy Drive Pilot Program. The area has been of concern to the city and local residents for some time owing to the tendency of Miramonte High School students or parents to cut through the area to avoid traffic delays on Moraga Way.

    After receiving written comments and in-person remarks at the meeting, the council decided to approve the recommended package of actions, with the exception of removing the sign that restricts left-hand turns from Moraga Way onto the north end of Ivy Drive between 7 an 8 a.m. on weekdays. Mayor Brandyn Iverson first proposed adopting the full package of measures, but that motion failed.  Iverson was the sole negative vote on the motion that subsequently passed.

    At an earlier city council meeting, the council had approved some improvements for Coral Drive, including an all-way stop sign at the intersection of Coral Drive and Ardith Drive, signal timing modifications on Moraga Way and additional road markings, which are currently in the process of being implemented.  

    The staff report was presented to the council by City Engineer Siva Natarajan. The actions approved by the council include changing the timing on some traffic restrictions to reflect changes in school times. The most significant changes included the removal of the sign restricting left turns from Moraga Way onto Ivy Drive north (which was not approved) and prohibiting right turns from Ivy Drive onto Ardith Drive.

    While the council generally approved of most of these measures, council members wondered about additional ways to protect pedestrians and cyclists, particularly school children on their way to school. Council Member Darlene Gee favors greater use of license-reader cameras.  Other measures that seemed to have fairly widespread approval included lowering the speed limits on Ivy Drive and Ardith Drive from 25 mph to 15 mph in an effort to make taking a cut through the neighborhood a slower route to Miramonte High School than staying on Moraga Way.

    Council members were pleased to hear that traffic signal modifications approved earlier will be going into effect soon. The council spoke at length about possible alternative measures, such as the installation of stop signs, speed bumps, protected left turn lanes, or even traffic lights.

    Natarajan responded to council questions about these possibilities and also about the timeline for improvements in the Ivy Drive area. There was considerable back and forth on the length of the pilot program, which some council members considered to be too long. Natarajan explained that the period for gathering data would be from the start of the school year in August through the end of the year. The pilot program was proposed to continue until February of next year to allow city staff to evaluate the data and prepare for changes. 

    The urgency of the traffic problems in the Ivy Drive area was underscored by commenter Nicole Carter McGill who reported on a recent accident in the area when a distracted driver left the roadway, hit a mailbox and flipped the car. Speaker Emily Pocari mentioned two accidents on Ardith Drive and one on Coral.