I say put several City/public officials on bicycles for a day or two and let them not only find the potholes, red light issues, speeding issues, debris on the roads, but get a new prospective of what Petaluma looks like from the road. It would go a long ways to have a new prospective on green power (walking/cycling) as well as letting them see first hand the real dangers first hand that the current roads have with and without pedestrian/bike lanes. I'm all for walking, cycling and even automobile traffic but our streets have to be safe not only from potholes but from debris, speeding motorists, and properly timed traffic lights...

The light at Washington and the exit from north bound 101 has become extremely dangerous. We were recently stuck at the light behind such a long line of cars that we were barely able to get off of the highway. That light is also extremely long going down Washington. I can't imagine what they were thinking!

are they ever going to fix the light at Washinton and Blvd downtown??

when they widened... er I mean NARROWED the road last year they said the traffic light would be "optimized" after the holidays..

I often get stuck there for 10 minutes or more now with the narrow lanes, more traffic, and horrible timed traffic light...

speed bumps, narrower lanes, terrible lights...

I guess we should just avoid the whole downtown area from now on! I bet that really makes those merchants downtown feel really good about staying in business... ooops they aren't!

walk2k, you forgot to mention the two-hour parking limit. That's barely enough time to have a nice lunch and do a little shopping. The meter maid is there writing a ticket if you are five minutes over. But the good news is: so many places have closed, that there is plenty of parking downtown now, even on Kentucky Street.

The traffic lights in Petaluma are awful everywhere. None of them could be timed unless they are timed to stop traffic.

Many lights at side streets are demand driven. One car can arrive at the light and cause it to change. That causes many cars on the main road to stop. This is especially bad on Sonoma Mountain Parkway. The intersections at Ranier and SRJC have this 'feature'. Often, the car that tripped the light change turns right and could have made the turn anyway. The lights should be timed. Side streets should be able to trip a light change but only actually get the green light within the timing sequence. That means they might have to wait for some period of time.

The light at McDowell and Caufield is so bad that I was driving through the residential neighborhoods rather than waiting for the lights for a while. It wasn't any faster on average so I stopped. But that is what the traffic department is encouraging. There is a similar situation when turning left from Lakeville onto D street. That left turn lane backs up. I cut through the side streets now if Lakeville looks bad.

We have way too many traffic lights in this town. I like the turning circles better. Please, don't install any more traffic lights.

Agreed Sonoma Mtn "Park"way is aptly named. Lakeville to D left turn and McDowell to Washington left turns are equally bad!

Crossing Maria @ East Washington! The wait is long and sometimes only lets two or three cars go through. Especially slow when drivers are making left-hand turns. I have sat through two cycles of red lights many times.

What I don't understand is why the lights aren't properly timed?

If I'm at a red light and it turns green and I proceed ahead at about the speed limit, the light up ahead at the next block should turn green just before I get there, so in most cases I don't have to stop or even slow down much. This improves traffic flow 1000%. But they aren't. You have to stop at every f'ing light on ie Pet Blvd. from D st. to Lakeville.

Also, why are there so many "red left turn" arrows? I can understand green arrows for left turns, it means you have a protected turn. But in most cases there is ZERO need for a left red arrow, unless there are line of sight issues or other safety concerns. But if you can see the road ahead for a 1/4 mile with no obstructions you can clearly see if there is any traffic coming towards you. If not then you should be able to make a left turn, instead of waiting for the light to turn green or whatever.

Due to the budget problems at City Hall. Petaluma's Traffic Engineer was in the lay-offs that occured in the Fall. With out more revenue the Traffic lights and roadwork situation is not going to improve. I have given up on getting a response from the Public Works Dept. until they have a budget to deal with the problems and can staff the position.

Does anyone else think there should be no right turn on red heading north on Petaluma Blvd. at Washington? It is blind to traffic heading east on Washington and I've seen some close calls.

I don't think it's all that blind, but I know they put in a green arrow (right turn) there last year or whenever they re-configured that intersection.