Santa Cruz Avenue to be closed until after Thanksgiving

Beginning on Saturday, Santa Cruz Avenue will be closed to all traffic between Sand Hill Road and Alpine Road, with construction expected to finish Nov. 30. During the eight-and-a-half-month closure, the road will be widened and a retaining wall will be built to support the steep hillside along the west shoulder.

Detour signs are in place, and the closure will apply to vehicles, bicyclists and pedestrians. Primarily affected will be vehicles heading northbound on Alpine Road that take Santa Cruz Avenue into Menlo Park, as well as eastbound traffic on Sand Hill Road that enters campus via Santa Cruz Avenue and Campus Drive West.

Traffic on Sand Hill Road can turn into campus at Stock Farm Road, while traffic on Alpine Road will follow a detour onto Junipero Serra Boulevard to Campus Drive West to Stock Farm Road and out onto Sand Hill Road. Bicyclists will be directed to Searsville Path, away from traffic on Stock Farm Road.

The closure will allow for the simultaneous construction in one season of the retaining wall and a structure on the eastern side of Santa Cruz Avenue that will support its widening along San Francisquito Creek. At the project's completion, each approach to the Santa Cruz Avenue/Sand Hill Road intersection will have two through lanes, two left-turn lanes, a dedicated right-turn pocket and through bike lanes.

The project also includes a multi-use pathway under Junipero Serra Boulevard for pedestrians and, for bicyclists, marked and signed lanes and bike detectors at signaled intersections. Final improvements—including paving, road restriping, landscaping and the installation and programming of new traffic signals—is scheduled for completion in December 2005.

The university has been working with the city of Menlo Park and a consulting firm in San Francisco to give ongoing public notices throughout the project, and traffic flow through campus will be monitored as commuters adjust to the detours, said Jim Inglis, manager of design and construction for the Stanford Management Co.

Signaled intersections that may get more congested during the closure include the junctures of Junipero Serra Boulevard and Campus Drive West, Campus Drive West and Stock Farm Road, and Stock Farm Road and Sand Hill Road, Inglis said.

For an overview of the Sand Hill Road Project, construction updates and traffic advisories, visit http://www.sandhillroadproject.net.

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