Eddie Guaracha,                                                                                                                          March 27, 2022                  Superintendent, Diablo Range District, California State Parks                                                                                                                   (Sent via email)

Re: Safety on Southgate Road in Mount Diablo State Park (MDSP)

Dear Mr. Guaracha,

To recap, due to the number of collisions and serious injuries to cyclists on Southgate Road in recent months, we send you the No Cost Proactive Safety Improvement Plan on December 21, 2021, followed by an emergency meeting a few days later. We suggested a number of no-cost strategies to you; to the best of our knowledge none of these have yet been implemented.

In an effort to gather additional information regarding the dangerous conditions on Southgate, a Traffic Speed Survey using a Radar Gun and Video Camera was conducted on Saturday, February 12^th and again on Saturday, February 19^th, 2022, both from 0800hrs to 1000hrs. The location was .5 miles from the Park boundary (map below). The survey was conducted at blind curve #4. The Radar Gun and Video camera had a clear line of sight downhill to cars rounding blind curve #3 and uphill to cars rounding blind curve #5.

 

The posted safe (advisory/yellow sign) speed is 10 mph on both sides of the blind curve #4, marked with a faded “no passing” solid double yellow line (see photo below). This is 10 mph slower than the general Park speed limit of 20mph. The nearest speed limit (white) sign is located near the Park South Gate entrance (0.5 miles away), “20mph – Radar Enforced” (see photo #16).

Numerous motorists were recorded (12 photos below on page# 3-8) approaching blind curve #4 at speeds of 39 mph, 35 mph, 34 mph, 33 mph, 32 mph and 30 mph near blind curve #4 from both directions (ascending & descending). A significant number of motorists were recorded traveling nearly twice the general Park speed limit.

In addition, numerous motorists were recorded traveling into/around/out of blind curve #4 in both directions at speeds of 22 mph, 20 mph, 19 mph (photos #13-14). The posted recommended speed at both sides of the blind curve #4 is 10 mph. No law enforcement presence (which you have previously and repeatedly promised to provide) was observed on this section of road during the filming of the Traffic Speed Survey.

According to CA State Parks Statistical Reports, there have been over a million-motor vehicle/bicycle – based visitors from 2010 to July 2021. According to the Supervising Ranger: “We have right around a half a million people per year that visit Mount Diablo State Park.”

Also ,according to CA State Parks, from 2018 to July 21, 2021 Mount Diablo State Park Rangers issued only 30 citations. Five citations were issued to motorists for violation of CVC 21752 (Failure to Drive on Right Half of Roadway/Driving Left of Center, CVC 21650 (Driving on the Wrong Side of the road). Only one Citation was issued to a Park Visitor for violation of CVC 22350 (Speeding). By comparison, in 1987, 654 citations were issued when there were far fewer visitors to the Park.

Mr. Guaracha, please take action in the next 30 days to implement the following recommendations, made to you on 12/21/21, below before another serious bike vs vehicle collision (Gary Spinella, May 30, 2021, Ron Wolfe, July 3, 2021 and Rick Edmondson, December 1, 2021) results in another serious injury or even worse, a fatality.

• Motivate Park Rangers to issue citations and warnings to drivers for passing cyclists on blind curves, crossing over solid yellow lines, driving for extended distance in the on-coming lane and to motorists and cyclists for speeding per the California Vehicle Code (CVC).
• Publish MDSP citation and warning data quarterly on the Park website.
• Establish a semi-permanent Park Ranger Presence on the most dangerous section of road on MDSP – South Gate Road from the Park boundary to the Kiosk (2.5 miles), especially on weekends.
• Conduct regularly scheduled patrols.
• Position a vehicle at key locations on South Gate Road from the entrance to the Kiosk.

Sincerely,

Jeff Eorio, Retired Parks and community services director, City of San Ramon, Board Member, Diablo Community Services District, Bruce Bilodeau, Coach and former Team Director, San Ramon Valley Mountain Bike Club (SRVMTB.org),Rick Edmondson, Retired Communications Technician, 27+ years cycling Mt. Diablo, South Gate Road Crash Victim, Mark Dedon, Director, Mount Diablo Challenge, Past President, Valley Spokesmen Bicycle Club, Retired Principal Planner, Pacific Gas and Electric, Gary J. Spinella, 25-year Danville Resident, Nicola Place, retired Community College administrator, resident of Mount Diablo Scenic Boulevard, Alan Kalin, COL, USA (Ret.), President Mount Diablo Cyclists;

CC: State Senator Steve Glazer; Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahn; Armando Quintero, Director California Department of Parks and Recreation; Bob Burns, Vice-President TREK Bicycle and Dan Borenstein, Columnist/Editorial writer, Mercury New & East Bay Times