Planning Department Hours (Civic Center) Mon-Thu 7:30-5:30pm Fri 8-5pm (Closed Alt Fri)
NOTE: For permits, visit the City's Development Center web page for location and hours of operation of the City's permit center.
Traffic
The goal of the Traffic Operations team is to ensure that all modes of transportation, including bicycles and pedestrians, flow efficiently, smoothly and safely within the City's right of way. Traffic Operations is responsible for determining the need for all speed limit signs, stop signs, traffic signals, crosswalks, other miscellaneous signs, pavement markings, and evaluating and responding to citizen's requests regarding traffic related issues.
Mission
To maximize traffic efficiency and safety while minimizing inconvenience and congestion on the City's roads.
Improve safety and mobility through the application of traffic engineering principles and practices.
Crosswalks In California a crosswalk exists at all intersections whether marked or unmarked. [more]
Street Network The streets of Palo Alto are categorized into the five categories. [more]
Speed Limit Speeding and speed control is a citywide concern. [more]
Traffic Signals The Transportation Division determines the need for new signals and modification to existing signals. [more]
Signing/Striping Signs and striping are generally used to convey certain regulations, warning and guidance that could not otherwise be made clearly understandable. [more]
Traffic Control Proper traffic control is required in construction areas to reduce accidents, confusion to motorists and damage to private and public property including minimizing impacts to traffic flow. [more]
Transportation Permit Wide Load permits are required for any oversized vehicle traveling on Palo Alto city streets. [more]
Transportation Data The Transportation division collects traffic speed and volume data when required for certain projects, for traffic calming-related requests, or when requested by individual citizens. [more]
Speed Monitoring Program Below are plots of the speed data that has been collected. The "Maximum Segment Spot Speed" represents the maximum speed that a single test vehicle, equipped with GPS transceivers, achieved along the street segment at any point in time during its test run. This vehicle was driving with the flow of traffic, no slower, no faster. The "10-Second Average Speed" represents the maximum average speed obtained by any of several test vehicles (these vehicles include a high percentage of trucks, along with some company fleet vehicles and private cars) over a 10-second period while travelling along the street segment. Essentially, the former can be thought of as a maximum spot speed; the latter, a maximum sustained speed.
