Palo Alto resident Deirdre Crommie stood before the Woodside Town Council on Tuesday, July 28, wearing a bright cycling jersey alongside dozens of fellow Western Wheelers members, and told officials that the speeding on Skyline Boulevard has to stop.

"All the local residents see speeding cars all the time," Crommie said. "This incident and others show again and again that we need to make changes."

The "incident" was the Saturday, July 11 death of Jakub Solovsky, a 34-year-old research scientist at Palo Alto's Reservoir Engineering Research Institute who was killed when a speeding Porsche crossed into his lane on State Route 35. Solovsky, a visiting postdoctoral researcher from the Czech Republic working on carbon sequestration simulations, lived in East Palo Alto and rode regularly with the Western Wheelers, a 900-member Peninsula cycling club that launches rides from Hoover Park on Cowper Street.

The council meeting produced concrete commitments. Councilmember Dick Brown said Caltrans expects to begin construction at the Four Corners intersection of Highways 35 and 84 within one month, the Almanac reported. The $500,000 project will install a four-way stop, "stop ahead" signs in all directions, and turn restriction signs at the 40 mph intersection. Public Works Director Louis Sun said the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office and CHP will conduct a joint enforcement operation on Saturday, August 8.

Solovsky's crash occurred about 10 miles south of Four Corners. According to KTVU, a 28-year-old driver in a black Porsche was traveling northbound at high speed, lost control on a curve, and struck Solovsky head-on just before 11:30 a.m. He was pronounced dead at the scene. CHP said drugs and alcohol do not appear to have been factors.

A ghost bike now marks the spot.

Last year, Redwood City cyclist Eric Biron died after being hit by a pickup truck near the Four Corners intersection, the second cyclist death on the corridor in less than a year.

The Western Wheelers packed Independence Hall in orange, green, and yellow jerseys. Speakers demanded the town pressure Caltrans to lower speed limits, install speed cameras, and implement traffic calming. They also urged the town to contact the San Mateo County district attorney about prosecuting reckless drivers involved in fatal crashes.

Councilmember Paul Goeld described visiting Clouds Rest Road near the crash site: "I was shocked by the cars going by four, five, six, at a time, 100 MPH, and they have their mufflers open and they're videoing themselves." Goeld said he has corresponded with State Sen. Josh Becker and Assemblymember Marc Berman, both Menlo Park Democrats, about the speeding problem.

A May report from the South Coast Traffic Advisory Panel, under San Mateo County Supervisor Ray Mueller's office, found the most common violations on Highways 35 and 84 are speeding, unsafe passing, tailgating, and noise. The panel recommends weekend enforcement blitzes three to four times a year, driver feedback signs, and "ghost police cars" with low-visibility decals posted in known speeding zones.

The council agreed to hold a future discussion on Skyline safety and to coordinate with county and state officials. No date has been set yet.