This idea comes up from time to time. It seems to present a pretty picture, but it won't work, and I sincerely hope that the council will not even begin to consider it. This is a heavily-traveled intersection, the primary ingress and egress to/from downtown. At its worst (e.g. Friday evening), traffic is backed up on Evelyn to the point that cars cannot pass through the Evelyn/Hope light when it changes. This is the definition of gridlock. Please note that the city is taking bids on a new hotel at this intersection. Also, please note that VTA apparently is still trying to close two lanes on El Camino for BRT.

If the Castro/Central intersection were closed, the traffic presently using this intersection would have to reroute through the downtown neighborhoods. If you think it's bad now...

Closure might still seem appealing if you subscribe to the theory that making auto use miserable will result in large numbers of people abandoning auto use. Then there wouldn't be a problem, right? Personally, I think that this is a vain hope.

What a waste of time and money considering a plan to shut down a main artery. It's ideas like this that explain why we have no confidence in Mountain View City Council. Unless it's their business to come up with the most ridiculous ideas.