19th Avenue/Fashion Island project finalizing design: San Mateo is putting finishing touches on design of major bike lane and congestion improvement project

The planned project is a comprehensive road and bike lane effort along 19th Avenue, which turns into Fashion Island Boulevard. The corridor also intersects with highway on- and off-ramps, including Highway 101 and State Route 92.

Many residents have hoped the city would make improvements to the road, as there is one lane in each direction, and it’s one of the only entrances into Foster City, leading to high congestion during peak commute hours.

The project would implement Class IV bike lanes — which are separated and thus more protected from vehicles — and extend them to Pacific Boulevard. There would be a two-lane bike lane on western portion of the corridor.

“One of the unique components of this is that we switched from a typical one-way bike facility on either side of the road … to what’s called a two-way facility where they both lie on the same side,” Senior Engineer Bethany Lopez said during a recent Sustainability and Infrastructure Commission meeting.

A more traditional set-up, one lane on each side, would be implemented on the eastern portion of the road. 

To improve traffic congestion, the project proposes changes to the often-congested Fashion Island Boulevard and Norfolk Street intersection by lengthening the left turn lane — which would turn into a lane for left turns and through traffic — by about 550 feet. There would also be traffic signal modifications and a reconfiguration of lanes on the Seal Slough bridge, creating two eastbound lanes and one westbound lane. Currently, the configuration comprises one eastbound lane and two westbound.

There would also be a new median that separates out State Route 92 off-ramp traffic to eliminate a high-collision point at the ARCO gas station driveway.

“[The median] restricts the movements coming in and out of the gas station to interfere with that off-ramp traffic and vice versa. The off-ramp traffic can no longer make that turn into the gas station from this location,” Lopez said.

Other changes include pedestrian improvements, such as new curb ramps, and a new pedestrian walkway on the south side of the Seal Slough Bridge.

Commissioners were overall supportive of the project, with the City Council reviewing the item later this month.

“In my view, this is a high-quality, safety-driven corridor reconstruction project that uses modern multimodal designs and delivers real and necessary safety benefits at the same time,” Commissioner Rich Kranz said during the meeting.

The project is expected to cost about $28 million, with most funds coming from the San Mateo County Transportation Authority, about $3 million from Regional Measure 3 funding and about $500,000 directly from San Mateo.