Burlingame will install a buffered bike lane on Murchison Drive, but won’t be moving forward with putting one in on most of Trousdale Drive.
With the exception of a small segment of road between El Camino Real and California Drive, where a buffered bike lane will be put in place, competing needs on Trousdale — including three nearby schools and Mills-Peninsula Hospital — make current implementation of a bike lane unrealistic, councilmembers said at a meeting April 8.
“Incrementalism is progress,” Councilmember Donna Colson said. “I don’t want to give up on Trousdale, but I don’t think the solutions offered here converge well with the realities.”
The City Council will be moving forward with installing buffered, class II bike lanes on Murchison Drive from Sequoia Avenue to California Drive and the removal of 11 parking spaces. There was additional unanimous support for updating bike infrastructure — like high-visibility crosswalks and share-the-road sharrows — on Davis Drive.
Impassioned discourse at Monday’s meeting revolved mostly around Trousdale and the balance between cyclist safety and maintaining a smooth traffic flow for emergency vehicles heading to Mills-Peninsula, school pickups and drop offs at Franklin Elementary School and resident parking needs.
Varying proposals for the two-lane road attempted to fit in a bike lane either by removing an entire lane of traffic, removing 146 parking spaces, or trying to squeeze all infrastructure elements, including two lanes of traffic, a bike lane and parking spaces. Staff didn’t recommend any of those options at the City Council meeting, citing various resident concerns, design infeasibility and traffic slowdowns.
The conversation brought out some of Burlingame’s youngest advocates.
“I bike to school every day and it is terrifying,” Ryan Glass, a seventh grader at nearby Burlingame Intermediate School — which is adjacent to Trousdale — said. Glass was in favor of an alternative proposal for the street that would have kept two lanes of traffic, installed a bike lane and removed parking spaces.
His sentiment mirrored that of other bike advocates at the meeting — if the infrastructure is built, bikers will be able to use the road.
“The reason you see no one biking on Trousdale is because it’s not safe,” Glass said.
But other children who experience Trousdale’s traffic issues on a day-to-day basis have different perspectives.
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“That street’s literally right in front of my school, and it’s already super busy. If you put a bike lane, there won’t be enough room for cars to pull over safely,” Angelina Caccia, a fifth-grader at Franklin Elementary, said. “That can make it more dangerous for kids like me.”
Although the city might not be moving forward with a full bike lane on Trousdale, there are other potential upgrades that could be made in the area that would prioritize transportation connectivity, like well-designed crosswalks at California Avenue and El Camino Real, Councilmember Desiree Thayer said.
“I would [advise prioritizing] pedestrian updates or speed bumps or other things, maybe making this a priority within our vision zero,” she said.
Thayer also suggested including sharrows on Sequoia Avenue as well as Ogden Drive to increase connectivity around Murchison, a proposition that staff said they would look into.
Councilmember Andrea Pappajohn, who represents the area, was in favor of not installing a bike lane on Trousdale — both because of concerns that ambulances and emergency vehicles wouldn’t be able to reach the hospital, but also because of planned increased density on north Burlingame.
It would be best to revisit bike-lane related plans until the city can determine the impact of that development, she said. Currently, the road sees around 11,000 to 12,000 cars a day.
“I believe there is going to be increased density as more people settle into North Burlingame. I think we should wait until that settles before we reduce the vehicle capacity on Trousdale,” Pappajohn said.
Advocates like Mike Swire, a member of the Transportation Authority Citizens Advisory Committee, pushed back on the idea that the community had time to waste when it came to bike lanes, citing a recent death at the Trousdale and El Camino Real intersection.
“The reason you have a traffic problem on Trousdale is because you’ve created a traffic problem on Trousdale,” he said. “You have a four-lane highway with a highway off-ramp and that’s the decision you made.”
Burlingame is taking steps to becoming a more bike-friendly city, councilmembers emphasized, highlighting the recent bike lane updates on California Drive.
“The reality is it slowed down cars and it’s working,” Mayor Peter Stevenson said. “We might get frustrated because of parking, we might get frustrated because it takes us an extra three minutes to get across town, but guess what — it’s working.”
(7) comments
The logic of San Mateo Democrats are full at play here.
Because there are schools and a hospital here, Donna Colson - endorsed by Eleni Kounalakis, Diane Papan, Josh Becker, Kevin Mullin, basically the car-guys - thinks bike lanes for Safe-Routes-To-School and healthy, sustainable transportation have no place where there are schools and a hospital. Got it, San Mateo Democrats are great in understanding simple concepts.
eGerd – TBot here. If you don’t like the batch of San Mateo Democrats or any elected politician, then change your vote to a different candidate/party. If not, as I always say, you get the government you voted for. And apparently, the folks you cite have determined there are not enough bike riders to justify inconveniencing the multitude of car drivers or making transportation efficient.
The power of "Induced Demand" - if you don't offer it, people can't use it.
- Warriors offer nosebleed section and courtside seats
- SF Giants offer standing room and behind the catcher
- 49ers have VIP boxes or baking in the sun
- United offers coach and first class seats
- Safeway lets you buy expensive organic and cheap Ultra-Processed food
- 101 has free lanes, and now Lexus Lanes
- San Mateo Democrats only offer infrastructure for the "most expensive transportation" but never for "affordable transportation"
So who is smarter and more equitable?
The Warriors/SF Giants/49ers/United/Safeway or San Mateo Democrats?
eGerd – TBot here. You’re making my argument for me. You list a bevy of options to illustrate your definition of “Induced Demand” but the thing is is that people can choose from your alternatives. With bicycle lanes, you’re not allowing an option because cars can’t opt to “ride” in bicycle lanes, at least not legally. If you offer roads which allow cars and bicyclists, people can use them to their maximum efficiency and convenience. If you don’t open bicycle lanes to cars, cars can’t use them, limiting efficiency and convenience.
Anyone can use a bike lane! Get a wheelchair, knee scooter, roller skates, skateboard, e-scooter, jogging stroller, or of course a bicycle and you can appreciate them too.
Poor people usually can't afford the court side seats or the VIP boxes. If they try to get into the VIP boxes, courtside seats or First Class, they will be kicked out.
So the rich Americans really don't want to share. The same is true on American roads. The rich people - who can afford a car, but never pay enough for the infrastructure - think they own the whole road. Anyone slowing them down they try to kick off the road or even worse. They clearly don't want to share.
And since you convinced me about the plight of the biological female doing sports now ... let's not forget that biological women on bicycles are especially endangered when sharing the road with cars since they aren't as physically strong or fast to keep up with traffic. The same is true for children.
This is almost impossible at night, when these biological strong men drive often more drunk and more distracted.
eGerd – TBot here. Anyone can use a bike lane? Not cars or trucks, which are the most efficient and convenient method of transportation for everyday life. As I’ve said before, I don’t see much, if anyone, lugging home 10 bags of groceries or a case of bottled water while on a wheelchair, knee scooter, roller skates, skateboard, e-scooter, jogging stroller or a bicycle. Meanwhile, I hear a California politician is proposing a bill to allow homeless college students to sleep in their cars on campus. Hard to sleep “in” a bike, eh eGerd?
Hi TBot - are you still defending your beloved San Mateo Democrats?
But you are absolutely correct. Cars and trucks are considered dangerous and are therefore prohibited from driving in bus lanes, bike lanes, sidewalks, stairs, escalators, elevators, houses, schools, shopping centers, restaurants, etc. Cars and Trucks cannot do all of those things, but people still can.
Usually you have to park the car somewhere and then separate yourself from it. I know addiction is hard, but weaker people have managed.
Once you separate identity of car and driver, the person is considered less dangerous and now that person can use bike lanes, sidewalks, stairs, elevators, escalators, ...
But I'm very happy you bring up college students. We talked about how unfair it is that College and University leadership is wasting billions of dollars on school athletics which treats biological females so badly. That money instead should go to finance student housing - two major problems solved.
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