Foster City boosts funding eligibility for pedestrian improvements

Adopting the county’s local roadway safety plan, which also has a Foster City-specific report, also opens up the opportunities for grant funding. 

According to the document, there were about 20 pedestrian crashes in the city between 2018 to 2022, nearly half of which resulted in death or severe injury. There were about 16 bicycle crashes and 114 motor vehicle crashes during that same timeframe, 23% and 31% of which resulted in death or severe injury, respectively. 

Some of the most notable improvement recommendations included installing a larger stop sign and a pedestrian crossing at the intersection of Shell Boulevard and Civic Center Drive, as well as pedestrian improvements, such as a countdown signal, at Marlin Avenue and Foster City Boulevard. 

The City Council unanimously adopted the report but some still voiced concern or additional ways to reduce collisions.

Due to the high number of collisions that occur at night, Councilmember Patrick Sullivan said he would like to see more initiatives getting people to wear lights and helmets when riding at night. And Vice Mayor Art Kiesel said there should be more education and enforcement around running yellow lights and stop signs, which he said is occurring more frequently. 

“I see that almost every day when I’m out in my automobile driving around,” Kiesel said. “We need to get some education for the public and some consequences for poor driving.”

Mayor Stacy Jimenez added she was disappointed with the outreach which she said was minimal and not targeted to Foster City residents, especially parents and school principals. 

“I’m a little disappointed with this … in terms of the outreach that was done with this report,” Jimenez said. “When you get good data you make good decisions, and I'm not sure that we received good data from the public … I can think of at least four other additional  projects that really need to happen in Foster City, and most of those are around our schools.”