Foster City officials seek input on cut-through traffic

Cut-through traffic in this context refers to commuters, often directed by navigation apps including Waze and Google Maps, attempting to avoid backups on Highway 101 and State Route 92 by cutting through Foster City on their way to the East Bay.

The problem has been so bad that the city devised a pilot program to deter commuters from cutting through Foster City on their way home. The proposal entails no left turn prohibitions from East Hillsdale Boulevard onto Edgewater Boulevard and Shell Boulevard from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. The pilot will initially be implemented on a three-month trial and can be terminated by the city manager at any time if deemed unsafe.

“I’m optimistic it will have an impact. We don’t know until we try,” said Mayor Sam Hindi.

Hindi said the October meeting on the proposed pilot was well attended and that most residents appear open to at least trying the no left turn prohibitions, though he has not yet seen every survey response. There were well over 250 of those responses.

There is some concern among residents living north of East Hillsdale Boulevard, however, because prohibiting left turns at the proposed intersections will make the journey home longer and more complicated for them.

Hindi conceded traffic will get worse before it gets better once the pilot is up and running, but is confident the program will pay off in the end. He also said city officials are working closely with concerned residents about how to mitigate any of the pilot’s unintended consequences. 

Hindi also wants to see staff further coordinate with the app companies to see how they might help, and he also hopes Caltrans would be amenable to installing some sort of informational sign encouraging commuters to stay on the freeway and not exit onto East Hillsdale Boulevard.

To illustrate the city’s burdensome congestion, Hindi referenced a recent accident on the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge that resulted in citywide gridlock; cars across Foster City did not budge for 20 straight minutes, he said.

While this pilot only applies to the aforementioned intersections, residents have also said in the past that some navigation apps send commuters onto Third Avenue and Foster City Boulevard.

A traffic update document prepared by the city in October blamed Foster City’s traffic woes on a severe jobs and housing imbalance on the Peninsula, the popularity of navigation apps and Foster City’s location at the crossroads between housing in the East Bay and where jobs are concentrated here. 

Visit sustainable.fostercity.org/cds2018 to take the survey.

zachary@smdailyjournal.com

(650) 344-5200 ext. 102