How are Burlingame’s storied eucalyptus trees being safely removed along El Camino Real? 

Now that the tree removal has begun, what does it actually take to extricate a decades-old eucalyptus whose branches soar far above houses, apartments and buildings? 

The answer involves at least a day of work, blocks of fully-closed road, a crew of around seven people and a fair amount of noise. 

“They start from the top and they take the tree down in chunks,” Caltrans Public Information Officer Jeneane Crawford said at the site of a 60-foot eucalyptus removal at El Camino Real and Sanchez Avenue March 13. 

El Camino had been closed from Carmelita Avenue to Oak Grove Avenue for the effort, which Crawford said she expected to be a two-day process.

The contractor for the project, Teichert Construction, had one employee on-site in the tree itself, cutting off branches, another manning the crane that would bring foliage down safely, an operator for the wood chipper that breaks down smaller pieces of wood and a site manager to oversee safety, among others. A biologist was also overseeing the removal, monitoring environmental concerns like adjacent hummingbird nests. 

To fully remove the tree, branches are attached to the crane by cables and slowly sawed off one by one to prevent them from falling onto private property and managing their safe descent onto the ground. Depending on their size, they’re then either fed into the wood chipper or picked up for removal, Crawford said. 

“We want to make sure that nothing falls into [neighbor’s] property,” she said. “All the parts of the tree should stay on state right-of-way.” 

Workers have to be careful of power lines strung up around the trees, which will be undergrounded by Pacific Gas and Electric at a later point in the process. 

“A major concern is de-electrifying the power lines, if needed,” Crawford said. “If not, we have to be very careful that the branches aren’t coming down on power lines. They have to have a safety corridor around the tree.” 

Around three trees are removed each weekday during working hours and require a full road closure. This year, 182 trees on the northbound side of El Camino Real will be removed, and next year, 236 trees on the southbound side will come down, with planting of new trees occurring in between. 

The noise and disruption from the project has been a challenge for residents and businesses, some of whom came out to witness the Sanchez Avenue trees’ removal. But, overall, residents are excited about the long-term change the renovation will bring, Crawford said. 

“It’s really tough on neighbors because of the traffic impacts and the noise, but most people I’ve talked to are really happy about what El Camino Real is going to look like a few years into the future,” she said. 

The project experienced some delays due to encroaching gasoline at Broadway and California Drive that prompted road closures, but it’s largely back on track, Crawford said. Work is slated to complete by spring 2029. 

Although tree removals necessitate shutdown of El Camino Real in both directions, when other construction work on pavement, sidewalks and intersections occurs, Caltrans is planning to keep a lane of traffic flowing in both directions. 

From May 2026 to summer 2027, some sections of the northbound side of the road will be closed, with one southbound lane open to northbound traffic. From summer 2027 to winter 2028, when work occurs on the southbound side, the traffic handling plan will be reversed. From winter 2028 to spring 2029, the inner lanes on both the northbound and southbound sides will be closed. 

Caltrans is also working to ensure traffic isn’t detoured entirely to smaller roads in the neighborhood, Crawford said, and is trying to create detours that help drivers get back on main roads in situations like the Sanchez Avenue removal. 

“We’re trying to stick to detours where people can more easily get to California and then get to come back to El Camino,” she said.