Pedestrian safety, slow bus routes top issues for El Camino Real improvement

Individual segments of the plan will be completed at different times — Burlingame, for example, is beginning a major development to underground Pacific Gas and Electric utilities and repair surfaces, sidewalks and street lights along El Camino Real. 

In San Bruno and Millbrae, plans are in various stages of development and have not yet begun in earnest. Thursday night’s study session, hosted by the City/County Association of Governments of San Mateo County, gave residents from those two cities a chance to voice their concerns and priorities for the upcoming revamp. 

Multiple individuals voiced issues with pedestrian crossing along the corridor, a problem that’s backed up by statistics — of 34 pedestrian fatalities or injuries in the San Bruno and Millbrae area from 2018 to 2022, 91% occurred while crossing the road, Lawrence Lewis, a consultant at Kittelson & Associates, said. 

“I’m just speaking for myself, as someone who takes Caltrain to Millbrae, crossing El Camino near the station is very scary especially at the ECR/Millbrae Avenue intersection,” meeting attendee Dylan Finch said in a Zoom comment during the online meeting. “Crossing distances are long and a high volume of right-turning traffic means it’s hard to find a safe time to cross, even when you have a pedestrian signal.” 

El Camino Real is wide and challenging to cross, particularly for older and disabled individuals, Regina Merrill, a consultant with Circlepoint, summarized from resident concerns, suggesting pedestrian islands as one potential solution. 

Two-thirds of pedestrian fatalities or injuries also occurred at night, Lewis said, which could make lighting and visibility a priority improvement. 

Biker injuries and fatalities were also a topic of discussion during the study session, with 10 bike injuries and fatalities in the same five-year period, eight of which were due to cyclists biking against automobile traffic, Lewis said. 

Crashes were also clustered north of Interstate 380 in San Bruno, in part due to higher traffic volumes, Lewis said, which corroborated resident comments that San Bruno has “a larger city population, leading to busier street and more daily activity,” per community member Rex Stanley and Millbrae “is quieter, more suburban and has a higher concentration of single family homes,” per meeting attendee Clayton David. 

Around 80% of El Camino Real travelers in the two cities use private automobiles, with 20% using alternative means of transport like buses, bikes or moving on foot. A majority of travelers are going to work, school, home or running errands, Lewis said. 

Buses that run along the corridor are moving around 12 mph — slower than cars — and running even more glacially, around 10 mph, around BART stations in both cities. 

Former Millbrae Mayor Ann Schneider suggested via Zoom comment that Millbrae residents are less likely to use and care about the bus system because of its limited mobility in city limits. 

“Snarky, I know, but why should the people of Millbrae care about El Camino Real bus lines. Maybe it would help to know how many people in Millbrae actually use the ECR bus line,” she said. “Otherwise, I don’t think we think much about SMTA buses as they sadly don’t serve us.” 

Information gathered during the meeting is part of the San Bruno-Millbrae El Camino Real Multimodal Improvement Corridor Study, one of nine studies being conducted for the Grand Boulevard Initiative. It will help improve project design as it goes through an upcoming Caltrans approval process.