San Carlos staff gets an earful on bike safety

“Andrea is why we’re here, but she’s not the only one who died on this interchange,” said Clem Tillier, a San Carlos resident, at the listening session Jan. 8. “As tragedies build up, we have to develop a sense of urgency to do something.” 

Vallebueno’s partner, Faiz Surani of Palo Alto, shared remarks at the listening session, asking for any step forward in making the area safer to avoid further tragedy. 

“As all of you guys know, Andrea was killed Nov. 16,” Surani said. “About a month before that, Andie and I had celebrated our one-year anniversary.” 

Although Vallebueno was just visiting San Carlos and could not have known how dangerous the overpass was, Surani said. “For more than a decade, the city knew that something here was wrong” but “nothing happened.” 

In Vallebueno’s honor, Surani asked to “just do something.” 

“If we’re all back here months, years from now from the same thing, then I really don’t know what to say,” Surani said.

Since Nov. 16, bike safety advocates have kept the discussion going — hosting a ghost bike vigil Dec. 12, and raising the topic at various City Council meetings, and now city staff is trying to find a near-term solution.

Residents presented various ideas to staff such as shifting the bike lanes to a median path protected by concrete K-rails, or even fresh coats of paint and more signs to let drivers know they must be wary of bicyclists. Residents also proposed removing the second right-turn lane onto Holly Street from Industrial Boulevard, increasing corner island curbs and widening pedestrian crosswalks.

Tillier admitted after his proposed fix of a median bike path that he’s “just a guy with crayons,” and said it still remains up to the city to do something quickly. 

The long-term goal continues to be the construction of a pedestrian bridge in an effort to connect downtown San Carlos with Redwood Shores, City Engineer Grace Le said. Currently, the highway serves as a significant barricade between the two. Cyclists, often avoiding Holly Street, travel to not-so-nearby overpasses instead. 

“Multiple people have crossed Holly Street once and then decided to never do it again — I am one of those people” resident Jeremiah Darais said. 

The pedestrian bridge was considered “shovel ready” in 2019, and was coupled with its major counterpart project of reducing the clover highway interchange to a two loop interchange, Le said. However, the project has fallen in the priority lists of regional and local funding decisions.

The reason the project was ultimately killed is debated — Councilmember John Dugan said the Highway 101 widening project is to blame, while Karen Kuklin, a member of the San Mateo County Transportation Authority Community Advisory Committee, said the city is avoiding culpability. 

Regardless, it will take significant time again to gain momentum on such a project, and a lot more money than it would have in 2019. Being less shovel-ready affects the project’s competitiveness for grant money, Le said. 

Although the pedestrian bridge has only been considered alongside an interchange revamp, the bridge itself was estimated to cost $19 million in 2023, Assistant City Manager Nil Blackburn said.

“As time goes on, and it’s been five plus years, the project gets less and less shovel ready,” Le said. “The design needs updating, technically studies are outdated, permits need to be reapplied for, certifications recertified.”

Mike Swire, a member of organizations promoting bicycle safety, said that although it took a tragedy to get everyone in the room, he felt the listening session was an indication the city is serious about making some changes. 

“I do this a lot, this doesn’t usually happen,” Swire said. “But this happened because [Blackburn] and the council saw somebody die and they stood up and they said we’re going to do something about it.” 

The city will be meeting with technical assistants from SMCTA later this month, Blackburn said, to consider the feasibility of some of the proposed improvements, and will likely present findings to the City Council Feb. 8 at a strategic planning session. 

“What I know, and what [Vallebueno] knew, is that when things don’t happen in government, it’s no one person’s fault,” Surani said. “When I want to be angry about this, I just try to think about that.” 

For those interested in becoming involved or staying up to date, Blackburn said to visit cityofsancarlos.org/e-news to sign up for the appropriate newsletters.