San Mateo hopes to avoid future bike lane controversy

But some of the projects are receiving more pushback than others, and in light of a highly-controversial bike lane project in the North Central neighborhood, the need for better outreach seems to be top-of-mind for city leaders.

As part of a $1.5 million federal grant, bike lanes along Humboldt Street and Poplar Avenue were installed in the area, removing about 200 parking spaces, and the initiative caused an uproar in the neighborhood. Earlier this year, just a couple years after their installation, the City Council voted to start the process of removing some of the lanes to reinstate about 100 parking spaces. Not only has the move angered some community members, including cyclists and bike advocates, but it likely means the city will have to repay much of the grant. Opponents of the bike lanes have said that neighborhood residents voiced their disapproval prior to the implementation, but the city pushed ahead anyway.

Among the future projects, Public Works Director Matt Fabry said a Class IV bike lane project — which are lanes that are separated and thus more protected from vehicles — on Delaware Street as well as one on 19th Avenue and Fashion Island Boulevard are also raising concerns among some community members.

“We’re fully built out and we’ve got limited right of way and so we’re facing trade-offs on these types of projects … in terms of potentially removing a lane of travel or removing parking,” Fabry said. “We are getting definite pushback on some of those projects with regard to some of the tradeoffs.”

The upcoming Delaware Street project, for instance, will upgrade the bike lanes between 19th Avenue and Pacific Boulevard and improve pedestrian crossings. Both northbound and southbound lanes will receive more protected bike lanes with better delineation, but South Delaware Street will go from two lanes of traffic down to one lane from Bermuda Drive to Saratoga Drive, with dedicated turn lanes opening up after Saratoga Drive.

While the project has received support from many cyclists and pedestrians, nearby residents and even the CEO of the San Mateo County Event Center had previously voiced concerns, mostly related to congestion concerns and emergency vehicle access.

Another project in the works would construct Class IV separated bike lanes and pedestrian improvements on 19th Avenue and Fashion Island Boulevard.

“We are starting to hear rumblings of concern about the Fashion Island and 19th Avenue project,” Fabry said, noting there will be a community meeting on Tuesday, July 15, which he said will hopefully result in helpful feedback.

“There are concerns about the congestion piece of it so we definitely want to make sure that people have an opportunity to hear the aspects of the project that we think will improve the congestion aspect of it, so that hopefully may alleviate some of their concerns,” he said.

Commissioner Sigalle Michael said she is optimistic that the city can stave off another controversy similar to the Humboldt bike lanes.

“The impression we get is that it seems like lessons have been learned from Humboldt, and it seems like the outreach is much more robust,” Michael said.