San Mateo plans for slew of bike, pedestrian upgrades

The projects are in a mix of stages, some of them either fully complete or close to completion — such as new bollards set up at the downtown pedestrian mall — while others are still awaiting funding or additional staff resources, such as the 28th Avenue gap closure project, which will add protected bike lanes between Edison Street and El Camino Real, as well as Class 2 bike lanes from El Camino Real to Kyne Street.

“The goal here for this project is to improve safety across El Camino Real and connectivity to the Hillsdale Caltrain station,” Assistant Transportation Planner Ella Phillips said during the meeting

The state’s recent daylighting law — which aims to improve intersection visibility by imposing minimum parking distances from crosswalks  — is also being implemented in the city. Phillips added that the red curb painting has already been completed around key school zones and will begin in downtown this spring.

The early stages of the Humboldt Street bike lane alternative projects were also discussed. The controversial bike lanes were installed several years ago in the North Central neighborhood but intense opposition toward the bike lanes has continued to mount in the neighborhood, as the project necessitated the removal of about 200 parking spaces. During a February council meeting, city leaders decided to keep the bike lanes, while also directing the city to explore other ways to alleviate parking issues and improve overall safety in the area. 

Phillips said that per council direction, staff is starting to look into “Humboldt Street calming, Humboldt Street lighting, a permit program, exploring additional enforcement for North Central, exploring a ride-sharing program and … exploring feasibility for one way.”

Commissioner Rich Kranz said he was supportive of the projects overall, though said he was wary of a permit program in the area.

"I live in a neighborhood with a permit program, and what it's designed to do is keep outsiders out of your neighborhood,” he said. “The people who want to park there live on Humboldt. The people from Mariners Island are not trying to park over there.”

City staff also confirmed that they are meeting with Caltrans officials in April to clarify each agency’s roles and responsibilities as it relates to the intersection of El Camino Real and 17th Avenue, where a woman was recently struck and killed while crossing the street. Many residents have stated the intersection is extremely dangerous and risky. Another pedestrian had been struck by a car and hospitalized in November at the same intersection.

“Historically Caltrans does own and operate those signals, and I think that term needs to be defined,” Engineering Manager Jay Yu said during the meeting. “There are certain maintenance agreements where the city, at some intersections, maintains, and also on El Camino, there is street lighting that we maintain, but in terms of operations … historically that has been operated by Caltrans.” 

Other projects discussed included signal improvement updates at several intersections, including Poplar Avenue and Humboldt Street, as well as Alameda de las Pulgas and Hillsdale Boulevard. The 19th Avenue/Fashion Island Boulevard project, which will upgrade bike lane infrastructure and make turn lane and signal improvements, recently had $16 million secured from the San Mateo County Transportation Authority and a request was submitted for $3 million in Regional Measure 3 funds, which would get the project fully funded, according to a staff report.