People ride along El Camino Real in South San Francisco.
Large-scale, countywide changes are coming to El Camino Real over the next decade, one of which may include eliminating a lane of travel on at least one stretch of the corridor in South City.
State Route 82, or El Camino Real, serves as a main road spanning the entire county north to south, but improving the often-dangerous walking and biking conditions is notoriously difficult, given it falls under state, not local, jurisdiction.
The Grand Boulevard Initiative is a nearly 20-year-old effort that involves ECR improvements throughout the entire county, however, it has undergone some twists and turns. The initiative was once focused on housing and land use along the corridor but, with stricter housing mandates from the state, SamTrans recently pivoted to focus more on transit-related projects. However, minimal funding has been secured.
According to a presentation during a City Council meeting Oct. 22, the South City section of ECR south of Hickey Boulevard has “more lanes than needed” — three lanes in each direction — and reducing the lanes would subsequently decrease the number of total vehicles traveling on the corridor. During the presentation, it was also noted that 40% of trips are longer than 10 miles, meaning those traveling through the city still have alternatives, such as Interstate 280 or Junipero Serra Boulevard, leaving ECR for more local traffic.
The third lane could be converted to accommodate cyclists, buses or pedestrians.
Councilmember Mark Nagales said he was slightly concerned with school-related traffic, however, overall supportive of potential improvements. Councilmember James Coleman said he’d like to see the lane converted into protected bike lanes.
“Right now, I’m leaning toward bike lanes, and it’s because BART and Caltrain already serve that north-south connectivity to transit,” Coleman said.
The Grand Boulevard Initiative would make additional upgrades to the area along ECR, including installing curb extensions and upgrading crosswalks. The council also mentioned the need for improved bus stop shelters.
The entire Grand Boulevard Initiative, which includes about 22 miles of redesign, could take up to a decade to complete.
(650) 344-5200 ext. 102
Daily Journal staff
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(2) comments
quote: "The Grand Boulevard Initiative is a nearly 20-year-old effort that involves ECR improvements throughout the entire county."
The idea of adding different options of travel (public and active transportation) to ECR goes back to the 1970s.
So for over 50 years now our esteemed, most sustainable, public-transit loving, children-adoring San Mateo Democrats in Congress, the Senate, the Assembly, the Board of Supervisors (looking at Jackie Speier here), C/CAG, Peninsula Clean Energy, and on various city councils couldn't get even one mile of protected bike lane onto ECR.
They already wasted millions on "studies" and "outreach" over the last 50 years, but have absolutely nothing to show for.
Now that is beyond pathetic.
Here we go again…setting the stage for more tax proposals to waste your money rewarding transit union workers. And attempting to do so with biased assumptions. For instance, the City Council says “…reducing the lanes would subsequently decrease the number of total vehicles traveling on the corridor.” Or, the number of total vehicles will remain the same and cause more traffic and gridlock, especially if there isn’t enough room for buses to stop or there aren’t dedicated turn lanes. Or perhaps these vehicles will begin traveling neighboring streets, increasing their congestion. And then we have Mr. Coleman assuming folks will begin riding BART and Caltrain more. Um, if they haven’t done so now, chances are they won’t in the future due to the inconvenience of the “final mile.” Regardless of their biased assumptions, vote NO on any transit related tax measures. They’ll happily spend it, and more, and come back to you again and again to continually pay for wage increases and ever-increasing pensions and benefits.
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