101/92 express lane expansion 

Last Monday evening, the San Mateo City Council called a special meeting with the San Mateo County Transportation Authority to present the Highway 101/92 Express Lane Expansion Project update. A few residents had been organizing for weeks — taking to social media and canvassing impacted neighborhoods — and it showed with something like 300 San Mateans attending or dialing in to watch and/or give public comment opposing the project. Perhaps my favorite public comment from the night came from San Mateo resident Tom Lease who said, “I want to say that Caltrans has done the impossible. … If all of us are together, you have a serious problem with your project.” 

It’s not uncommon in the afternoons for the lanes to be $10 heading south a few miles, contributing to the $22 million revenue from just this stretch of freeway the first three quarters of FY24. Pay-to-play is a real option for generating material revenue from those who can afford it, and this gets as close to software subscription revenue reliability as you can get when it comes to traveling by car.

It wasn’t particularly surprising that most residents were unaware of the project. Troubling, however, was that some of those people were at risk of potentially losing parts of their homes due to eminent domain actions. Also surprising to many was that the project originally scoped at $200 million remains largely unfunded. Granted, funding for large public infrastructure projects rarely arrives in one lump sum, but with inflation adjustments, the real cost climbs closer to $300 million. 

Despite being characterized at Monday’s meeting as “freeway money,” in reality, RM3 funds have actively supported a diverse range of transit and infrastructure projects across the region.

Recent allocations demonstrate RM3’s broad vision. In February 2025, $14.1 million funded three new 149-passenger electric ferries through the Water Emergency Transportation Authority for Treasure Island and Mission Bay routes. January 2025 allocations included $1 million for the Marshland Road Bay Trail and $900,000 for the Bollinger Canyon and Walnut Creek Shared Mobility Hub Projects. December 2024 saw $6.7 million directed to WestCAT’s Zero Emission Bus and Infrastructure Project, and another $1.75 million for their Express Bus Service in the I-80 corridor. 

While it’s true that funding for the environmental study phase of this project has been allocated, mechanisms do exist to reallocate previously earmarked funds. Section 30914.7(e) of the California Streets and Highways Code explicitly provides the Metropolitan Transportation Commission the authority — following consultations with stakeholders and public hearings — to “modify, reduce or reallocate funds between projects within the same bridge corridor.” As well, San Mateo County has until July 31 to opt in to participate in Senate Bill 63, a regional ballot measure of .5% sales tax which will fund the likes of Caltrain, MUNI, BART and AC Transit.

A lesson we keep seeing learned again and again but continues to be worth repeating is that public agencies must actively and deeply integrate community engagement (and frankly, public relations) into their long-term project planning. Conversations both spread like wildfire online and quickly die getting lost in the shuffle of life — a continuous drumbeat is the only way to prevent another meeting like April 3. We were told that office hours were taking place in April, but the month is now half over and I have been unable to find any information about these meetings online.

That evening, San Mateo City Council unanimously voted to pen a letter opposing this project, which Councilmember Lisa Diaz Nash will take to the City/Council Association of Governments of San Mateo County at its next meeting May 10 and is open to the public. 

While the conversation will continue amongst agencies and local elected bodies, the discussion now must shift to what is truly within our control as a county. Now is the ideal time to reconsider and advocate for reallocating RM3 funds toward projects that better reflect current and future needs — such as investing in a true multimodel transit system, completing pedestrian and cycling infrastructure, and enhancing transportation resilience and accessibility overall. Is it possible for RM3 revenue to be spent on projects today that serve our future needs rather than needs identified six years (and what feels like a lifetime) ago?

Annie Tsai is chief operating officer at Interact (tryinteract.com), early stage investor and advisor with The House Fund (thehouse.fund), and a member of the San Mateo County Housing and Community Development Committee. Find Annie on Twitter @meannie.