I live in the vicinity of Redwood City’s Sequoia Hospital and, for a time, worked at 900 Chesapeake Drive, out by the Redwood City Municipal Marina. My office was close enough to home — just 3.2 miles — that although I made the drive nearly every day, I also experimented with other means of transportation.
Once I tried walking, but that took over an hour each way. Cycling made much more sense — I could make the one-way trip in just under 20 minutes (driving took about 15). But back in the mid-1990s, no part of the journey involved bike lanes. And because I had to ride through an industrial area (Blomquist Street) along which numerous heavy trucks traveled daily, the roads proved less than ideal for my road bike.
In 2014, although I no longer worked out there, I was nevertheless interested when I heard about the “US 101/SR 84 (Woodside Road) Interchange Improvement Project.” Not only because it promised to greatly improve traffic flow getting on and off the highway at Woodside Road — as well as nearby traffic using both Broadway and Veterans Boulevard — but also because it aimed to provide a different, safer way for cyclists to get from downtown Redwood City to the marina.
I was interested back then, but I was skeptical. Given the project’s high projected costs and its extremely lengthy timeframe, I was convinced that the project would never really get off the ground. It seems I was wrong, however. The final design work for the project is scheduled to be wrapping up just about now, and pretty much all of the funding seems to be in hand. Although I’ve learned to take dates on projects like these with a large grain of salt, the city currently projects that work should get underway by 2027 and wrap up in 2030.
Redwood City is in active negotiations with nearby property owners for the bits of right-of-way that will be needed for the duration of project construction — and in some cases, permanently. I assembled a list of the 11 affected parcels and recently took a walk down Broadway to the Woodside Road interchange to see them for myself. Then, I sat down with the preliminary project plan to see just how much of each parcel would be needed.
I’ve looked over the plan several times before but had never noticed the faint dotted lines that mark out where the additional right-of-way will be needed. Those lines turn out to be much easier to see when I look at the plan online and zoom in on the image. In any case, it seems that most of the needed right-of-way consists of narrow slices along Broadway, Veterans Boulevard, Woodside Road or the highway — depending upon where each parcel is located. It appears that only two parcels would lose more than just a mostly unused slice of land, the most significant being the city-owned parcel on Veterans Boulevard where Redwood City’s Public Works Department facilities are located. There, one or two existing structures might actually need to be altered. And then there is the parcel at Broadway and Charter Street where 24-Hour Fitness is located. There, it appears that their large surface parking lot would lose some two dozen parking spaces up against Highway 101. But assuming that the plan available online is at all accurate, it seems that the remaining nine properties will barely be affected at all.
Eminent domain — the process used by municipalities to obtain private land for public benefit — should always be a last resort and should only be used in cases that truly benefit the entire community. This project does seem to be one that meets that criteria. And since the highway interchange project cannot proceed as planned without all of the noted easements being obtained, I’m hopeful that the total amount the city ends up paying for those easements is reasonable and within the amount budgeted for this project. Fortunately, it appears that in each case a great deal of effort was put into minimizing the amount of land needing to be taken.
Where once I was skeptical about this project, now I’m eager to see it built. Not only am I looking forward to smoother transitions on and off the highway at Woodside Road — I’m looking forward to dusting off my bicycle and exploring the new “Class IV” separated bikeway that is to run beneath the freeway near the freight tracks, thereby connecting the main part of Redwood City with the portion east of the freeway. I may not work out by the marina these days, but I still enjoy spending time out there — watching the kayakers and racing shells on the water and admiring the many boats that inhabit the marina. Doing it by bicycle somehow just seems appropriate.
Greg Wilson is the creator of Walking Redwood City, a blog inspired by his walks throughout Redwood City and adjacent communities. He can be reached at greg@walkingRedwoodCity.com. Follow Greg on Twitter @walkingRWC.
Greg Wilson is the creator of Walking Redwood City, a blog inspired by his walks throughout Redwood City and adjacent communities. He can be reached at greg@walkingRedwoodCity.com. Follow Greg on Twitter @walkingRWC.
(2) comments
This is just another expensive highway expansion, which we know will end in another expensive "Traffic Calming" project to repair all the mistakes that are clearly visible to anyone with a keen eye to how transportation works. The fact that this isn't a "Complete Street" solution renders the EIR a piece of fiction. The bicycle infrastructure is atrocious and purposefully dangerous so no sane person will ride there - but pretending allows the city to use $150M in "multimodal grants" to be spend on a project that only serves one god. Pedestrians and cyclists will still be in danger here.
The real solution is right next to the intersection (https://maps.app.goo.gl/1STpDasBTP2bfM918), but the city made sure NOT to remove the dirt that would allow for a wonderful walking/biking path along the hardly used train tracks there. If they did they could not apply for the multimodal grants so they added a few green lines on their plans and call them "bicycle lanes".
Let's just say, if they were interested in doing that right, the intersections at Spring Street, Bay Road and Broadway would be "Dutch Safety Intersections" - $150M would pay for that easily. They are not, which means Caltrans and city manger Melissa Stevenson-Diaz have absolutely no intention to see bicycles here.
This is a $500M project - at least it was when they first introduced it. But to make it bearable they publish $350M now and keep city staff cost and time out of it. The fact that land and parcels that are currently property-taxed will be eminent-domained means a reduction of that property tax. Whenever Redwood City's manager is complaining about her budget, it's this project that got her into trouble. This is the project why the garbage, water, permit and other fees are going up, up, up.
Oh, and there will be absolutely no reduction in "Congestion" as congestion is directly related to the amount of car lanes. More car lanes, more congestion. If you build it bigger, more will come.
Yes, Greg. We need safer conditions for people who walk and bike.
The safety improvements for this project are great. I am not sure why they needed to widen Woodside Road, however. This will simply encourage more people to drive and lead to more congestion throughout RWC.
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