Interchange impacts

As for the Harbor View project, that has been in the public consciousness since at least September 2013, when Jay Paul Company, the developer, purchased three of the eight parcels that comprise the project site: those upon which Malibu Golf & Games, Malibu Grand Prix and Graniterock Building Supplies then operated. Shortly thereafter, Jay Paul Company presented its vision: four nine-story office buildings totaling just under 1.3 million square feet, two parking garages and an amenities building. Ever since, Jay Paul Company has been working to make the project acceptable to the city and, with its latest iteration, it may have done just that. On Tuesday, Redwood City’s Planning Commission reviewed the significantly downsized project and its massive community benefits package — now estimated to be worth more than $65 million — after which it voted to recommend the project to the City Council.

Assuming the Redwood City Council approves Harbor View — which it may do as soon as Monday, Nov. 14, when it is next scheduled to hold a public hearing on the project — the Highway 101/Woodside Road interchange will find itself flanked by two huge projects that will each add several hundred cars to the interchange during the morning and evening peak commute times. Given the interchange’s current conditions during those times, I can only imagine how bad things may get.

The first phase of the Broadway Plaza project, which I believe encompasses the massive underground parking garage and the three residential buildings, is currently scheduled to be completed in the first half of 2026. At that time, we’ll have the first inkling of how that project will affect traffic. Additional impacts will come a couple of years later when the second phase, consisting of the project’s three office buildings, is completed and the buildings are leased.

Harbor View’s timeline is tougher to figure out, but assuming that it gains project approval at the next City Council meeting, I could see the project getting underway around the start of 2025. Such a project would probably take two or three years to complete, meaning that we could see traffic impacts from the project around the beginning of 2028.

Although both projects anticipate employing a number of techniques to mitigate impacts on traffic, one of the most significant is the early stage project to rework the Highway 101/Woodside Road interchange itself. Redwood City had hoped that construction on the new interchange would get underway by 2026 and conclude by 2030, but that appears optimistic. Design work, which is “95% complete,” has paused until the city can “demonstrate it has secured full capital funding before acquiring property and starting construction.” Harbor View and Broadway Plaza will be contributing some millions to the interchange project, but given the project’s estimated costs of $265 million (an estimate from 2020, which is therefore likely to be low), those contributions won’t go far. Redwood City is working to find the remaining $200+ million, something that surely will take quite some time.

Pick your own date as to when the interchange project will be completed. Whatever your pick, there will likely be years between the completion of the two development projects and the interchange project. Years in which we’ll need to find other ways to alleviate the traffic jams that undoubtedly will manifest at the Highway 101/Woodside Road interchange. Then again, maybe the traffic will get so bad it will discourage thousands of people from driving and force them into alternative means of transportation, such as Caltrain. Which, upon reflection, could be a blessing in disguise.

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.