The North Central Bike Lanes Project has the potential to create many transportation benefits both now and in the future, but it is in danger of being derailed by narrow short-term thinking. This project would install bike lanes on Humboldt Street and Poplar Avenue and a bike boulevard on Indian Avenue.
The bike lanes will have an immediate positive impact on safety and accessibility for bicyclists and pedestrians in the neighborhood. North Central already has one of the city’s highest rates of biking and, unfortunately, a high rate of collisions and fatalities (30% of all San Mateo crashes since 2017). As North Central residents, my family and I would like to bike more, but we don’t due to safety concerns. The proposed project will vastly improve safety. It will also improve connectivity through the neighborhood and enable more people to bike to destinations like San Mateo High School and San Mateo Adult School.
In the long term, better bike infrastructure encourages more biking, which will reduce carbon emissions, improve air quality, relieve congestion and provide an affordable alternative to driving. This project is a critical component of building a complete bike network in San Mateo. It’s already funded. If we miss this opportunity, creating a real bike network will be very difficult.
Making biking safer and more convenient especially benefits low-income residents, who are more likely to rely on bicycles for transportation. It also helps car drivers by reducing traffic and demand for parking.
Yes, parking. The heart of the North Central project conflict may seem to be parking, however, I see an opportunity for a win-win. Done right, we can have bike lanes and improve access to reliable parking for those who need it.
As a resident who owns a car, I empathize with those who want to preserve parking. The city’s peak parking analysis concluded that streets within one to two blocks have the capacity to accommodate vehicles affected by parking removal. Even so, I recognize parking will be an ongoing problem because, as density increases, as is likely with the upcoming general plan update, parking demand will continue to grow. But the solution is not to double down on prioritizing space for automobile storage. The long-term solution is to reduce parking demand. First, create alternatives to driving — like biking! — so fewer automobiles need to be stored. Secondly, implement a parking permit program that would manage demand while allowing residents who legitimately need to park on the street to continue to do so.
San Mateo is blessed with incredible weather, plenty of flat land, and density that keeps most destinations within biking distance. It has potential to be a great biking city. Imagine a future when parents feel comfortable letting their kids walk or bike to school, when a worker just starting out doesn’t need to devote 20% of their income to owning a car, where commuting means getting some exercise on a bike rather than sitting in traffic. Are we going to miss the opportunity to create this future, just to preserve a status quo that residents on both sides say they are dissatisfied with? I hope the city is bold enough to choose the long-term vision.
Lisa Rayle lives in North Central San Mateo with her husband and daughter. She happens to have a background in urban planning.
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