Blog: First take on 2024 Woodside Road project

Editor's Note: The views and opinions expressed in all blog posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Redwood City Pulse or its staff.

So far, Caltrans is keeping its 2024 plans for Woodside Road close to the vest. It could be yet another highway widening, but it sounds like a Restriping and Repaving Project is bringing buffered bike lanes to SR-84 as part of their reasonably new Complete Streets program. It's worth mentioning that California's Complete Streets Act (AB1358) dates back to 2008.

What we learned from the Great Grand Boulevard Show

Caltrans is in charge of state highways, and Redwood City doesn't want to be. Protected bike lanes have been mentioned on EIRs (Environmental Impact Reports) for every single construction and infrastructure project along El Camino Real (ECR) as one way to reduce Vehicle Trips (VT) and Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT). Various plans show these bike lanes as RWC's number one tool to improve Vision Zero, achieve Transportation Equity, start a Safe-Routes-To-School program, stop air pollution, fix climate change, and bring World Peace.

And yet they are not there, all because Caltrans won't give up driving lanes, and Redwood City does not want to give up parking.

On-Street Parking

El Camino Real (SR-82) and Woodside Rd (SR-84) are state highways where cars can quickly drive at 40mph and more. Stroads like these should never allow parallel parking in the first place as it can lead to severe collisions and costly sideswiping damage. For those reasons, Sand Hill Rd in Menlo Park and Page Mill Rd in Palo Alto have no on-street parking and aren't even state highways.

California Democrats are on the climate change clock.

California leaders are in a transportation bind. If Democrats want to prove that the California model is superior, they must start achieving something. Florida, Texas, and Las Vegas might have High-Speed Rail long before Sacramento or San Francisco. Texas and Iowa create more wind power, while California still tries to catch sunshine for peak usage between 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. California EVs are charging even later at night when the grid runs mainly on Natural Gas and Arizona Coal (and no, even Peninsula Clean Energy can't deliver green sun power at night – that's just another California magic trick called CCA).

California also botched the Active Transportation revolution so far. All US cities have fallen out of the Copenhagenize Index and are outshined basically by all European capitals and cities like Tokyo, Bogota, and Montreal. Meanwhile, California is competing for the worst US state in terms of safety for people on bicycles. Governor Reagan signed Bike Lanes into law, and Governor Schwarzenegger brought us Complete Streets. Governor Newsom, on the other hand, vetoed several laws that would have provided more safety for people on bicycles. Most prominently, SB127 (2019) was turned down by Governor Newsom, claiming that Caltrans can do Complete Streets without a bill.

So now California Democrats, Governor Newsom, and, of course, Caltrans are on the clock to put their money where their promises are: "Reduce congestion through innovative strategies designed to encourage people to shift from cars to other modes of transportation. Fund transportation options that contribute to the overall health of Californians and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, such as transit, walking, biking and other active modes and mitigate increases in transportation costs for lower income Californians."

Some of these innovative strategies are called bus and bike lanes and are neither new nor innovative (yes, low-income neighborhoods need them even more).

Caltrans

About two years ago, Caltrans threw out the idea of bringing bike lanes to El Camino and Woodside Rd. I'm unsure how much cities paid attention, but Mountain View seems on board. Palo Alto acted surprised, but Caltrans is committed to following through. Redwood City leadership is currently playing both sides. Staff members have been taking credit and blaming Caltrans for these bike lanes – basically within the same sentence.

Redwood City leadership is on the clock as well.

Redwood City is not the best city in San Mateo County regarding safety for pedestrians and cyclists; they like to blame Caltrans for it. Few cities have two state highways through residential neighborhoods like SR-82 and SR-84. According to RWC's Vision Zero plans, 26% of collisions are related to those two state highways. So far, the council and city manager have refused to take charge of those 26%, and there is not much effort to work on the other 74% either. The best False Advertising Approach cannot replace a solid, Sustainable Safety Mindset. So, the city's Vision Zero project is still going in the wrong direction and will be for a while.

Redwood City is in charge of getting bike lanes done

gs_woodside_plaza_03 — There are three driving lanes here. Maybe Caltrans could live with two?

The bike lanes are not mentioned in the Caltrans Project book; the Storybook and bike plan are outdated. Urbanists would want bus lanes on state highways, and Caltrans might prefer highway widening; maybe they support Complete Streets now. But in the end, it all comes down to Redwood City. If the parking spots stay, there is a high chance that Redwood City leadership told Caltrans that bike lanes aren't welcome here. These bike lanes would be a huge Safe-Routes-To-School project as several hundred Woodside HS students should be coming by bicycle but can't. If Redwood City and the Unincorporated County wanted these kids to be safe, there would be bike lanes on Roosevelt Ave, San Carlos Ave, and Selby Lane, but there are none.

Make no mistake, if there aren't bike lanes on Woodside Road by the end of 2024, various council members had a hand in it. They either didn't lobby hard enough or worked behind the scenes against them.

So, who is in charge of lobbying the Caltrans Director for these kids?

Your 2024 council members are Mayor Jeff Gee (D1), Vice-Mayor Lissette Espinoza-Garnica (D3), Chris Sturken (D2), Elmer Martinez Saballos (D4), Kaia Eakin (D5), Diane Howard (D6), Alicia C. Aguirre (D7)