Andrew Boone
Andrew Boone covers the Livable Streets Movements for Streetsblog in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. Andrew's claim to fame is once having bicycled more than 12,000 miles of smiles in one year. nauboone@gmail.com
Recent Posts
Advocates Envision a Transit-Rich Caltrain Highway 101 Corridor
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How can we make it easier to get around between San Francisco and San Jose? That was the topic discussed by a group of transit advocates and professionals last Wednesday in Palo Alto at a Caltrain / 101 Corridor Vision Forum. The corridor is today plagued by crowded trains, a congested Highway 101, and ineffective public bus […]
Bike Lane Gap in Menlo Park Bay Trail Route
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On Tuesday evening the Menlo Park City Council approved the construction of a new streetscape for Haven Avenue that will bring wide sidewalks to the block nearest Marsh Road where there are none today — but also leave a gap in bike lanes at a key location along the popular San Francisco Bay Trail route. The […]
SamTrans Targets Next Generation of Bus Riders With Youth Mobility Plan
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At last Wednesday’s San Mateo County Transit District (SamTrans) Board of Directors meeting planners presented the agency’s draft Youth Mobility Plan [PDF], “a strategic blueprint for how SamTrans can address the mobility needs of youth in San Mateo County and cultivate the next generation of bus customers.” The plan recommends a number of initiatives to […]
San Mateo Bike Share Update: City Readies to Double Fleet to 100 Bikes
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The City of San Mateo will double its Bay Bikes bike share fleet to 100 bikes by October.
Ten Lane Widening Planned for Highway 101 in San Mateo County
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Still seeking to widen Highway 101 from eight to ten lanes, Caltrans and San Mateo County’s transportation agencies are now halfway through the required environmental review. At a community meeting on Wednesday evening, agency officials gave an update on the project [PDF] to widen the highway by adding express lanes, which allow buses and carpools […]
Proposal to Remove Free Parking Riles Santa Cruz Avenue Residents
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Going by the results of a public meeting at Oak Knoll Elementary School in Menlo Park last Monday, San Mateo County traffic engineers have no options left to correct a dangerous five-lane stretch of Santa Cruz Avenue that runs from San Hill Road to Alameda de las Pulgas. “I’m one of the cyclists that has been hit […]
San Jose Makes Saint James Street More Dangerous
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Construction on San Jose’s huge North San Pedro plan is well underway. It removes a one-way, four-lane S-curve segment of Julian Street just east of Highway 87 and restores several blocks of the city’s original street grid. Removing that nasty S-curve and replacing it with a grid is good, but much of the North San Pedro plan still screams “car […]
Redwood City El Camino Real Safety Fixes Still Years Away
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Redwood City hosted the first of two scheduled community meetings on its El Camino Real Corridor Plan last month, aiming to lay the groundwork for redeveloping commercial parcels along the roadway and transform it into a Complete Street. After this study is finished sometime next year, a separate study funded by a grant from Caltrans will […]
Motorist Convenience Still Trumps Safety in South San Francisco
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South San Francisco will rebuild a one-mile segment of El Camino Real this Spring with wider sidewalks, safer crosswalks, curb extensions, pedestrian refuges, bike lanes, and new street trees planted in both the medians and sidewalks. However, the bike lanes won’t be continuous–to preserve curbside parking, in places they will disappear. And some intersections will remain dangerous to […]
San Mateo’s Highway 101/92 Interchange Eyed for Expansion
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San Mateo County’s transportation agencies are forging ahead with environmental studies of new lanes, ramps, and overpasses to add to the already massive interchange at Highways 101 and 92 in the city of San Mateo. Building on four previous studies stretching back to 2001, a new $500,000 study completed in June analyzed 25 different traffic […]
San Mateo County Bike-Ped Advisory Boards Seek Applicants
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Deadlines are near for several Board and Committee positions in San Mateo County. Applications are due today for two vacancies on the SamTrans Board of Directors, while the City/County Association of Governments seeks volunteers to fill four vacancies on its 15-member Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (C/CAG BPAC), due Nov. 14. Caltrain is taking applications […]
VTA Measure B’s Bloated Highway Expansions Leave Transit Unfunded
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The Valley Transportation Authority (VTA)’s proposed 30-year Measure B half-cent sales tax is bloated with billions of dollars in highway traffic expansions. If Santa Clara County voters pass Measure B on November 8, $1.85 billion would be lavished on highway projects while less than half that amount would go to bus, light rail, bicycling, and […]