Andrew Boone

Nearly three years after 47-year-old Los Altos Hills resident Lauren Ward was killed by a truck driver while cycling on Alpine Road at Highway 280 in southern San Mateo County, eye-catching green and buffered bike lanes, the first for a freeway crossing in California, were finally installed there in mid-October.

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As Caltrain celebrates 150 years of continuous passenger rail service between San Francisco and San Jose this year, transit planners are finally preparing to modernize the service by converting from diesel to electric trains. This transition, which Caltrain aims to complete by 2019, will reduce travel times for passengers because electric trains can accelerate and decelerate much more quickly. A typical all-stops local train trip from San Francisco would be reduced from about 90 minutes to 80 minutes.

Despite pockets of new development, El Camino Real remains a dangerous, car-oriented urban highway along most of the San Francisco Peninsula. If it can ever transform into a great street, it will have to become safer for walking and biking. And while enhancing walkability is a key goal of the Grand Boulevard Initiative -- the long-term planning effort to improve El Camino Real between San Francisco and San Jose -- redesigning a state road to prioritize safety is always a tough lift, since Caltrans design standards create a thick barrier of red tape. In response, San Mateo County planners are working on four demonstration projects to show how a redesigned boulevard will function.

SF Parks Truck Driver Kills Mother Laying in Grass in Holly Park (SF Examiner, SF Gate) Bay Area Bike Share Has 2,500 Members, Ridership Data Available Next Week (CBS) What To Do When You Can’t Return Your Bay Area Bike Share Bike (SF Weekly) BART and Unions Exchange Accusations, Will Resume Negotiations Next Week (SF Gate, KTVU) … Continued

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Last week, the Menlo Park City Council voted to extend its red light photo enforcement program for an additional five years and add a fifth red light camera at the intersection of Bayfront Expressway and Chilco Street, where 20 collisions have resulted in 14 injuries and one fatality since 2008. A temporary test camera installed at the intersection on March 11 recorded 217 red light violations by drivers in only 12 hours.

New Bay Bridge Opens Seven Hours Early (SF Examiner, SF Gate, Mercury News, KTVU) Still No New Negotiations in BART Labor Dispute (SF Examiner, Inside Bay Area, CBS) Caltrain Parking Lot Fees Increased to Cover Maintenance Costs (Daily Journal, ABC) Burlingame City Council to Vote on Whether to Pursue Rail Grade Separation (Daily Journal) Stanford Has Saved $100 Million … Continued

SamTrans hopes to attract more transit riders after combining its popular 390 and 391 bus routes into a single route, called ECR, that now runs the length of San Mateo County along El Camino Real with more frequent and reliable service. The ECR runs every 15 minutes on weekdays and every 20 minutes on weekends between Daly City and Palo Alto, between about 5 a.m. and 1 a.m. the next morning.

BART Labor Negotiations Continue (Exam, SFGate, Weekly, ABC), Politicians Unlikely to Step In (Chron) San Francisco Among Cities to Get US DOT’s “Everybody is a Pedestrian” Grant (SF Examiner) Muni Bus Catches Fire on 38-Geary Line for Second Time This Week (SFGate, KTVU) Downtown SF is Growing Without Adding Car Parking (SocketSite) Pedestrian Hit by Flying Fire Hydrant in … Continued