Peninsula

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 formerly industrial-only area is expected to see heavier pedestrian and bicycle traffic after a total of 540 apartment units are completed at two new housing developments further west on Haven Avenue, where the city installed wide buffered bike lanes earlier this year.

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 boost the agency’s declining ridership by improving quality of service for youth, defined by the plan as residents ages 24 and under.

The City of San Mateo will double its Bay Bikes bike share fleet to 100 bikes by October.

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 for free but charge a fee to solo drivers during congested hours.  

There's no denying that the State Route 35 freeway interchange with State Route 1 is not the most comfortable place to ride a bike. Two lanes in both directions, barely a shoulder in places, and automobiles continually speeding. A cyclists was killed in the area two years ago, although it is unclear who was at fault.

After months of back and forth, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announced that it is approving $647 million in funds for Caltrain electrification. The grant approval will allow Caltrain to begin construction of its electrification project almost immediately, bringing smoother rides and cleaner air to the Bay Area.

As part of its ongoing efforts to create a safer El Camino Real, the City of Redwood is seeking input from the public through an online survey that closes tonight.

The City of San Mateo will host a pair of community meetings next week in San Mateo and Burlingame over the proposed 101/Peninsula Avenue Interchange project. The project is a familiar type: it would relocate the US 101 southbound on-ramps and off-ramps from East Poplar Avenue to Peninsula Avenue, to eliminate the partial interchange and create a single, full-access interchange at Peninsula and Airport Boulevard.

Monday starts Bike Week in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties. And Thursday, May 11, the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition (SVBC) brags that "tens of thousands of regular and first-time Bay Area residents will bike to work for the 23rd Annual Bike to Work Day."