The intersection of Highway 101 and Route 84 (Woodside Road) in Redwood City is in the queue to be redesigned and reconstructed. Redwood City staff would like input from pedestrians and cyclists after considering the proposed design alternatives.
Check out the pertinent excerpts of the Interchange Alternative Analysis Study. Leave your thoughts in the comments, and SVBC will forward them to the City.
Comments
Eric Nordman
February 18, 2012 - 7:56pm
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Redwood City interchange feedback
The interchange study seems to only consider motor vehicles. Not once were pedestrian or bicycle mentioned in the report. Woodside and Maple are one of the few crossings of 101. For a while I crossed 101 at Maple to get to the bridge-to-nowhere. This stopped when rain turned the bridge connections to mud.
Bloomquist is a planned connection on the bay trail yet there doesn't appear to be any thought to put bike lanes.
There are no bike lanes shown on any of the maps.
Maple was a quite overpass that now has double lanes in each direction with two new lights. This doesn't seem warranted given the limited traffic that currently exists. If new large developments are planned it makes sense to figure out what is happening and then build appropriately. It doesn't make sense to rebuild Maple at this time.
mself
February 19, 2012 - 10:29pm
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Feedback on Woodside Rd / 101 interchange options
Apart from the fact that the report makes no mention of bikes or peds at all (!!!), the main concern is that the Woodside Rd. underpass under 101 would be widened from 2 lanes to 4 in the Eastbound direction (it is already 4 lanes Westbound). This could result in very narrow bike lanes and shoulder if that is not specifically made a priority.
On the other hand, the various existing on- and off-ramps would be replaced with two 'T' intersections where cars make turns at intersections rather than using high-speed angled ramps that bikes have to 'weave' across. Also, because the on- and off-ramps are concentrated at the 'T' intersections, there would be quite a lot fewer road/bike crossings. On the other hand, these intersections have two lanes turning right (and no bike lane shown). They are only planning crosswalks on the Eastbound side of Woodside Rd.
Several of the options eliminate the connection from Veterans Blvd to Woodside Rd, and replace it with 'collector' roads along 101 from Maple St to the Woodside exit. But if this is done, they should retain a bike path along the old route since it is more direct and bikes cannot use the 'collector' roads on the freeway.
Option 3 includes an entirely new overpass over 101 (connecting directly to Veterans Blvd), and it seems that this overpass could potentially include a new bike overpass as well.
Option 5 calls for replacing the Maple St overpass with a new one. If that option is selected, the new overpass should have a separated bike/ped path or other good bike option.
Also, all of the options abandon much of the on-ramp from Westbound Seaport Blvd to Northbound 101, which could provide right of way for good bike access to the railroad underpass under 101. I've always thought that a properly separated (fenced off) bike path could share that underpass with the railroad and provide access to Veterans Blvd and Woodside Rd.
In summary, my main recommendation would be to ensure that the bike lane and shoulder is as wide as possible under the 101 underpass (in both directions) when the retaining wall is moved to widen Woodside Rd, and to ensure that the lanes are striped well for bikes, since we need all 101 crossings to handle bikes better.