El Camino Real Updates

El Camino Real is the most visible and identifiable commercial corridor in most cities in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties. The street is a community hub of destinations including new homes, shops, offices, schools, and also transit, yet it is unsafe for walking and biking because of fast-moving cars and lengthy crosswalks. Some cities are in the process of planning to make this corridor safer for biking and walking. Below is an update about where these cities stand in the process, opportunities for input, and hopefully also is an inspiration for other cities to learn from them. For a full list of El Camino Real plans, see here.Cities That Are Currently Updating Plans

• Colma: The El Camino Real Bicycle and Pedestrian Improvement Plan will identify walking and biking improvements on El Camino Real in Colma, from Daly City to South San Francisco. To provide feedback via map, click here or take the community survey here.
• Santa Clara: The City’s General Plan vision for El Camino Real is to transform the Focus Area from a series of automobile-oriented strip malls to a tree-lined, pedestrian and transit-oriented corridor with a mix of residential and retail uses. Protected bikeways are in the current draft of the plan and we hope they are adopted in the final plan too! The city is in the final stages of preparation of its El Camino Real Specific Plan. The draft plan is expected to be released early next year.
• Sunnyvale: The Sunnyvale El Camino RealCorridor Plan (ECR Plan) will update the 2007 Precise Plan for El Camino Real, which established the vision for El Camino Real as a vibrant, mixed-use corridor and a safer environment for pedestrians, bicyclists and other modes of transportation.

Cities With Approved Plans

• Mountain View: In Nov. 2014, City Council passed the El Camino Real Precise Plan, which outlined a vision for buffered or separated bike lanes along the corridor, as development and land use changes permit the removal of on-street parking. In Nov. 2019, the City released its El Camino Real Streetscape Planthat establishes design guidelines for improvements on the corridor to enhance the experience of people walking, biking, and taking transit, as well as to reinvigorate the historic highway.
• Redwood City: Passed protected bike lanes in the El Camino Real Corridor Plan in December 2017. In 2018-2019, the city used a grant for 30% conceptual design drawingsfor bike and pedestrian safety improvements on El Camino Real between Charter and Maple streets, including protected bike lanes, crosswalks, street crossings, and bus stops. The study helps the City seek grant funding and identify next steps for making the vision become a reality.

Other Work on El Camino Real

• Menlo Park: The city studied whether to remove parking to add a bicycle lane or third vehicle lane. Ultimately, after approving buffered bike lanes on the corridor in 2015, City Council deferred implementation in 2016.
• Burlingame: The city and Caltrans have started an El Camino Real Task Force to identify safety improvements.

Safer El Camino Real has been a long-standing priority for SVBC. We have also been working closely with the Grand Boulevard Initiative, to revitalize the roadway into a vibrant, people-friendly place. Please sign the petition to encourage cities and Caltrans to put in protected bike lanes, more opportunities to safely cross the street, traffic calming, and other improvements. We’ll use this to push action by our decisionmakers. If you want to get even more involved with SVBC’s work to create a more inviting El Camino Real, please contact emma@bikesiliconvalley.org.