El Camino Real Win - Who and How
Thank you to everyone who sent in letters or called to express support for installation of buffered bicycle lanes on El Camino Real (ECR) in Los Altos between Adobe Creek and Rengstorff Avenue. This work will occur as part of Caltrans Street Resurfacing Improvements scheduled for Summer 2023. On March 22, the Los Altos Council bravely voted 3-2 to support the Caltrans recommendation and staff resolution to install these bike lanes along El Camino Real. Thank you to Council members Jonathan Weinberg, Sally Meadows and Neysa Fligor for supporting this crucial decision.
This Caltrans repavement project represents a unique opportunity for cities, as Caltrans secured grant funding to pay for the bike lane installations if each local agency can provide City Council policy approvals supporting the bike lane installations as part of their project. This is a once in 30-year chance to make improvements along this state highway, which we are very glad that the Los Altos city staff and council members decided to make the best use of this opportunity. In our November Biketivist Forum, we discussed the importance and impact that repaving/restriping can have on road improvements for people who bike. It is encouraging to see cities taking advantage of the repaving project to implement long-planned bicycle infrastructure as part of the Peninsula Bikeway study, local Climate Action Plans, Complete Streets Masterplans, and Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plans.
Many neighboring cities like Mountain View, Menlo Park, Redwood City, and more have planned protected bike lanes in their jurisdiction along El Camino Real. As stated in the Los Altos city staff report, El Camino Real represents the most cohesive, connected, and appropriate opportunity for implementing the regional vision for a high-quality, direct, and safe bike route for all residents to use. It is not just the road that is changing. Many businesses along El Camino are being replaced with housing and mixed-use developments, and cities are trying to figure out how to best accommodate this growing use and growing desire for alternative transportation infrastructure. Businesses along this corridor should welcome the extra business that bicyclists and walkers bring to areas that support them. Cars tend to fly by while walkers and bikers are much more likely to stop and patronize businesses. We see this repeatedly worldwide.
Why is this important? El Camino Real has a higher rate of collisions for people walking and biking than other streets in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. Despite the street being a community hub of destinations (retail, service, medical, restaurants), this is a wide multi-lane road with fast-moving cars and long crosswalks. El Camino is also an extremely important route to school for students attending Los Altos High School, Graham Middle School, as well as Stevenson Castro and Mistral elementary schools. With so many uses and so many of our children using or crossing El Camino, now is the time to push all our cities to make changes to this key corridor to create the safe and connected cycling corridor envisioned for years – and prevent tragedies from happening again.
Why is this a huge win? These actions will influence and support other cities up and down the El Camino Real corridor like Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, Menlo Park, and Redwood City who also want to implement bike lanes and were all looking to the Los Altos Council actions to set a tone for the future. This project calls for removal of 248 under-utilized parking spaces. Such decisions are instrumental in helping bring about a paradigm shift from prioritizing space for vehicle storage to providing space for those biking.
What can you do?
Push Los Altos City council and staff to add a vertical element in the buffered bike lanes to add a physical barrier between the vehicle lanes and bike lanes (as stated on pg. 155 of the staff report). The Draft Complete Streets Master Plan, recommends Class IV – Protected Bike Lane facilities on El Camino Real.
SVBC Mountain View local team is planning to expand and include Los Altos. Join the team’s discussion on April 20th @ 6 pm.
Join SVBC’s El Camino Real Google Group and find out how you can advocate to make ECR safer for those walking and biking.
Write to Caltrans to push them to make improvements on El Camino Real NOW!
