A 1,400-foot-long pedestrian and bicycle bridge that rises gracefully to connect East Palo Alto and Palo Alto across the broad barrier divide of Highway 101, has been named Project of the Year by the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition.

The Highway 101 bridge at Adobe Creek, more than a decade in the making, was the enthusiastic choice in the project category, among voters in the Bicycle Coalition’s annual Bicycle Summit awards program. It provides a safe, year-around, ADA-compliant route between major employment, residential and recreation centers on both sides of the freeway, closing a long-acknowledged gap in the region’s transportation connections.

“As a commuter who needed to cross 101 on a regular basis, I was very eager for a year-round solution to crossing 101 without needing to use the dangerous roadway overpasses,” SVBC Palo Alto Local Team Leader Frank Viggiano said. “But besides the boon to commuters, this bridge has really opened up the recreational possibilities for residents to use the Baylands parklands and the Bay Trail.”

The project dates to conversations well before 2010, when the first feasibility study was started, says Holly Boyd, Palo Alto’s assistant director of public works. The project required engagement with many entities, including Google, Santa Clara County, CalTrans and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, plus navigation of funding and design challenges, and then the pandemic.

It replaces Benjamin Lefkowitz Underpass, which was generally open for only six months each year due to seasonal flooding. No count is yet available for bridge use, but early estimates were for about 74,000 trips a year, nearly double the number of the original underpass. It opens access between major residential areas, major recreational draws including the Bay Trail and Baylands areas, and major employers such as Google, Intuit and Loral.

“Every time I go by this bridge, every single time I see someone on there, I get super-excited that people are using it. It’s going to be here for decades — I’m glad it’s appreciated,” Boyd said.

“Who’s using it? The answer is, a little bit of everyone,” said Philip Kamhi, the city’s chief transportation official. The bridge ties together many communities, he said. It’s especially beautiful after dark with its unique lighting. “We’ve seen people riding it at all times, even late at night.”

Kamhi and Boyd described a lengthy and disciplined process in getting such a complex transportation project through to completion.

The most critical step occurs early on — to have a plan that clearly fills gaps and improves connections to an entire transportation network, and that can be approved and formally placed in the larger program for that network.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Boyd said, “for the bridge and the users in Palo Alto.”

This guest blog is written by SVBC Volunteer Scott Brown. Scott is a writer, editor, content strategist and former journalist based in the Bay Area.