Michael Swire is a member of the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition San Mateo Local Team.

Please scroll directly to the bottom if you are pressed on time and simply want to take action.

Did you know that your elected officials recently decided, with little debate or scrutiny, to spend $600 million of taxpayer money to widen Highway 101, making it easier for people to drive throughout San Mateo and Santa Clara counties? It was easy. Drivers didn’t need to campaign for years to make this happen. They didn’t need to compete for scarce grants to fund the project. They didn’t need to determine how many more kids would get childhood asthma or would get hit walking or biking to school, due to the incremental vehicle miles traveled. There was no analysis whether the transportation dollars were better spent on saving Caltrain and BART from fiscal peril or instead funding the long backlog of planned safety projects for people who bike and walk. In fact, many of the people that you elected claimed that the project was “good for the environment” and would “address greenhouse gasses.”

Given the lack of opposition to the widening project, they are trying to do it again! Caltrans is working with the San Mateo County Transportation Authority (SMCTA), the City/County Association of Governments (C/CAG), and San Francisco County Transportation Authority (SFCTA) on Phase III of the Express Lanes project. This project seeks to extend Express Lanes from San Bruno to San Francisco. Caltrans will recommend one of two options for the Express Lanes: 1) CONVERT an existing general purpose lane into an Express Lane; or 2) WIDEN the road to add an Express Lane. Of course, widening is bad as it will result in more drivers on the road. Yes, this is the same Caltrans that is under fire for recently demoting a senior staffer (and former CalBike executive) who blew the whistle on the agency allegedly illegally using maintenance funds to widen I80 near Davis, thereby skirting mandatory environmental review requirements.

The ironic part of the widening proposal and support is that it will not achieve its goal of reducing congestion on 101. Numerous studies and projects have demonstrated that highway widening does not improve congestion or drive times in the long-term - New York Times, Vox, CNBC. In fact, a 101 project consultant admitted that widening 101 doesn’t work in a recent San Mateo County Transportation Authority Citizen Advisory Committee meeting. (SMCTA is the primary funder of the widening project. Its Board is made up of elected city and County officials.)

More ironic is the fact that Americans believe that highway widening doesn’t reduce congestion in the long-term and is not a good use of taxpayer money - Smart Growth America study. In an unscientific poll on the mid-Peninsula, a huge majority of residents believed that the recent $600 million widening project was not worth it and hadn’t reduced congestion.

*Traffic on Highway 101 - an unscientific poll*

*84% of respondents said they don’t believe money for the Highway 101 project was well spent.*

It is obvious that highway widening increases the number of cars on the road, bringing with it a host of negative and potentially deadly impacts:

More air pollution. Childhood asthma rates are higher in neighborhoods adjacent to highways. This means that the burden falls disproportionately on low income and people of color.
More traffic violence. Crash rates are often highest in the neighborhoods adjacent to highways. Again, the impact is greatest for low income and people of color who walk or bike in these neighborhoods.
More greenhouse gas emissions. Transportation is responsible for 60% of GHG emissions in San Mateo County. 101 is our busiest road and thus likely the #1 source of emissions in the County. Increasing the number of lanes by 25% will be catastrophic for our climate change prevention efforts.
Less money for transit and bike/ped projects. The proposed project could cost upwards of $1B if the widening option is chosen. This is on top of the $600M that we already spent on the recent widening. Meanwhile, Caltrain and BART have seen ridership and revenues plummet and face a fiscal cliff. By comparison, bike/ped safety projects get only 3% of Measure A sales tax transportation spending, forcing municipalities into a Hunger Games style grant competition for improvements that will save lives.

So if widening highways doesn’t reduce congestion, isn’t popular, and creates a host of other negative externalities, why do we do it? Sadly, the answer can be found by taking a look in the mirror. You and I are responsible for not objecting when our electeds spend our precious tax dollars on driver convenience instead of the environment and our health.

The good news is that we still have a chance to stop the proposed widening. SVBC and a well organized group of volunteers are rallying a broad coalition against the proposal. Our strategy is to ensure that the whole area knows about the proposed widening and lets their voice be heard. This will make it politically untenable for SMCTA, C/CAG, and SFCTA, made up of your elected officials, to fund a project that includes widening. We have had a number of successes to date in building influential and large individuals and organizations. Here is a list of a few:

Take Action

If you are interested in preventing the next 101 widening and its associated carmageddon, here is what you can do, in order of importance:

Sign the petition - We will present your signature to decision makers. We will also keep you in the loop as to future actions. CLICK HERE
Share the petition with friends - Please forward the petition to friends. Also, you can like our Facebook page and then share.
Let us know if you can help us connect with key allies, decision makers, or media - Are you part of a nonprofit or neighborhood group that might endorse our cause? Do you have a relationship with a decision maker that will vote on the project - SMCTA Board, C/CAG Board, SFCTA Board. Is there a local paper that might cover our story? If so, please email us at stopwidening@gmail.com.