San Mateo County Allocates Almost $5 Million to Bike/Ped Projects

Last night, the San Mateo County Transportation Authority (SMCTA) voted to allocate $4,946,000 for ten new bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure projects. As defined in the 2004 Measure A Transportation Expenditure Plan, the Pedestrian and Bicycle Program receives 3 percent of Measure A sales tax revenues. The agency issued a call for projects in fall 2015. Of the twenty applications submitted, only half were funded due to the amount of funding available.During the application process, eight cities reached out to SVBC to support their projects. We wrote letters of support for nine of those projects (some cities applied for more than one project). Of the projects that we supported, six were approved for funding and one is on the contingency list.You can read the full list of projects funded at item 10.A. of the agenda packet of last night's meeting.  Some highlights include:

• Redwood City was awarded $500,000 for construction of a bike and pedestrian undercrossing of Highway 101, which would provide a crossing between Whipple and Woodside Rd. connecting downtown and Bayfront development.
• San Carlos was granted $1,000,000 (the maximum for this grant process) towards their pedestrian bicycle overcrossing of Highway 101 at Holly. You may remember that the City of San Carlos has a funding gap after the TA declined to fund the overcrossing in the amount awarded to the city for the overall interchange redesign during the Highway call for projects. The City still needs $3,100,000 to complete the funding and get the project built. They plan to go after several other grants and this TA grant is contingent on securing other funding.
• Woodside received funding to add buffered bike lanes along Alameda de las Pulgas north of Woodside Rd. and create an exclusive through bike lane from Fernside to Alameda de las Pulgas, significantly increasing safety. This was an intersection looked at by the Roadway Safety Solutions Team, and was a collaborative effort between the Town of Woodside and City of Redwood City.