City presents Nineteenth Avenue'Fashion Island multimodal plan; council, residents weigh trade-offs

City staff and transportation partners presented a 35% design of the Nineteenth Avenue'Fashion Island Boulevard Multimodal Improvement Project on Sept. 15, seeking council and public feedback on bike, pedestrian and congestion-relief elements before final design and a grant application resolution planned for October.

The project, led by the San Mateo County Transportation Authority (SMCTA) with city staff support, aims to add protected-separated bike lanes, make pedestrian-safety upgrades and reduce vehicle delays at several congested intersections along the corridor — notably Nineteenth Avenue at Delaware/State Route 92 ramps and Fashion Island Boulevard at Norfolk Avenue. Bethany Lopez, senior engineer overseeing traffic engineering for the city, told the council the presentation was intended to collect input rather than to win final approvals.

Why it matters: Nineteenth Avenue is a key east'west connection across U.S. 101 and one of a small number of crossings between the freeway and the bay. Planners told council the corridor has recorded high collision counts and daily queues that extend back onto adjoining streets. The project is being positioned as a "complete streets" solution to meet multimodal funding rules: grant programs favor projects that combine safety and multimodal elements with congestion relief.

What staff proposed and why: Lopez and SMCTA representative Carolyn Mamaraldo outlined a series of design elements now under study: - Two-way protected cycle track on portions of the corridor to connect existing bike facilities and to close bike-network gaps toward Pacific Boulevard and the Caltrain…