San Mateo council backs revised Delaware Street protected-bike-lane plan after yearlong outreach

San Mateo City Council on Sept. 2 directed staff to proceed with a revised design for the South Delaware Street Safe Routes to School Corridor bike-lane project, a roughly one-mile corridor intended to provide protected Class 4 bike lanes and bike-boulevard improvements between Nineteenth Avenue and Pacific Boulevard.

City and consultant staff told the council the revised plan balances safety gains for people who walk and bike with resident concerns about parking and traffic operations. Sang Hee Cho, associate engineer in the Public Works Department, and Bethany Lopez, senior traffic engineer, described a design that would deliver 0.7 miles of physically protected bike lanes and 0.3 miles of bike-boulevard treatments, retain four vehicle lanes on a short segment after revisions and reduce net on-street parking in places.

The project matters because Delaware Street is the city’s only continuous north–south, city-controlled corridor east of U.S. 101 that connects multiple schools and transit hubs. The Safe Routes to School improvements are intended to improve safety and school access for College Park Elementary, the Nueva School and other nearby destinations while implementing the city’s Bicycle Master Plan.

Staff and consultant Joe Paul (Sandis) told the council the original design proposed a road diet that would have removed a southbound…