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 travel lane between Bermuda Drive and Saratoga Drive and retained most parking on the east side; the revised design keeps both southbound lanes through that segment and reduces parking differently. Under staff’s presentation, the original design retained 14 of the east-side parking spaces in that segment; the revised design retains six of those 18 existing east-side spaces and may impact up to 12 parking spaces overall. Staff said they are pursuing mitigation, including designing three to six new angled parking spaces on Pacific Boulevard and a potential loading zone.

Staff said they revised the plan after one year of outreach, which included pop-up meetings, mailed notices in three languages, door-knocking, a community meeting on Aug. 19 and a May 5 council briefing. They reported coordination with Consolidated Fire, San Mateo Police, the county office of emergency services and SamTrans; staff said those agencies raised no unresolvable operational concerns. Sang said the project team resolved a dumpster-staging issue north of East 20th Avenue and added bollards and short-term curbside parking at one intersection to reduce the risk of vehicles occupying bike lanes.

Public comment was extensive and split. Supporters said the project would make biking to nearby schools safer and encourage families to ride. “I don't wanna live in a place where the convenience of cars takes priority over everything else,” said Mignon Balanji, a Bay Meadows resident and volunteer tutor at Sunnybrae (College Park) Elementary. Kevin Simpson, a resident and frequent user of the corridor, urged the council to “get ahead” of growing micromobility use and build infrastructure that protects children and other riders.

Others urged maintaining the original, wider protected lanes. Seema Patel, identified as a member of the Planning Commission speaking as a resident, noted the revised plan narrows some bike lane segments to 5 feet and referenced National Association of City Transportation Officials guidance calling for a minimum 6.5-foot rideable width for one-way protected lanes; she asked council to weigh those trade-offs against parking impacts that staff estimated would occur only a few times per year during major events at the county event center. Danielle Gray, a Bay Meadows parent who rides with children in a cargo bike, said she preferred the original road-diet plan and worried that keeping two southbound lanes would invite cut-through traffic and faster driving in nearby neighborhoods.

Council members praised the outreach and the staff revisions. Mayor Robert Newsome Jr. and council members noted the need to balance resident access, event center operations and cyclist safety; councilmembers signaled unanimous support to proceed without a formal roll-call vote. Staff said the project is largely grant-funded (staff described it as fully covered by grants in presentation) and that the next steps are to proceed to bidding this fall, return to council for formal contract award in November, and begin phased construction and contractor onboarding in early 2026. Staff said some construction work will be phased to accommodate long lead times for equipment such as signals.

Staff and council highlighted outstanding technical items for follow-up: final design of angled parking on Pacific Boulevard, bus-stop adjustments in coordination with SamTrans (one boarding location may be moved near the Caltrain station), further pedestrian connections to College Park Elementary and refinements to lane widths where possible. Council also asked staff to document the relocation of trash-bin service for a small group of duplexes on the east side of Delaware where the bike lane will shift to the curbline.

Council gave direction to move forward with the revised design; staff will return with a consent-calendar item for final authorization and contract award in November, then proceed to construction in early 2026. The City emphasized that the project is part of the city’s Bicycle Master Plan and a longer-term effort to build a connected multimodal network.