San Mateo revises Delaware Street bike-lane plan after parking, event-center and school safety concerns

SAN MATEO, Calif. — City of San Mateo Public Works staff on Aug. 19 presented a revised design for a roughly one-mile protected-bike corridor on Delaware Street, saying the update responds to resident concerns about event-center access, driveway turns and traffic operations while preserving protected cycling lanes and adding short-term loading spaces.

The project matters because Delaware Street serves as a continuous north–south spine connecting schools, the county event center, Bay Meadows and other destinations; the revised design seeks to balance bike protection with vehicle circulation during large events and to reduce vehicle/bike conflict points near schools.

City staff lead the presentation and said the corridor design follows the city’s bike-master-plan network and the City Council–adopted master plan. The project would build physically separated (class 4) bike lanes in portions of the corridor, use vertical bollards for separation, and retain existing through lanes in one constrained 900-foot segment between Bermuda Drive and Saratoga Drive to address resident concerns about access during large event days. Staff said they will summarize public feedback and the revised design at the City Council regular meeting on Sept. 2.

Project scope and design changes Sang, a City of San Mateo Public Works staff member, told the open-house audience the one-mile project limit extends from about Nineteenth Avenue to Pacific Boulevard and will include physically protected bikeways (using green bollards) in the northern segment and bike-boulevard treatments farther south. He said staff adjusted the…