San Mateo council gives unanimous direction to advance revised Delaware Street protected bike lanes

San Mateo City Councilors on Sept. 2 unanimously directed staff to proceed with a revised design for the South Delaware Street Safe Routes to School Corridor bike-lane improvements and to prepare the project for bidding and award.

The project covers Delaware Street from Nineteenth Avenue to where the street becomes Pacific Boulevard and would install about 0.7 miles of protected (Class 4) bike lanes and 0.3 miles of bike-boulevard treatments. Sang Hee Cho, associate engineer in the city’s Public Works Department, called the plan a “carefully balanced project” that aims to improve safety for bicyclists and pedestrians while retaining most vehicle capacity and limiting parking impacts. “We believe that these improvements aim to create a more sustainable, equitable, and active San Mateo,” Cho said in his presentation.

Council and staff described the revised design as the outcome of roughly a year of community outreach, targeted meetings with nearby residents, and coordination with outside agencies including Consolidated Fire, the Police Department and SamTrans. Staff reported the agencies raised no objections to the revised design for emergency access. The design change most debated during outreach kept four vehicle lanes through one segment (Bermuda Drive to Saratoga Drive) to preserve driveway access and event-center traffic flow while shifting protected bike facilities curbside in several places.

Why it matters: Delaware Street is the only continuous north–south city-controlled corridor east of U.S. 101 that runs from the northern city boundary to Pacific Boulevard and connects schools, Caltrain stations, the county event center and commercial areas. Supporters said protected lanes will make biking to nearby schools — College Park Elementary and the Nueva School were cited repeatedly — safer and could encourage more families and students to choose active transportation.

Key technical and community details - Lane and parking trade-offs: The revised design retains both southbound travel lanes between Bermuda and Saratoga Drive instead of reducing to one, a change that increased parking impacts relative to the original design. Staff reported the revised design will remove up to 12 on-street parking spaces along Delaware (an increase of 8 spaces lost compared with the original design) but is studying adding roughly 3–6 angled spaces and a loading zone on Pacific Boulevard to offset losses. - Bike-lane geometry: The project provides protected (Class 4) bike lanes for the 0.7-mile protected segment; in some segments public commenters and commissioners noted that bike-lane rideable widths were narrowed to about 5 feet, smaller than NACTO guidance. Staff said buffers and placement were adjusted to balance parking, travel lanes and protection where feasible. - Short-term parking and curb protections: Staff proposed short-term curbside parking near East 20th/Delaware to serve an apartment building while adding bollards and other protections to reduce bike-lane obstructions such as dumpsters and short-stay vehicle stopping. - Trash and driveway impacts: Several duplex properties on the east side of Delaware currently set bins at the curb. Because the revised design shifts the bike lane to the curb, staff said those residents will be required to change trash staging locations; staff held targeted outreach with those households. - Bus stops and SamTrans coordination: Staff said they coordinated with SamTrans and expect existing stops to remain; in one location north of East 20th the design anticipates bikes sharing a boarding area with buses. Staff noted that the stop location may move in a future project and that staff did not recommend more substantial changes at that specific curb until related projects are resolved. - Safety, traffic and emergency access: A traffic-operations analysis informed the design. Staff also met with Consolidated Fire, police and the county Office of Emergency Services, which raised no objections to the revised design for emergency access.

Public comment and council reaction Public speakers at the council meeting included parents, teachers, students and local residents. A sampling of comments: Mignon Balanji, a volunteer tutor, said, “I don’t wanna live in a place where the convenience of cars takes priority over everything else,” and urged support for the protected lanes. High-school student Justin Chao Belden, of the Nueva School, described a friend being struck on a scooter at East 20th and Delaware and called the plan “extremely important.” Several residents and parents said the original road-diet option (which would have removed one southbound travel lane in a segment) would provide more calming and wider bike lanes; others urged the council to balance neighborhood parking and access concerns.

Council comments emphasized the project’s role in a larger multimodal network and the need to balance competing uses. Mayor Robert Newsom Jr. and multiple council members praised staff outreach and said the revised design represented a compromise that addresses driveway and event-center traffic concerns while advancing bicycle and pedestrian safety. There was no formal vote; council provided unanimous direction to move the revised design to the bidding phase and return for final approval on the consent calendar in November.

Next steps and schedule Staff indicated they will move quickly to bid the project and expected to return to the council for award on the consent calendar in November 2025. If awarded on schedule, staff projected construction beginning in early 2026 (phased starting February–April 2026) to accommodate lead times for signal equipment and other materials.

Funding and scope Staff said the project is grant-funded. Exact grant names and award details were not specified in the presentation materials at the meeting.

Clarifying details from the meeting - Project limits: Nineteenth Avenue to Pacific Boulevard (about 1 mile). - Protected bike lane length: approximately 0.7 miles; bike-boulevard treatments: approximately 0.3 miles. - Parking impacts: revised design removes up to 12 on-street spaces on Delaware; staff is evaluating adding about 3–6 angled spaces on Pacific Boulevard and a loading zone to mitigate losses. - Timeline: bid and award in fall 2025; construction phased beginning Feb–Apr 2026.

Ending Councilors described the action as an incremental but necessary step in building a connected bike network across San Mateo. Staff will return to the council with contract award recommendations and any final design adjustments as the project moves into procurement and construction phases.