San Mateo hears SMCTA update on US‑101/State Route 92 direct connector; council to draft opposition letter

San Mateo City Council received an informational update April 7 from the San Mateo County Transportation Authority (SMCTA) and the Transportation Authority (TA) on the proposed US‑101/State Route 92 Direct Connector project and the current environmental review schedule.

The presentation, led by Carolyn Mamaradlo, senior project manager with the SMCTA, and Amy Linehan, TA government and community affairs officer, described a multi‑phase Caltrans implementation process, four alternatives under study (including a no‑build option), and a roughly three‑year timeline for the Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR), with a draft targeted for public circulation in fall 2026 and a final EIR by summer 2027. Mamaradlo said the project team “fully recognize that we should have done, more early on to inform the community about this project” and emphasized that “no decisions about the project's approval have been made.”

Mamaradlo and Linehan described two related efforts: a near‑term area improvements package (work on four ramp locations to improve safety and merging, with construction expected to begin in May and continue about two years within Caltrans right‑of‑way) and the longer‑term direct connector, a managed‑lane concept that would create a central median ramp to allow higher‑occupancy vehicles and buses to move between the freeways. The presenters said there are currently no funds secured for final design or construction and that any property impacts would follow Caltrans’ prescriptive right‑of‑way process and be disclosed in the Draft EIR.

The presentation summarized…