Commission hears draft bicycle and pedestrian plan update; staff seeks public input on network, crossings and pedestrian districts

City transportation staff presented a draft Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation Plan update and asked the Planning & Transportation Commission for initial feedback on a proposed bikeway network, facility types and pedestrian district guidelines.

Ozzie Arce, Senior Transportation Planner, introduced the study session and said the project team (city staff and consultants) is seeking public comment through April 30, with a community workshop planned in early April. Project consultant presentations described a network approach that pairs street corridors designated as bikeways with bicycle‑friendly zones concentrated around commercial cores.

What the draft contains: The plan updates the city’s 2012 bicycle plan, adds a simplified hierarchy of facility types (bike boulevards, painted/striped bike lanes, buffered bike lanes, protected bike lanes and shared‑use paths), and recommends investments on both neighborhood streets and busier arterials where separated facilities are needed to serve riders of all ages and abilities. The draft also identifies five pedestrian‑focused areas — two full “pedestrian districts” centered on University Avenue and California Avenue and three neighborhood commercial centers (Embarcadero, Midtown, El Camino Real) — with a toolbox of crossing, signal and streetscape measures.

Staff emphasized three priorities: (1) direct, continuous connections across the city to make bicycling a competitive option for short trips; (2) raising the standard on arterial streets (including protected facilities where traffic volumes and speed require separation); and (3) programmatic actions such as safer‑streets policies, design guidance, community engagement and interagency coordination to support construction and operations.

Commission feedback and public safety concerns: Commissioners asked for clarifications and raised priorities. Several commissioners urged staff to focus first on critical railroad crossings in South Palo Alto (between Cal Ave and Meadow) and on a missing pedestrian/bike connection near the California Avenue terminus by Pierce Park; others urged more emphasis on neighborhood bike boulevards and “modal filtering” (bollards/closure devices that limit motor vehicle through‑traffic on local streets). Multiple commissioners requested that, when project‑level designs are prepared, analyses should model cumulative traffic and circulation effects by area rather than one project at a time.

Enforcement and electric personal mobility devices were recurring concerns. Commissioners asked staff to balance education and selective enforcement and to address the rise in high‑speed e‑bikes and e‑scooters in policy recommendations. Vice Chair Aiken and others suggested aligning decriminalization or alternatives to enforcement with Safe Streets principles, but they emphasized that reckless behavior should still be subject to enforcement under appropriate circumstances.

Next steps: Staff said the draft plan includes a project list and a prioritization framework (see supplemental materials) and that the team will refine recommendations after public outreach, stakeholder meetings and a community workshop. Staff also flagged that individual projects proposed in the plan will require separate feasibility studies, traffic analyses and, where required, coordination with regional agencies (e.g., county roads and Caltrans) before final design and construction.

Staff invited further written feedback through April 30 and said they will incorporate commission input and public comments into a revised draft later in 2025.