Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Active Transportation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Helica Rocha presents five priority bike-and-ped projects for Foster City plan; public urges faster grant action
Summary
A consultant presenting Foster City's Bicycle & Pedestrian Master Plan recommended five priority projects — including a proposed Class 4 protected bikeway on Beach Park Boulevard — and the public urged staff to speed designs to meet grant cycles and incorporate projects into paving work.
Helica Rocha presented the results of the Bicycle & Pedestrian Master Plan prioritization to the Foster City Traffic Review Committee on April 30, 2026, highlighting five projects recommended for initial project development and eventual inclusion in the adopted plan.
Rocha said the prioritization framework grouped indicators into safety, connectivity and feasibility. She described the top recommendations: a Class 4 protected bikeway on Beach Park Boulevard between Foster City Boulevard and Gull Avenue, two Edgewater Boulevard segments to improve regional connectivity and Caltrain access, a Goal Avenue segment connecting schools and the Bay Trail, and a set of low-speed bike-boulevard improvements on Gull/Grebe/Marlin that emphasize traffic-calming and comfort for school travel.
Explaining the safety rationale, Rocha said the team applies a collision threshold to identify recurring problems: "we sort of use 3 as a threshold," she said, noting that three or more documented bike or pedestrian collisions generally signals a trend that warrants intervention. She also noted that Beach Park has available right-of-way that could enable a protected facility and that many recommended projects are ready for initial project development.
Public commenters urged the city to move faster to capture near-term grant opportunities. Mike Swire, a safe-streets advocate, urged parallel design work and suggested incorporating bike-ped improvements into paving projects and using modal filters where appropriate. "If you don't get an application in this year, I think it could put these projects off 2 years," Swire said, urging the city to do some design work now so it can apply for available two-year-cycle grants.
Another commenter (Jimmy) thanked staff for transparency but asked about traffic-volume data underlying proposed street changes and said his public-records request returned largely older, one-off counts: "What the city gave me was a bunch of 1 off data from 9 years ago," he said, asking staff to ensure current counts are available to support road-diet or restriping decisions.
Committee members acknowledged the need to move quickly to prepare grant applications and noted past difficulties getting applications submitted; several members encouraged staff to advance the five recommended projects into initial project development so the city can pursue SMCTA and other funding.
Next steps: staff will advance the recommended projects into initial project development, draft the master plan for public review in May'June, and return to the TRC and city council in August for plan adoption and formal action.
