Burlingame commission reviews Rollins Road streetscape designs, weighing bike protection and parking

The Traffic Safety and Parking Commission heard an interim design update Tuesday on the North Rollins Road Streetscape project, with consultant Julia Harberson of CSWST2 presenting a preferred concept that would narrow travel lanes, add a two-way left-turn lane, preserve parking on both sides and upgrade bicycle facilities to Class 4 buffered bike lanes.

Harberson said outreach included stakeholder meetings, two community workshops and two online surveys with limited responses. "The existing roadway has the ability to convey 36,000 vehicles per day," she said, adding that current average daily demand is under 10,000 and that the proposed road diet would lower theoretical capacity to about 25,000 vehicles per day — figures she described as project estimates to show the corridor can accommodate a reduction.

Why it matters: The plan aims to improve pedestrian crossings and bicycle safety while minimizing impacts on parking and vehicle access for businesses along the corridor.

The consultant said striping to create consistent parking stalls would reduce the current unstriped count of about 281 stalls to about 264 marked stalls — a roughly 7–8% reduction — but argued better striping would improve parking efficiency. The plan also proposes new crosswalks at several intersections, pedestrian-activated flashing beacons, a contiguous pedestrian pathway with a single small ADA gap where utility poles prevent full compliance, and additional lighting in three dark spots.

Two protection alternatives for the bike lanes were presented. Alternative 1 uses vertical plastic ballards and striping; Alternative 2 uses short, spaced concrete medians (roughly 6 inches high, 18 inches wide, 10-foot segments with drainage gaps). Harberson provided rough-order-of-magnitude costs: the ballard option at about $2.6 million and the concrete median option at about $3.8 million, and noted medians typically require less long-term maintenance though they cost more up front.

Commissioners pressed staff on usage and safety. "We used to call them ‘suicide lanes,’" Commissioner Brown said of two-way left-turn lanes, questioning local examples; staff noted pockets of similar lanes on California Drive and generally reported they can function effectively on corridors with many driveways. Commissioner French, speaking as a cyclist, said he preferred more permanent protection for bicyclists. Sergeant Orof and staff said local enforcement and experience have not shown widespread crashes tied to correct use of turn lanes in town.

Business impacts and deliveries were discussed: staff said existing yellow loading zones would be retained and that delivery trucks should not park in travel or center-turn lanes. The commission also suggested a hybrid protection approach — selective concrete medians in high-risk locations with visual ballards elsewhere — and discussed alternative rubber median products as a possible compromise to improve durability and drainage.

A small bio-retention demonstration at Guitard and a bike box at the Broadway–David intersection to help bicyclists cross Broadway were also part of the presentation. Consultant Harberson said the team will hold a third outreach event at the October farmers market and expects to present final designs by the end of the year to meet funding requirements.

No formal vote was taken on the design; the presentation closed with commissioners offering direction and requests for follow-up on drainage details, Vision Zero hotspot mapping and final cost estimates.