City council approves Fremont Boulevard Complete Streets plan, removes Beacon Avenue right‑turn lane 6–1

The Fremont City Council on April 21 approved the staff recommendation for the Fremont Boulevard Complete Streets project, voting 6–1 to remove a dedicated right‑turn lane from westbound Beacon Avenue to northbound Fremont Boulevard as part of a broader downtown safety and multimodal improvement plan.

Vice Mayor Zhang moved to accept staff’s recommendation; Council member King seconded the motion. Council member Lou was recorded as the single no vote; the motion otherwise carried.

Public Works Director Hans Larson told the council the project covers a downtown corridor roughly from north of Maury to Grimmer in Irvington and is intended to complete the downtown active transportation network. The plan includes high‑quality bikeways, tightened intersections to reduce pedestrian crossing distances, upgraded sidewalks and bus stops, signal modernization and landscaping. Staff said the project is consistent with the city’s general plan and the 2025 active transportation plan.

Assistant City Engineer Noe Veloso presented operational modeling for the Beacon Avenue intersection. Veloso said standard practice treats wait times approaching about 60 seconds as thresholds for congestion. In staff simulations, the Beacon intersection’s overall vehicle delay increased from 14 to 15 seconds with the right‑turn lane removed, while the Beacon approach’s average delay rose from about 10 to 15 seconds (an increase of roughly 4–5 seconds in other model runs and under build‑out scenarios). Veloso said corridor analyses show the intersection would remain well under congestion thresholds even with projected downtown build‑out.

“Removing the dedicated right‑turn lane shortens pedestrian crossing distances and brings the Beacon design in line with other downtown pedestrian‑first corridors,” Larson said. “We also committed to returning a right‑turn lane at the Fremont–Maury intersection where peak delays had been severe.”

Staff told council the project is fully funded with grant awards totaling $9,500,000 from the Alameda County Transportation Commission, BART and MTC; the required local match will come from the city’s transportation CIP. The project is in design, staff expect to advertise for construction bids in early 2027, award a construction contract in spring 2027, begin construction in fall 2027 and complete the work in fall 2028.

Public comment was mixed but leaned in favor of pedestrian improvements. Several speakers cited school routes and pedestrian safety and urged the council to prioritize complete‑streets features; others cautioned that removing lanes could create future congestion and asked staff for corridor‑level cascade analyses. Staff said they had performed corridor modeling at multiple intersections and would provide additional details upon request.

Council members framed the decision as a balance between pedestrian safety and traffic operations; proponents said downtown’s increasing density and heavy foot traffic justify prioritizing safe crossings, while the minority view urged caution about future demand. The council approved the staff recommendation and directed staff to proceed with final design and the procurement schedule described.

Next steps: staff will publish the design package and outreach materials ahead of the procurement process; construction is expected to run from fall 2027 through fall 2028.