Support A Resilient El Camino Real in Burlingame

Caltrans & The Burlingame City Council

Your voice matters! Caltrans needs to hear from people who would like to see El Camino Real in Burlingame accommodate safe bicycle infrastructure & fast reliable bus service.

The City of Burlingame and Caltrans are in the mid stages of a roadway renewal project for the troubled 4-lane section of El Camino Real extending from San Mateo through Burlingame, and ending at Millbrae city limits. The section has prominent issues with bicycle and pedestrian safety, flooding and drainage, and tree health/hazards along the corridor. Caltrans has released four alternatives so far that fail to address the needs of transit and bike users along the corridor.

We need your voice in telling Caltrans and the Burlingame City Council that the current proposed alternatives for the corridor are unacceptable. This once-in-a-lifetime roadway renewal project must include:

• Bus-only lane in one direction, as well as transit signal priority and/or preemption
• Shared use path on one side of the roadway
• Protected intersections for bicyclists and pedestrians
• Improved bus stops along the route
• Traffic Calming improvements such as a road diet in addition to the above improvements




To: Caltrans & The Burlingame City Council
From: [Your Name]

Dear Caltrans and Burlingame City Council Members,

I am writing to ask you to include alternatives for a bus lane and shared use path on El Camino Real in the environmental analysis. Reliable, frequent transit is a cornerstone of encouraging environmentally friendly transportation, but on El Camino Real in the project area, average bus transit speeds are slow for a state highway (15 mph). Caltrans has adopted goals and language indicating that it would like to triple bicycle trips so that the mode share increases to 4.5 percent. However, the current design alternatives do not encourage multi-modal transportation or the achievement of this 4.5% mode share. Recent public comment on the initial alternatives saw resoundingly high numbers of calls for bicycle and transit infrastructure on the roadway. In other words, members of the public are incredibly disappointed that environmentally friendly multi-modal transportation alternatives are being completely disregarded in this once-in-a-lifetime project. If we do not at least consider multi-modal transportation facilities as an alternative and provide the opportunity for the public to comment on the types of modal alternatives that they asked for in public comment, we would be doing a disservice to the public will and would be holding ourselves back from meeting California climate and mode share goals.

Bicyclists and transit users use this roadway. We must provide faster, more reliable transit and provide for a convenient, safe way to bike on the corridor.

We demand that Caltrans consider the following alternatives:

- Bus-only lane in one direction, as well as transit signal priority and/or preemption
- Shared use path on one side of the roadway
- Protected intersections for bicyclists and pedestrians
- Improved bus stops along the route
- Traffic Calming improvements such as a road diet &, in addition to the above improvements.

This project was borne out of a need to improve basic pedestrian safety and basic compliance with ADA law. This is a good start but not enough. This once-in-a-lifetime project should improve the experience for all road users, and it should encourage bicycling and transit in alignment with Caltrans' stated goals.

Thank you for your consideration.