Andrew Boone
Andrew Boone covers the Livable Streets Movements for Streetsblog in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. Andrew's claim to fame is once having bicycled more than 12,000 miles of smiles in one year. nauboone@gmail.com
Recent Posts
San Mateo Bike/Ped Projects Compete for Paltry Funding
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Of the 23 biking and walking projects with a hat in the ring for funding from the San Mateo County Transportation Authority’s (TA) Pedestrian and Bicycle Program, only ten can be funded with the $5.7 million that’s available. And that’s the largest funding source for bike/ped projects in the 20-city county. Meanwhile, unnecessary highway expansions are on track to […]
Foster City Abandons Plan to Close Crosswalk Where Girl Was Injured
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Many Foster City residents were shocked last month when their City Council responded to the injury of a 17-year-old girl by closing off the crosswalk at Edgewater Boulevard at Port Royal Avenue, where she was struck by a driver. Hundreds of residents petitioned the council to take other steps instead of installing “No Ped Crossing” signs and physical […]
San Mateo County Bike/Ped Safety Projects Starved for Funding
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Despite growing demand for better walking and biking infrastructure in San Mateo County, active transportation grants from the City/County Association of Governments of San Mateo County (C/CAG) cover only a fraction of the projects that cities want to build, leaving many residents without the sidewalks, bike lanes, and other basic ingredients they need to safely […]
Don’t Widen 101: How SM County Could Move More People With Less Traffic
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San Mateo County is poised to spend more than a hundred million dollars on an expansion of Highway 101 while passing over more effective, less expensive options to improve people’s commutes. Even as total traffic volumes have remained flat over the past decade on Highway 101 in San Mateo County, the City/County Association of Governments […]
3 Years After Fatal Crash, San Mateo County Adds Bike Lanes to Interchange
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Nearly three years after 47-year-old Los Altos Hills resident Lauren Ward was killed by a truck driver while cycling on Alpine Road at Highway 280 in southern San Mateo County, eye-catching green and buffered bike lanes, the first for a freeway crossing in California, were finally installed there in mid-October. Local residents and street safety […]
Caltrain Wants Level Boarding — These Are the Hurdles That Remain
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As Caltrain celebrates 150 years of continuous passenger rail service between San Francisco and San Jose this year, transit planners are finally preparing to modernize the service by converting from diesel to electric trains. This transition, which Caltrain aims to complete by 2019, will reduce travel times for passengers because electric trains can accelerate and […]
Proving to Caltrans That El Camino Real Can Be a Safer Street
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Despite pockets of new development, El Camino Real remains a dangerous, car-oriented urban highway along most of the San Francisco Peninsula. If it can ever transform into a great street, it will have to become safer for walking and biking. And while enhancing walkability is a key goal of the Grand Boulevard Initiative — the long-term planning […]
Today’s Headlines
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More on Civil Complaint Filed Against Truck Driver Who Killed Amelie Le Moullac (SF Examiner) 24-Hour BART Service Over Labor Day Weekend Complicates Maintenance Challenges (SF Examiner) Transit Agencies to Receive Federal Funds Risked by State Employee Pension Dispute (Coco Times) Groundbreaking Ceremony Held for Hercules Intermodal Transit Center (CoCo Times) Winners of Design Competition […]
Menlo Park Expands Red Light Photo Enforcement Program
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Last week, the Menlo Park City Council voted to extend its red light photo enforcement program for an additional five years and add a fifth red light camera at the intersection of Bayfront Expressway and Chilco Street, where 20 collisions have resulted in 14 injuries and one fatality since 2008. A temporary test camera installed […]
SamTrans Upgrades El Camino Real Bus Service With More Reliable Route
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SamTrans hopes to attract more transit riders after combining its popular 390 and 391 bus routes into a single route, called ECR, that now runs the length of San Mateo County along El Camino Real with more frequent and reliable service. The ECR runs every 15 minutes on weekdays and every 20 minutes on weekends […]
San Mateo County Supes Vote to Fund Bike/Ped Coordinator, SamTrans
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The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to approve $10 million to boost SamTrans service and $156,000 to create a new full-time bicycle and pedestrian coordinator position over the next two years. The funds come from Measure A, a ten-year, half-cent sales tax approved by voters last November, which is expected to generate $64 […]
On the Peninsula, Demand Could Overwhelm Limited Bike-Share Launch
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All the way down the Peninsula, excitement around the pilot launch of Bay Area Bike Share comes tempered with a dose of concern about the small number of bikes that will be clustered around Caltrain stations in five cities. Bay Area Bike Share’s meager scale at the time it launches is sure to limit its usefulness. […]