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
VTA Sales Tax With Massive Highway Expansion Program on November Ballot
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The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA)’s half-cent “Envision Silicon Valley” transportation sales tax is now headed to the November 8 general election ballot in the county, after receiving the unanimous approval of the transit agency’s Board of Directors on June 2. The new sales tax would fund a massive highway expansion program, spending $1.85 billion […]
El Camino Real to Remain Deadly
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On Tuesday, Menlo Park’s City Council postponed a pilot project to replace parallel car parking with buffered bike lanes on El Camino Real, deciding that neighboring Palo Alto and Atherton should also agree on a common design for bike lanes before proceeding with the permitting process required by Caltrans. Despite strong community support to fix […]
Pedestrian Safety Still Starved for Funding in San Mateo County
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On March 3, the San Mateo County Transportation Authority (SMCTA) awarded $4.9 million to ten pedestrian and bicycle safety projects – $1 million less than the agency awarded two years ago. Agency staff had revised up the amount of funding for this year’s Pedestrian and Bicycle Program to $5.7 million in February, but explained in the Board’s […]
San Mateo County Still Thinks the Wider the Better
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San Mateo County’s City/County Association of Governments (C/CAG) is leaving an expansion of Highway 101 with new carpool lanes on the table, even after the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) concluded they will jam up with traffic the day they open. If constructed–by 2024 at the earliest–a 14-mile section of the highway from San Bruno to Redwood City would be widened from eight to […]
South Bay Cities Still Have the Asphalt Bug
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“Induced demand” is the idea that building and widening roads doesn’t make traffic better–it makes it worse. Late last year Caltrans finally acknowledged that, yeah, it’s probably true that all the work they’ve been doing for the past few decades has been for naught. Not everyone got the memo. The Valley Transportation Authority (VTA)’s proposed […]
Riders Feel Railroaded by Caltrain Fare Hikes
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Public transportation becomes less accessible for low-income Peninsula residents and workers this year with fare increases for both Caltrain and SamTrans buses. Caltrain tickets go up by fifty cents on February 28 while SamTrans bus tickets were raised by 25 cents on January 10. Unlike Muni, neither agency offers discounted tickets to transfer between buses […]
Super Bowl Blocks Bikes
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Want to walk or bike to Super Bowl 50 at Levi’s Stadium this Sunday? It won’t be easy. The big game’s organizers have banned the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition (SVBC) from providing free valet bike parking at the stadium. The City of Santa Clara also agreed on a ten-day closure, from Jan. 31 to Feb. 9, of the San […]
Bigger Intersections and More Traffic Planned for Millbrae BART/Caltrain Station
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As the City of Millbrae inches closer to final approval of plans for new construction at the Millbrae BART/Caltrain Station, officials have quietly proposed adding new traffic lanes and traffic signals to intersections near the station. The traffic expansions aim to cram even more auto traffic through the area, worsening already hazardous conditions for people […]
Today’s Headlines
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More on San Francisco’s First Raised Bike Lane on Market Street (CityLab, Exam, SFBC, Kron4) SF City Report Recommends Automated Cameras to Enforce Speed Limits (SF Gate) CEQA Lawsuit Against Private Employer Buses Begins Today (Exam) MuniMobile Smartphone Payment App Now Available (Akit, SFist) Status of Current San Francisco Subway Projects (Muniverse) Caltrain Replaces Tilton Avenue Bridge in San Mateo, First of […]
San Mateo County TA Rejects Ped Safety Projects But Not Highway Expansions
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With $125 million to lavish on it’s Highway Program this year, the San Mateo County Transportation Authority (TA) has decided to spend $108 million on highway expansion projects while denying funds for major pedestrian and bicycle safety improvements [PDF]. On October 1, the TA Board approved $11 million to reconstruct the Holly/101 Interchange in San Carlos as a partial cloverleaf to accommodate higher traffic […]
Today’s Headlines
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Mayor Lee Threatens to Veto Bike Yield Law (SF Exam) Another Chronicle Op-Ed in Support of Bike Yield Law SFPD Searching for Cadilac Driver Who Hit Bicyclist Twice (SFist) Development Impact Fee Could Generate Millions for Muni (SF Exam) VTA Advisory Committee Recommends Against El Camino Real Bus Lanes (Merc) Governor Signs “Yellow Alert” Bill […]
Peninsula Advocates Push For Vision Zero
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A coalition of advocacy groups, local government agencies, and cycling clubs called on cities across Santa Clara and San Mateo counties to adopt Vision Zero goals to eliminate traffic fatalities at the recent Silicon Valley Bike Summit in Palo Alto. In the ten years from 2004 through 2013, 1,236 people lost their lives in car crashes in the two counties, according to the California […]