Recent Streetsblog SF posts about Cities, Counties, and Countries

VTA Sales Tax Promises Transit Lanes On Highway 85

By Andrew Boone | | 18 Comments
After planning for the past decade to install express lanes on Highway 85, the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) is now pitching its $350 million sales tax funding request to widen Highway 85 as “transit lanes.” On June 24, the VTA Board of Directors [PDF] struck any reference to “express lanes” from the Highway 85 project description that they had approved […]

Menlo Park El Camino Real Bike Lanes Delayed Again

By Andrew Boone | | 3 Comments
Menlo Park’s plans to fix El Camino Real’s safety hazards were postponed yet again by a city council that is now split on whether to go ahead with the installation of even a bike lane pilot project. Proponents continue to demand that the city take action to prevent injuries suffered by residents in traffic collisions. “The goals of Menlo […]

VTA Sales Tax With Massive Highway Expansion Program on November Ballot

By Andrew Boone | | 74 Comments
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 […]

SPUR Talk: Dancing on the Grave of “Level of Service”

By Roger Rudick | | 43 Comments
Wednesday evening, SPUR, the San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association, sponsored a talk entitled “Reconsidering Transportation to Create Better Urban Spaces” at their new downtown Oakland location. The talk focused on the history and damage done by the almost mindless adherence over the years to Level of Service (LOS) on urban spaces […]

SPUR Talk: Connecting the Foot of Lake Merritt

By Roger Rudick | | 3 Comments
Wednesday afternoon, at SPUR’s Oakland office, a crowd of some fifty people came to hear a panel discussion about knitting together the various attractions at the foot of Lake Merritt in Oakland. At the southern end of Lake Merritt, Oakland’s street grid funnels around several big institutions there, including the Oakland Museum of California, Laney College, […]

El Camino Real to Remain Deadly

By Andrew Boone | | 3 Comments
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 […]
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