As Palo Alto officials look for ways to add parks to accommodate new housing developments, they are also working with Stanford University on a project that appears to move in the other direction: converting a portion of El Camino Park into a roadway for buses.
The plan, which Palo Alto and Stanford University have been discussing for years, would create a direct connection between the city’s bustling transit center on University Avenue and El Camino Real, saving drivers and passengers time getting to and from the major corridor. Doing that, however, would require “undedicating” a 0.33-acre strip of land on the eastern edge of El Camino Park, which entails a public vote.
The city and the university have been discussing the project since at least 2011, when they signed a development agreement that allowed for an expansion and reconstruction of various Stanford University Medical Center facilities. As part of that deal, Stanford pledged to transfer money to the city to improve connections between the new buildings and local streets. If the project moves forward, Stanford would foot the $3.2-million bill for the new road, which would stretch from the western edge of the bus depot to El Camino.
According to a new report from Philip Kamhi, the city’s chief transportation official, the new roadway would allow bus drivers to avoid circling back through University Circle to get to El Camino, saving them between five and eight minutes per trip. Stanford would be the primary beneficiary. While about 600 buses serve the Palo Alto Transit Center daily, about half of them are the university’s Marguerite shuttles.
Other agencies that rely on the downtown transit center include SamTrans, Santa Clara Valley Transit Authority and Dumbarton Express.
The city’s capital budget underscores Stanford University’s lead role in both funding the infrastructure improvements and in seeking a ballot measure to make the land available. According to the budget, the university had already spent about $1.2 million on planning and design. If things go as planned, it will spend another $1.9 million on construction in fiscal year 2025, which begins on July 1 this year.
While the university may be driving the project, the Palo Alto City Council is fully on board. Palo Alto’s chief planning document, the Comprehensive Plan, includes a program that explicitly calls for collaborating with Stanford and transit agencies to “pursue improvements to the Palo Alto Transit Center area aimed at enhancing the pedestrian experience and improving circulation and access for all modes, including direct access to El Camino Real for transit vehicles.”
The Quarry Road project, according to Kamhi, would include bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure improvements such as an upgraded crosswalk at El Camino to reduce crossing time and safety measures such as refuge islands and high-visibility bicycle markings. One detail that remains unresolved is on whether it would be a two-way road or an outbound-only transit lane, according to Kamhi’s report.
The city currently leases El Camino Park from Stanford under an agreement set to expire in 2042. Palo Alto had “dedicated” the park for recreational and conservation purposes, which means that any other use would require approval from majority of the voters.
Kamhi noted that the portion of the 10.75-acre part that would need to be dedicated make up about 0.33 acres, which includes an 0.09-acre buffer zone. The portion of the park that would be replaced with a transit way is “underused” and “passive,” he noted. It does not have any playing fields but it does provide “circulation throughput that serves the park.”
If approved, the project would also require removal of about 15 trees, according to the report. And while Palo Alto residents are generally passionate about the topics of tree removal and reduction of park space, Kamhi argues in the report that the proposed transit road is “akin to a park improvement project in that it improves multi-modal movement to and through the park.”
“The proposed transit connection would enhance the use and enjoyment of El Camino Park and the recreational amenities provided to the residents of Palo Alto and the surrounding communities,” Kamhi wrote.
The city’s Parks and Recreation Commission is scheduled to get an update on the project at its March 26 meeting. It will ultimately be up to the city council to decide whether or not to place this issue on the November ballot.