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Stanford University’s plan to build a roadway for buses between the Palo Alto Transit Center and El Camino Real jolted ahead on April 22 when the City Council resolved to place a measure that would enable the project on the November ballot.
If approved by Palo Alto voters, the ballot measure would “undedicate” a 0.33-acre strip of land on the eastern portion of El Camino Park, between the University Avenue bus depot and El Camino Real, to enable the extension of Quarry Road. Once the road is extended, buses would have a direct route from University to El Camino — a connection that proponents say would save passengers between five and eight minutes per trip.
Proponents also note that the new road would obviate the need for buses to rely on University Circle and University Avenue to get to El Camino, reducing traffic congestion in these areas. The project is particularly timely, they note, given Caltrain’s plan to switch to electric trains in September and to increase train frequency.
“Buses and shuttle services will align with the Caltrain service and future transit service plans include higher bus frequencies to accommodate those anticipated demands,” said Lesley Lowe, Stanford’s director of transportation, during the April 22 public hearing on the topic.
The transit center includes 10 bays and accommodates 600 buses as well as 750 to 800 bicyclists daily, Lowe said. In addition to the road extension, the project would include enhanced bicycle and pedestrian paths to improve connections.
While Stanford has been planning for this project for several years, the hearing gave the Palo Alto council its first opportunity to weigh in. For the most part, council members liked what they saw and voted 5-1, with Council member Lydia Kou dissenting and Vice Mayor Ed Lauing absent, to take the procedural step toward placing the item on the November ballot.
The votes provided a major boost for a project that has already amassed support from the various transportation agencies that rely on the University Avenue transit hub. Caltrain, SamTrans and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have all come out in support of the Quarry Road extension and the undedication of the parkland.
Casey Fromson, chief of staff for Caltrain, wrote in an April 22 letter to the city that her agency “appreciates that the future Quarry Road Connection Project will allow buses and shuttles to exit on to El Camino Real faster.”
“This will reduce bus transit times by an estimated 5-8 minutes per trip and ensure passengers can access our trains efficiently and reach work, home, school or wherever their final destination may be,” Fromson wrote.
The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority is also very much on board. Jason Kim, senior transportation planner at the VTA, told the council that the Palo Alto mobility hub serves as the western anchor for its two highest ridership routes, the 22 and the 522.
“This is a key location for making transit successful in Santa Clara County,” Kim said. “This project could open up a number of potential opportunities to better serve Palo Alto and the surrounding communities.”
The biggest drawback for city officials is the loss of parkland. Even though staff describe the strip of El Camino Park as “passive” — it is mostly vacant, save for utilities equipment — the Quarry Road extension would isolate a somewhat larger portion on the east end of the park. When the Parks and Recreation Commission reviewed the project last month, Commissioner Shani Kleinhaus recommended requiring Stanford University to contribute an acre of parkland elsewhere in the city to compensate for the loss at El Camino Park.
The council opted not to go that route. Instead, the city will consider existing properties that it can “dedicate” as parkland to compensate for the loss. Last month, council members unanimously approved the dedication of a 0.2-acre park on Alma Street, site of an old water storage tank. Council member Pat Burt said he is working on a proposal that would designate other sites in Palo Alto as parkland, an amenity that he and others said will become particularly important as housing production gets ramped up.
“I believe the opportunities for parkland dedication are more than an order of magnitude greater than what we’re asking the voters to approve in this change,” Burt said. “I fully agree that with all the housing we’ll be having in this community, we need to have more parkland and we need to be innovative and creative on how we’re going to come about getting that.”
Council members also suggested that this particular stretch of parkland probably won’t be missed too much. Council member Vicki Veenker called it “an embarrassment of weeds,” while Council member Julie Lythcott-Haims said it looks more like “wildland” than parkland.
“This isn’t, in my view, land that we’re sad to lose,” Lythcott-Haims said.
Mayor Greer Stone concurred. But while this parkland isn’t exactly pristine, Palo Alto residents still hate to lose parkland, he said. Stone suggested that to sweeten the deal, Stanford and the transit partners should offer to fund the infrastructure improvements, which are estimated to cost between $3 million and $3.5 million. He also supported finding other parkland for the city do dedicate as it removes protection from a portion of El Camino Park that he described as “underused.”
“It’s not a place I ever see people relaxing in and I think the public benefit really outweighs the loss of that parkland,” Stone said.
As the sole dissenter, Kou said she wasn’t comfortable with advancing the ballot measure before the city reaches a clear agreement with Stanford University about who would maintain and own the new infrastructure. Though she generally supported the project, she said supporting the measure at this point is premature.
Transportation advocates, meanwhile, urged the council to move ahead without delay. Elizabeth Alexis, a Palo Alto resident who is a member of the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain, touted the benefits of reducing travel times by more than five minutes per trip.
“It may seem like a small amount but on a small transit trip that can be the difference between someone deciding to take Caltrain or a SamTrans bus if they have to make a connection,” Alexis said. “We think it’s consequential and well worth the complications involved in getting so many agencies involved to make it happen.”
Petya Kisyova, a senior project manager at Stanford Health Care, also said she is looking forward to the project. She said she takes transit to get to the hospital about three times per week and said it’s currently challenging to navigate the part of the park near Quarry Road.
“This proposed improvement will not only help people go to and from the hospital and the transit center but will also enhance the connectivity to the larger bicycle and pedestrian network established by the city,” Kisyova said.