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Mountain View is planning to make bicycle and pedestrian improvements on Castro Street, near the El Camino Real intersection, a prominent entrance to the downtown area that also is poised to undergo some big changes with housing and commercial redevelopments on the horizon.
The City Council unanimously approved a $620,000 contract with Sanbell, a civil engineering firm, to design the improvements and provide support during construction at a Jan. 27 meeting.
The project includes plans for intersection improvements as well as for bicycle lanes and other road enhancements on Castro Street, just north and south of El Camino Real.
The design work is scheduled to begin this spring with an anticipated completion date in fall 2027. Construction would then start in spring 2028, pending sufficient funding being allocated, according to the council report.
The project’s scope focuses on roughly three blocks of Castro Street, from Victor Way to Yosemite Avenue. While still in the early concept stages, the city has proposed several ideas to improve bicycle and pedestrian safety along the traffic corridor, a portion of which is owned by Caltrans, the state transportation agency that oversees and maintains El Camino Real.
El Camino Real itself already has dedicated bike lanes in both directions, which Caltrans installed last year as part of a major repaving project in Mountain View, Los Altos and Palo Alto.
Currently, Castro Street does not have demarcated bicycle lanes just north of El Camino Real. However, there are green striped bicycle crossings at the El Camino Real intersection with the bicycle lanes continuing in both directions on Castro Street south of El Camino Real.
At the El Camino Real and Castro Street intersection, the city is looking to add physical barriers to separate bicyclists from vehicles, including raised islands near each intersection corner, according to the council report.
Between Victor Way and Yosemite Avenue, the city also is planning for new buffered bike lanes. To accommodate the bike lanes, the city is looking to remove a southbound lane on Castro Street. However, the lane reduction would not impact turning movements onto El Camino Real, the council report said.
Other changes to the road include replacing diagonal on-street parking with parallel parking on the east side of Castro Street. Additional improvements include road resurfacing, updated striping and replacing curb ramps that are not compliant with accessibility standards.
The conceptual plans will be presented at a future Council Transportation Committee meeting with opportunities for the public to weigh in on the proposed road design, according to the council report. The city also anticipates coordinating the changes with other projects along the traffic corridor, including Castro Commons, an eight-story mixed use development proposed for 881 Castro St., which is at the northeast corner of the El Camino Real intersection.
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Let me save you the $620k. Put No Turn on Red signs at all four corners of El Camino and Castro.
And do some heavy enforcement of the traffic laws.
With nobody turning on red lights, the bicycles are protected when crossing the streets.
The suggested changes in the article will make right turns difficult, but not impossible, which means people will still be going them, not looking and hitting the bicyclists.
But the barriers will give the cyclists a false sense of security; maybe that’s what this is really about.
Cupertino has a done a good job of creating buffered lanes on tight streets (for example McClelland) We can do it.
No we can’t see the lanes on California street.
The existing bike lane heading north across El Camino is a lane to nowhere. We’ve been asking for a “landing zone” for years, so I’m glad to see movement in that direction. The next step is to get rid of angle parking, which is a hazard for both bicyclists and motorists.
Yes, please! The more (safe) biking infrastructure, the happier and healthier we’ll be as a society.
Lenny –
Honest question. Can you explain how angled parking is more dangerous?
Intuitively, it feels like parallel parking is a bigger problem. Drivers (90% of whom haven’t parallel parked since their CDL testing as a 15 1/2 year old) edge forward/backward multiple times trying to get into a spot. Meanwhile, traffic backs up because nobody can pass by. Or a car tries to get around the parker, and does so by going over the double-yellow into the lane of cars going the opposite direction. And cyclists who try to cut through are at risk from the parking car driver feeling pressured to finish his/her parking job.
Angled seems much simpler (and overall safer). But I’m open to the opposite side’s thinking.
Who is doing these studies and designs? OK a bike lane is nice to have but the results are El Camino is a traffic nightmare for 100,000 commuters. Does any one see any Bike in the new bike lane? No because those white lane divider also covers up a view of any bikes. Then the LED car lights reflect back and blind the drivers at night. There are better and less costly ways to make the bike riders safe. California street is another an example of a bike lane design mess.
Yes please! I bike across there frequently and would welcome a safer, more explicit design on Castro. $620k to *plan* 4 blocks… yeesh.