B'way Interchange Update

A regular reader asked for an update on the B'way overpass upgrade.  We've followed the progress here and here.  The City staff were kind enough to give us the latest update which will kick-off tomorrow

Thursday night (4/20), the contractor will be finalizing their work to open the US 101 southbound on-ramp for Friday morning. 

Starting at 8:00 PM on Friday night (4/21), the entire Broadway Overcrossing will be closed so that the contactor can complete the paving work at Old Bayshore and Airport.  Once the paving is done, residents will regain access to Airport and Old Bayshore from Broadway.  The closure is expect to go until 10:00 AM on Saturday morning (4/22).

Lastly, the project is still on schedule to be completed by this Summer.  After next weekend’s work, the overcrossings will be very close to “functionally complete”, meaning that lane layouts are about what they will be once the project is complete.  Major work still needs to be completed along the US 101 northbound off-ramps and the access to Crowne Plaza, but those are part of the next phase of work.

So there you have it...a couple more days and hopefully the confusing lane twists will be history! 

Comments

[Jerry]

As a resident of Burlingame for several years, I must say that the changes being made to the Broadway interchange are going to make traffic even worse.
1) Moving the US-101 southbound ramp from its original location on Rollins Rd to directly on the bridge, and adding a ramp signal on the US-101S ramp, is going to cause even more congestion on the bridge.
2) There are now 5 traffic lights to get from California Dr turning onto Broadway Ave to finally getting onto US-101 northbound. The traffic lights also seem to be red all the time - there's no synchronizing. It literally takes almost 15 minutes just to get from California/Broadway intersection onto the 101N during work hours.
3) Everyone still gets confused on which lanes go where after crossing intersections, especially the Broadway/Rollins intersection and the Airport Blvd/101N intersection. There are so many accidents waiting to happen.
This project was a waste of tax payer's money and will hurt, not help, traffic and businesses in Burlingame.

[hillsider]

It's a cluster ^*&$#. I hope the traffic tickets are paying off since you need a Mensa IQ to figure out how to get from heyah to theyah.

[Laura]

The engineers that design this stuff should be required to drive the road/intersection they are designing for at least a month, prior to doing so. The way they design some of this stuff, it's like they have never driven a car before in their life and have no understanding about traffic patterns. It may look pretty, but doesn't make sense.

[Poop DePoop]

Still too early to determine the true flow.

[BillyGBob]

Way too early to see how things will work. In an ideal world, the contractor would have been able to close the area and finish everything before opening up to the public. So, while things have been a bit confusing due to the phasing, it beats the heck out of losing the bridge and 101 ramps for a couple of years.

Once the construction is done and all the lane lines, delineators, and signs are in, it will work better. But remember, this is a pretty complex area: 7 traffic signals with a railroad crossing, likely all coordinated, and all within less than a 1/2 mile. Even after the contractor is done, there will likely be a period of time before Caltrans identifies the best signal timing plan (which may take some trial and error).

[Bruce Dickinson]

Agree with some of the comments above on how the current temporary setup of the Broadway intersection is befuddling, even to Bruce Dickinson. Going east on Broadway toward the overpass, what is the deal with the temporary traffic lights that are supposedly for Rollins Road that are practically on the overpass where it is barely obvious to long-time residents? Also, the temporary lane markers and the night reflectors don't even match..they're like a foot apart! Any accident occurring there bears a high probability of Cal-Trans being at least partially responsible.

Did these traffic engineers get their diplomas out of a Cracker-Jack box?

[hollyroller@gmail.com]

Since North Korea will be sending multiple Missiles near Guam in 3-4 days, what are you doing to prepare?
No amount of Cow Bell may help.
If you knew a major Earthquake was going to happen in three days, how would you prepare?

[Bruce Dickinson]

Frankly, Holly-baby, I'm more worried about my Ferraris getting dinged by all the lost gravel around the Broadway than I would worry about a direct attack on the US or allies by North Korea.

Bruce Dickinson thinks that one has to take the entire geo-political balance of what North Korea wants, what China wants, and what the US, Japan, and South Korea want. It's a lot more than about one country getting nukes. Don't focus on the rhetoric or symbolic displays of power, instead focus on the actual actions on the ground. Despite what appears on the face of it, ignoring the language, all the parties involved are acting quite rationally.

[hollyroller@gmail.com]

Thank you for the comment.

[BMW]

Not only do the traffic lanes continue to be consistently confusing, and the signals not lining up intuitively, the way all the signals run wastes a lot of time and don't make a lot of sense. There's a lot of dead time when there's no reason to be stopped at a red light. Seriously. The signal at the 76 station at Cadillac& Rollins is a prime example.

Credit goes to Burlingame and Caltrans

From the City's March 2016 enews

Congratulations to the City's Public Works Department and staff for its recent receipt of Caltrans' 2016 "Partnering Success in Motion" Silver Award. The team was recognized for its hard work and communications on the ongoing Broadway Interchange Construction Project.

The program includes an annual recognition of projects that best optimize the principles of partnering. The main purpose of the award is to celebrate success, share lessons learned of best practices, and honor stakeholders.

[hillsider]

Yuck, Yuck. Credit for sharing lessons learned of best practices-- as soon as we finally figger out what they be. Fix the lights! Fix the lanes! Get more cops there!