Peninsula Ave. interchange "scrapped" for good?

I can hear the cheers from the Lyon-Hoag neighborhood from here on my perch on the west side.  The "upgrade" to Peninsula Ave. at 101 has been bandied about for almost 20 years.  The neighborhood concerns voiced in public go back more than 10 years as shown in this post from 2015.  Now the weight of the project--cost, eminent domain, and community opposition have apparently caused it to collapse.  I'm guessing this council decision pre-dates the weekend pedestrian fatality on Peninsula.  While I feel happy for Lyon-Hoag, caution and observation remain the best course.  These things can be like zombies.  And the pressure from over-development on the Bayfront is ever growing.  The Daily Journal notes

A long-standing effort to move the Highway 101 southbound off-ramps from East Poplar Avenue north to Peninsula Avenue has been officially scrapped, though plans to address congestion and mitigate collisions in the area are still being finalized.

For years, the city (Ed: San Mateo) has looked into relocating the (Poplar Ave.) ramps to Peninsula Avenue because, east of Idaho Street, it has two lanes in each direction, no parking or driveways and has shoulders and bike lanes, all advantages over East Poplar Avenue. The total project cost estimate ranges from $169 million to $227 million, and while some funding could be secured from regional or state agencies, the majority would have to come from the city.

Moving forward would also require the city to acquire dozens of private properties along North Amphlett Boulevard via eminent domain, another financial burden for the city. Councilmember Rich Hedges said, at this point, many of the affected residents just want to know which direction the city is going so they can plan accordingly.

A lot of B'gamers are having sighs of relief.  As one local noted "No, it's not April 1st".  Let's keep it that way.

Comments

[Joanne Bennett]

I have been following and keeping tabs on this project since 2006 when a flyer was left at my doorstep by a neighbor regarding this project and possible eminent domain of our homes. I continue to have a big thick file of copies of emails, newspaper articles, letters written and received from the State, Caltrans, etc. Still even have my lawn sign saying "This Home is Not for Sale" sitting in my garage. Soon after the bomb was dropped and an article in the Daily Journal stated up to 40 homes surrounding the Peninsula Overpass could be lost thru eminent domain, the cities of Burlingame and San Mateo held multiple meetings on adding the southbound ramps at Peninsula. Ultimately it was decided that both cities would pay equally for studies regarding the feasibility of adding the US101 ramps at Peninsula. Believe it was your wife at the time who was the Mayor and was very instrumental in having both cities involved in these studies. In 2007 the decisions were made and it was announced by former Mayor John Lee that adding the southbound ramps at Peninsula was simply too expensive due to right of way costs and also it was determined that Peninsula Avenue would have to be widened from Humboldt all the way to California Drive on the Burlingame side of the roadway.
Current overpass went forward with construction and was completed in 2010 and we lived through the many middle of the night pile driving noise! Fast forward to 2015, a mere 5 years after construction was completed and someone in the neighborhood had the bright ideal to push for it again and convinced the City of San Mateo to take a look at this project a second time. The City went through more years of meetings, workshops, time, money and effort that dragged on and on and kept longtime businesses and residents in limbo for years to come up with the same conclusion as they did back in 2007...too expensive. Right of Way costs went from $25/$37 mil back in 2015 to a whooping $97/$151 mil in 2022 as was reported at Monday night's SM council meeting. These costs exceeded the cost of construction which sits at $54/$56 Mil.

The unfortunate and tragic accident that involved the fatality of a young single mother crossing the street at Delaware/Dwight/Peninsula was prior to this announcement.

[Cathy Baylock]

Joanne, this happened exactly as you remember it. I appeared before the San Mateo City Council when I was mayor in 2005 to put this matter to rest and do a joint traffic study with the City of Burlingame. As suspected, the road would need to be widened and said widening would take the front yards of the homes in Burlingame between Humboldt and the railroad tracks. It is good to finally see this bad project laid to rest or in the case of the zombie analogy mentioned above, having a stake driven through its chest.

[Joanne]

Yes Cathy, I attended both San Mateo and Burlingame meetings on this and was very grateful to you for pushing that both cities be involved in the studies as it would have affected neighborhoods in both Burlingame and San Mateo.

Glad this is finally put to rest.....hopefully.

[Bobby]

Every 5 years or so, someone in San Mateo city council wants to re-look at this.

So I suspect this may not be the end

[Tom]

In meetings held by San Mateo they always said safety was always the reason for this work. However, it turns out that the adjustment they made on Poplar in may 2018 actually significantly improved safety. The study showed that these new ramps did not provide any additional safety.

Btw - they had data that said the Delaware/Dwight and Peninsula was a more dangerous intersection than the Poplar ramp.

[Mom]

Agree! The simple changes at Poplar and mostly the new fence make you wonder why it took so long to figure out. I bet there are a lot of simple traffic safety things that don't cost millions.

[MV]

Confirming that Peninsula/Dwight/Delaware is top ten of the most dangerous intersections in the City of San Mateo. It’s #7.

https://www.cityofsanmateo.org/DocumentCenter/View/94929/Adopted-Local-Roadway-Safety-Plan-with-Appendices?bidId=

There’s a list of the the top 10 on page 48, a map on page 49 and a listing on page 76. San Mateo recent painted high visibility crosswalks and advanced stop bars in the last week.