Transportation Authority Board Approves Funding For Bike Lane Improvements

The San Mateo County Transportation Authority Board approved spending thousands of dollars on a bike lane improvement project on Alpine Road this week. 

Carole Groom, chair of the San Mateo County Transportation Authority Board of Directors, said that the board felt that funding his project was “vitally important.”

“Our mission is to improve mobility throughout the county by funding projects that enhance infrastructure, access and public transportation,” Groom said. “That mission most certainly includes providing funds that can improve the safety of our roadways for everyone who shares them,” she added.

The Menlo Park Bicycle Commission applied for the funds in 2010 with the goal of completing a countywide bike network.  The application did not gain traction until later that year, when a cyclist was killed at the intersection of Highway 280 and Alpine Road. 

The project will get funding from multiple sources, including money from a 1988 ballot measure known as Measure A  and money from a gas tax.

It is one of 23 transportation improvement projects in San Mateo County that will be infused with millions of dollars.  The goal is to raise about $82,000,000 for the projects, according to the TA.

The city of Menlo Park is also allocating money to the project that will eventually cost about $202,000.  Menlo Park’s City Council approved this on October 23, 2012.  

The plan is to create a class II bike lane through the 280/ Alpine Road intersection. 

“The safety enhancement will give bicyclists their own lane to navigate safely through the interchange,” said Jayme Ackemann, TA Spokesperson.

Work on the project is expected to begin in 2013.

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