Bay Meadows

Goodbye “Road Closed” signs. Hello “Open Streets!” With street and infrastructure construction ongoing for nearly three years, many of Bay Meadows’ new streets have been officially closed to the public. That’s all about to change.

In the upcoming week, every block but one at Bay Meadows will be open for free-flowing bike, pedestrian and vehicle traffic. Only a few blocks on South Delaware, between E. 28^th and E. 31^st Avenues, will remain closed while building for Bay Meadows offices, Town Square and new mixed-use buildings continues.

But wait, there’s more. San Mateo has several projects in the pipeline to make the City safer, easier to get around and more welcoming overall. We caught up with the City’s outgoing Department of Public Works manager Ken Chin to learn more.

In his tenure, Ken oversaw the adoption for San Mateo’s Sustainable Streets Plan. The Plan envisions “a transportation system that is sustainable, safe, and healthy and supports a sense of community and active living, where walking, bicycling, and transit are integral parts of daily life.”

Ken says, “This next year is going to be awesome” for City streets. Below are some projects on tap for the upcoming year:

1. A “road diet” for the El Camino Real and SR 92 interchange – The project would include widening sidewalks in the interchange and installing bicycle lanes between the ramp intersections. The “cloverleaf” design would be reduced to a “partial cloverleaf,” thus slowing the traffic to address safety and multi-modal use.

2. Design Competition for Bike/Ped Bridge at E. Hillsdale Blvd over US 101 – In the next few months, the City will issue guidelines for a competition for the structural design of a bicycle and pedestrian bridge over the busy Hillsdale interchange. Numerous concepts for possible designs were presented to the public earlier this year.

3. Safe Routes To Schools – This program to encourage students and families to get to school by means other than a car has been underway for the past few years (Nueva School is a stellar example!). With funding of $2.5M, San Mateo implements a variety of tools – from installation of decorative bike racks to dedicated traffic officers in the schools to presenting fun bike safety and awareness events. Check out this cool video to learn more >>

Walkscore.com rates Bay Meadows high on the list for walkable locations to live on the San Francisco Peninsula and for good reason! Bay Meadows has a high Walkscore because it is steps from shopping, groceries, parks, Caltrain, a farmer’s market and a few short miles from downtown San Mateo with its bourgeoning restaurant scene. Check out our Mosey suggestions for more places to explore on foot!