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Construction of traffic-calming measures at the intersection of Santa Cruz Avenue and Alameda de las Pulgas will soon be underway. The traffic-calming measures will include lane reductions and wider sidewalks through the intersection and along nearby roads.
This intersection where Santa Cruz Avenue merges with Alameda de las Pulgas, colloquially known as “the Y,” is located in unincorporated San Mateo County near the border of Menlo Park. San Mateo County staff have been working on a design to improve the safety of this intersection since 2017. According to county traffic studies, this busy intersection hosts about 5,000 cars daily in each direction.
In 2023, San Mateo County was awarded a $5.4 million Caltrans Regional Active Transportation Program grant for construction of the project, which is estimated to cost between $5.7 million and $6.2 million in total.
A project construction notice says that improvements to the area will include reducing the number of car travel lanes in the area by constructing improvements for bicycles and pedestrians, including concrete islands, curb extensions and curb ramps for increased accessibility.
For the length of Alameda de Las Pulgas from Avy Avenue to its intersection with Santa Cruz Avenue, traffic lanes will be reduced to one lane in each direction with a two-way center turn lane, according to project plans.
Plans also show that the county will add a bicycle lane to the southbound portion of Santa Cruz Avenue from Alameda de las Pulgas to Sandhill Road by removing one of the southbound traffic lanes. This section of road currently has no dedicated bike lane, only shared road markings, also known as “sharrows.”
Changes will also be made to help fix the drainage issues and pooling that this area has experienced, including removal and rebuilding of damaged sidewalks, curbs and gutters and new storm drain inlets and pipes.
The project also includes new traffic signals, aligned so that drivers can more easily understand which light controls their lane. The project will also install updated pedestrian crossings that are meant to be more visible to drivers.
San Mateo County has hosted several public outreach meetings for this project since 2017. Most recently, the county hosted a meeting on Aug. 15 with the San Mateo County Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee where public works staff updated interested residents on updates that had been made to plans for “the Y” in response to resident concerns.
Some residents of the areas near “the Y” are unsatisfied with the new intersection design that will be installed over the next year. A particular point of contention is the split bike lane design that directs traffic going northbound to Santa Cruz Avenue between two bike lanes. Critics have called this a “bike sandwich.”
Plans show that bikers heading northbound to Alameda de las Pulgas and cars heading northbound to Santa Cruz Avenue will have to merge past one another in an approximately 40 foot “weave” zone.
“Cyclists are required to use a bike merge design that is at the most chaotic point in (the roadway),” said Ron Snow, a resident of the University Park neighborhood in a written comment to the San Mateo County Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee for its Aug. 15 meeting.
A community organization dedicated to improving the safety of this intersection, safer4us.com, states in its update following the Aug. 15 meeting that “if a vehicle delays in making that sudden shift to the right (to the northbound Santa Cruz Avenue lane), they (are) positioned to slam into the new median right in front of them, and if they miss that median, then they are in line to crash into any cyclist that is Alameda bound.”
According to the county’s website, construction is tentatively scheduled to start the week of Sept. 16. Construction will begin with demolition and sidewalk work near the intersection of Avy Avenue and Alameda de las Pulgas.
Construction is anticipated to take nearly a year as all of the improvements to the area are implemented, with the county expecting that construction will be completed by July 18, 2025. Construction will take place from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. daily.
The county warns residents to “expect delays through (the) work zone” throughout the course of construction. In the construction notice sent out to neighbors, RK Engineering, the company contracted to complete the work says they will “make every effort to maintain normal traffic access and minimize disruption.”
Learn more and view project documents on the county’s website, smcgov.org/publicworks.
Reducing to one lane on Alameda is a stupid idea – has anyone seen how many cars use this road and how long the back-up can be currently?? What are they thinking? This is going to result in very long waits and for what…are there really that many bike riders to warrant such an inconvenience to the rest of us? The year long construction will also be a major pain to all of us who live in the area. I was really hoping this would not happen – the current configuration has been the best I have seen in the 30 years living here. Why change?
With two lanes of traffic on Sand Hill (in the westerly direction) traffic is backed up from Sand Hill to Sharon Drive most days around 3:30 to 5 or so. With one lane of traffic in that direction, traffic will be monumentally bad…so much so that it will likely divert through the Oak Knoll neighborhood to get to Sand Hill towards El Camino, and through Sharon Heights to get to Sand Hill (towards 280). I hope those neighborhoods are prepared. They will likely be the target of the next “traffic calming” exercise from the brilliant county traffic experts. A disaster waiting to happen!!
This entire area of the road was far better before they made any changes at all. Go back to the 1990 design and call it a day.