Menlo Park’s update to its general plan, called the ConnectMenlo process, has been developed over two years and 60 public meetings. The goal is to create a “live-work-play” environment in the formerly light industrial area near Belle Haven and Facebook. The plan includes housing to give more people the opportunity to live near their work, and affordable housing for people at a variety of income levels
The plan includes major transportation improvements that will need regional cooperation. We all need to come together as a community with residents, City Council members, staff, and business leading improvements now and into the future.
The update incorporates a transportation master plan anchored in community input and professional analysis that will set a prioritized road map and price list for key projects, including projects that will take regional, state and federal funding to complete. And the plan updates how the city reviews and assesses fees for new development projects so the fees go for the kinds of improvements envisioned in the new plan.
For example, the Dumbarton corridor to and from the East Bay is in critical need of improvements. SamTrans is conducting a study, funded by Facebook, regarding opportunities to help more people commute more easily. It addresses better bus service in the short to medium term, and higher-capacity rail service over time. Because there is limited space, we know that solutions that serve more commuters in the same space — carpool, bus and train — are most effective at moving more people.
It’s encouraging that some of the major employment centers on the Peninsula have started programs to help commuters drive less. We know that half of Stanford’s commuters from the East Bay take a Dumbarton bus or carpool. Stanford offers transit discounts and other benefits to encourage less solo driving. Conversely 80 percent of commuters from the East Bay to downtown Palo Alto currently drive alone. If Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Redwood City, San Mateo, and other destinations developed their emerging programs to be like Stanford, we could see more commuters using transit and carpools and create more room for people who need to drive, while generating less pollution and lowering climate impact.
There may also be opportunities to improve Bayfront Expressway to help people passing through Menlo Park get to their destinations without using neighborhood streets. These options need to be evaluated to see if they will deliver real relief to the current congestion, and how they would affect residents. Experience backed by research shows that often increasing roadway capacity in one place draws more drivers, and the congestion relief may be short-lived or may not materialize.
With support of community members, this plan sets policies that guide how streets will be updated over time so they do a better job at enabling safe walking and bicycling for people of all ages and abilities. This plan also includes policies that require developments to ensure that their tenants drive less and generate less traffic and pollution.
The transportation policies in this plan fulfill the City Council’s goals for complete streets with improved safety for all users, and environmental sustainability, generating less pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Providing housing near jobs, and providing more services in Belle Haven, will play important roles in congestion relief.
I hope that council approves the plan, which includes much-needed housing and affordability provisions, requires commuter car-trip reduction, and continues to focus on getting future transportation phases planned and funded.
Redwood City attorney sues ‘First Amendment auditors’ after Menlo Park disputeApril 2, 2026 11:31 am
