Fwd: Foothill Expressway bike & ped improvement feasibility study

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Tim Oey

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Mar 9, 2026, 3:51:12 AM (8 days ago) Mar 9
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Hi everyone,

Santa Clara County would like to make all county expressways much  safer for bicyclists and pedestrians. Foothill is the first one under consideration because many more bicyclists use it than any other expressway.

The Foothill Expressway project progress will be reviewed at the Santa Clara County Roads Commission tomorrow afternoon Monday 3/9 and there will be a 2nd round of public input (one in person, one virtual) for the plan as well toward the end of March.

This Roads Commission meeting and the next two public input meetings are the best times to speak up.

See the presentation slides that are part of the agenda for the March 9, 2026 Roads Commission meeting at at:https://sccgov.iqm2.com/Citizens/Detail_Meeting.aspx?ID=17626 

Members of the public may access the virtual meeting through the following link:https://sccgov-org.zoom.us/j/89019850366 (recommended) or by smart phone at (669) 219-2599, Meeting ID 890 1985 0366# (participant ID not required).

Note that I am the current chair of the County Roads Commission.

Sincerely,
Tim Oey
Sunnyvale, CA 94087
http://www.timoey.com/
"Knowledge is Power"

Tim Oey

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Mar 9, 2026, 3:51:18 AM (8 days ago) Mar 9
to
Someone in a private communication asked what changed to allow this all to happen. The answer:

Last year, Santa Clara County approved a new active transportation plan stating that every street should be safe for all users, especially bicyclists and pedestrians. This reset previous county policies regarding expressways. Now the goal is to put class 1 bike/ped paths next to essentially all of our expressways if possible and also allow bike lanes and sidewalks if needed.

Sincerely,
Tim Oey
Sunnyvale, CA 94087
http://www.timoey.com/
"Knowledge is Power"

Silja Paymer

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Mar 11, 2026, 3:04:11 AM (6 days ago) Mar 11
to Tim Oey, SVBC Mountain View-Los Altos Team, April Webster
It seems that the current proposals remove green space/trees and add pavement when it generally makes sense to add trees and road diet to make cyclists safer. 

I don't love the options. 

April, do you have thoughts? 

Silja




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Tim Oey

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Mar 11, 2026, 3:04:16 AM (6 days ago) Mar 11
to Silja Paymer, SVBC Mountain View-Los Altos Team, April Webster
Most of the proposals may remove some older trees while also planting new ones.

At the Roads Commission meeting some commissioners (including me) pushed hard to do a road diet to fit everything in the existing pavement foot print instead of removing trees (or at least greatly reducing the removal of older trees). However it is very hard for car drivers to give up road space on this sometimes heavily travelled road. We are waiting for some traffic measurement numbers.

Sincerely,
Tim Oey
Sunnyvale, CA 94087
http://www.timoey.com/
"Knowledge is Power"

April Webster

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Mar 11, 2026, 3:04:22 AM (6 days ago) Mar 11
to Tim Oey, Silja Paymer, SVBC Mountain View-Los Altos Team
Silja - was sent an overview this afternoon and will try to take a closer look tomorrow morning.

Tim - curious, did they provide a traffic speed study,  traffic volume study, and/or intersection level of service analysis? What are the lane widths?

Serge Bonte

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Mar 11, 2026, 10:25:14 AM (6 days ago) Mar 11
to April Webster, Tim Oey, Silja Paymer, SVBC Mountain View-Los Altos Team
My 2 cents. Don't quite understand the push for a pedestrian path along Foothills expressway. It sounds like the most unpleasant place to walk/hike...
Also, the vast majority of injuries occurred at intersections (the case in most places), that should be the priority (limiting slip lanes, banning right on red, refuge islands for crossing....). I bike (recreationally) fairly often along foothills , intersections are the only places I feel unsafe.....

Kevin Wang

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Mar 11, 2026, 10:35:40 AM (6 days ago) Mar 11
to Serge Bonte, April Webster, Tim Oey, Silja Paymer, SVBC Mountain View-Los Altos Team
On Wed, Mar 11, 2026 at 7:25 AM Serge Bonte <sbo...@gmail.com> wrote:
My 2 cents. Don't quite understand the push for a pedestrian path along Foothills expressway. It sounds like the most unpleasant place to walk/hike...
Also, the vast majority of injuries occurred at intersections (the case in most places), that should be the priority (limiting slip lanes, banning right on red, refuge islands for crossing....). I bike (recreationally) fairly often along foothills , intersections are the only places I feel unsafe.....

Ditto, Central Expressway near Lawrence gained some sidewalks in recent years (well, more like 5-10 yrs ago) during teardowns / reconstruction / rezoning.

I am puzzled by what they think people are going to use it for.

   - Kevin

Serge Bonte

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Mar 11, 2026, 12:31:18 PM (6 days ago) Mar 11
to Tim Oey, Kevin Wang, April Webster, Silja Paymer, SVBC Mountain View-Los Altos Team
Tim

Is there a map showing where these gaps (absolute need to walk along
the corridors like getting to school) are? By all means, let's close
those via sidewalks but I seriously doubt these gaps extend to the
whole length of foothills.

Serge

On Wed, Mar 11, 2026 at 9:17 AM Tim Oey <tim...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Kevin and Serge,
>
> Currently some pedestrians must walk along these corridors to get to where they need to go. Some currently walk on shoulders or in the roadway.
>
> Per the County Active Transportation Plan, the county plans to make all our urban/suburban expressways complete streets so every age and ability can use them. Several destinations are not easily reached on foot due to barriers like major streets, expressways, and freeways that cannot be crossed otherwise.
>
> Pedestrian advocates have been working to get sidewalks along expressways for 3 decades now. The County Active Transportation plan prefers fully separated bike/ped paths instead of sidewalks and bike lanes due to the volume and speed of expressway motor vehicles but sidewalks and bike lanes are also options. In the case of Foothill since it is such a popular bike route the current proposal is to keep the 8' wide shoulder for fast bicyclists while the multiuse path would mainly be used by kids and less experienced bicyclists as well as runners and joggers.

Serge Bonte

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Mar 11, 2026, 12:38:45 PM (6 days ago) Mar 11
to April Webster, Tim Oey, Kevin Wang, Silja Paymer, SVBC Mountain View-Los Altos Team
A big difference between central expressway (especially in Mountain
View) and foothill expressway is population/housing density. Foothill
is pretty low density all throughout.

Serge

On Wed, Mar 11, 2026 at 9:34 AM April Webster <apri...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I was writing something similar to Tim's comment, but regarding Central Expy.
>
> Quick observation on Central Expy: I see at least a few people a week walking along it near Rengstorff and San Antonio. I stopped being surprised a long time ago. It’s not a pleasant route, but I’m guessing it may be the most direct or easiest route for people in those residential neighborhoods who travel by foot — either by choice or necessity.
>
> I’ve seen parents with children (sometimes with a stroller or bike), seniors, teenagers walking or biking, and adults carrying grocery bags.
>
> The expressway is a major divider between the residential neighborhoods north of Central and major service centers south of it — including Caltrain access — and there are relatively few pedestrian crossings. In that sense, it feels like a smaller-scale version of the highway barriers we see in many cities, where travel becomes difficult unless you’re in a vehicle.

Serge Bonte

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Mar 11, 2026, 12:48:28 PM (6 days ago) Mar 11
to Tim Oey, Kevin Wang, April Webster, Silja Paymer, SVBC Mountain View-Los Altos Team
Tim

In an ideal world (unlimited budget, projects done in no time...), I'd
be all for it. But we're not that ideal world and I personally think
there are more important priorities (like intersections on foothills)
benefiting more people in a world where we have funding and staff
limitations.

Serge.

On Wed, Mar 11, 2026 at 9:43 AM Tim Oey <tim...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Along Foothill, it is mainly runners and joggers who would like to use it as a running corridor. Some like clear long routes to run just like bicyclists do. While navigating side streets is possible for some destinations, it can be much longer and easy to get lost. There are some who cannot bike who need a path.
>
> Places along Foothill that are major destinations include Stanford University, Palo Alto VA hospital, Broadcom/VMWare, Tesla, Xerox Parc, Los Altos downtown and some parks, Gunn High School, some synagogues (some conservative Jews can only walk on the sabbath), Loyola Corners, many residences, Homestead shopping plaza, Rancho San Antonio, and more.
>
> Why the resistance to allowing pedestrians, wheelchair users, and bicyclists more direct safe ways to travel?

Serge Bonte

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Mar 11, 2026, 1:14:04 PM (6 days ago) Mar 11
to Tim Oey, Kevin Wang, April Webster, Silja Paymer, SVBC Mountain View-Los Altos Team
Not in any way suggesting we use the limited active transportation
money to build or expand more roads, just that there are in my view
higher priorities for that limited pot of money.

Even with this project, why don't you guys start with the
intersections along Foothill expressway before deciding/designing
alternative A or B? And then implement a preferred alternative with
what money is left? I'd rather we avoid the situation on ECR where
most intersection improvements were postponed and are yet to be
funded.

Serge

On Wed, Mar 11, 2026 at 10:03 AM Tim Oey <tim...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Bike and ped facilities are very low cost compared to car facilities and have been long neglected. It is time to deprioritize and reduce the expensive car ones and spend a few pennies (in comparison) on bike & ped facilities instead.
>
> This project includes all the intersections along Foothill including the one under and around 280. The intersections tend to be the most expensive parts for bike and ped. The straightaways are usually cheap although along Foothill there are some steep side grades and places with lots of trees.
>
> The commission wanted more analysis around a road diet (per April’s asks around traffic volumes) so we could reuse the existing pavement instead of creating more. This would greatly reduce costs too.

Serge Bonte

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Mar 11, 2026, 1:33:09 PM (6 days ago) Mar 11
to Tim Oey, Kevin Wang, April Webster, Silja Paymer, SVBC Mountain View-Los Altos Team
The presentation indicated that intersection treatments would be same
regardless of picking alternative A or B. Again, why wouldn't you
start with those (as this is where most collisions occur)?

Serge

On Wed, Mar 11, 2026 at 10:28 AM Tim Oey <tim...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Take advantage of opportunities that are available to you when they come and don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.
>
> We got as much as we could out of the ECR opportunity and that was a huge improvement even if not perfect. Bigger intersection changes on ECR were just not a feasible option but still got some good ones. The county is redoing the ECR and Pagemill/Oregon Expressway intersection. Hopefully it will be an excellent result.
>
> With the Foothill opportunity we need to pick the best overall approach including both intersections and straightaways.

Tim Oey

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Mar 11, 2026, 4:06:10 PM (5 days ago) Mar 11
to Chris Parry, Serge Bonte, Kevin Wang, April Webster, Silja Paymer, SVBC Mountain View-Los Altos Team
Chris -- Different jurisdictions have responsibility for different facilities and different budgets -- federal, state, county, city.

Note that the current federal administration is trying to drastically reduce funding for active transportation and shift it to motor vehicles.

Change is constant -- taxes wax and wane as needs and desires and opinions change.

Sincerely,
Tim Oey
Sunnyvale, CA 94087
http://www.timoey.com/
"Knowledge is Power"


On Wed, Mar 11, 2026 at 12:43 PM Chris Parry <kah...@gmail.com> wrote:
Re: spending priorities, is the City of MV still talking about spending $750M+ for two grade-separated crossings? 

From what I can see, it looks like there are a lot of state agencies managing their own little fiefdoms, but there doesn’t seem to be anyone in charge of overall budget to focus on setting priorities and spending money efficiently.  And each year, these guys keep coming back with more suggested tax increases.  The City of MV keeps sending me polls about a tax increase that they want to put on the ballot.

Tim Oey

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Mar 11, 2026, 4:06:14 PM (5 days ago) Mar 11
to Serge Bonte, Kevin Wang, April Webster, Silja Paymer, SVBC Mountain View-Los Altos Team, timo...@gmail.com
The treatment *options* available are the same but final intersection designs would be different between alternative A vs B because the flow of bikes and peds and cars would be different between the two. 

Also the commission wanted more information on a road diet option (since 280 is a short distance away and fully parallel to Foothill) that would retain most if not all current mature trees and reuse existing pavement. We are in the early stages of this iterative process. Please attend one of the upcoming workshops.


Thanks!

Sincerely,
Tim Oey
Sunnyvale, CA 94087
http://www.timoey.com/
"Knowledge is Power"

Chris Parry

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Mar 11, 2026, 4:06:18 PM (5 days ago) Mar 11
to Serge Bonte, Tim Oey, Kevin Wang, April Webster, Silja Paymer, SVBC Mountain View-Los Altos Team
Re: spending priorities, is the City of MV still talking about spending $750M+ for two grade-separated crossings?

From what I can see, it looks like there are a lot of state agencies managing their own little fiefdoms, but there doesn’t seem to be anyone in charge of overall budget to focus on setting priorities and spending money efficiently. And each year, these guys keep coming back with more suggested tax increases. The City of MV keeps sending me polls about a tax increase that they want to put on the ballot.

> On Mar 11, 2026, at 10:32 AM, Serge Bonte <sbo...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/a/bikesiliconvalley.org/d/msgid/mountainviewlosaltos/CAKj%2B2Wz258weFTvfsFcZzMcrynew5%2BW6jgbyrvQBoFYHSj_5pg%40mail.gmail.com.

Tim Oey

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Mar 11, 2026, 4:06:22 PM (5 days ago) Mar 11
to Serge Bonte, Kevin Wang, April Webster, Silja Paymer, SVBC Mountain View-Los Altos Team
Take advantage of opportunities that are available to you when they come and don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.

We got as much as we could out of the ECR opportunity and that was a huge improvement even if not perfect. Bigger intersection changes on ECR were just not a feasible option but still got some good ones. The county is redoing the ECR and Pagemill/Oregon Expressway intersection. Hopefully it will be an excellent result.

With the Foothill opportunity we need to pick the best overall approach including both intersections and straightaways.

Sincerely,
Tim Oey
Sunnyvale, CA 94087
http://www.timoey.com/
"Knowledge is Power"

Tim Oey

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Mar 11, 2026, 4:06:25 PM (5 days ago) Mar 11
to James Ford, Serge Bonte, Kevin Wang, April Webster, Silja Paymer, SVBC Mountain View-Los Altos Team
Thanks James!

One other note, most of Los Altos and Los Altos Hills do not have sidewalks. A paved path along Foothill would be excellent for many and serve families/slow bicyclists as well as runners and walkers and wheelchair users. It is not just for the sports people.


Sincerely,
Tim Oey
Sunnyvale, CA 94087
http://www.timoey.com/
"Knowledge is Power"


On Wed, Mar 11, 2026 at 10:04 AM James Ford <james...@gmail.com> wrote:
In addition to biking, I am also an avid runner and will often run on the side streets that parallel Foothill, often on my way to some of the trails in the open space preserves on the other side of 280. I think those side roads are generally fine for running and walking, though some of them could use better pedestrian infrastructure themselves. I have seen people try to run on sections of Foothill despite the pedestrian prohibition, but I'm assuming those people just got lost. If anything, I think there are just a couple of areas without a direct parallel road where a pedestrian footpath might be nice to connect up, for example, downtown Los Altos with the Stanford Dish where currently you would walk or run Fremont Rd to Hillview and then cross Foothill to go through the office park to Page Mill and cross Foothill again to get to the section of sidewalk.

I have run on the sidewalk area on Central Expressway/Alma in Palo Alto/Mountain View, but Park Blvd is generally much nicer. 

Tim Oey

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Mar 11, 2026, 4:06:30 PM (5 days ago) Mar 11
to April Webster, Silja Paymer, SVBC Mountain View-Los Altos Team
And the area is likely classified as suburban but I am not certain of that.


Sincerely,
Tim Oey
Sunnyvale, CA 94087
http://www.timoey.com/
"Knowledge is Power"


On Wed, Mar 11, 2026 at 10:07 AM Tim Oey <tim...@gmail.com> wrote:
Foothill has a 45 mph speed limit so 10.5 wide inside lanes should be possible.


Sincerely,
Tim Oey
Sunnyvale, CA 94087
http://www.timoey.com/
"Knowledge is Power"


On Wed, Mar 11, 2026 at 9:57 AM April Webster <apri...@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Tim — If advocacy efforts to get a road diet approved don’t pan out, I’m assuming the outside lanes could likely be reduced to 11 feet (requirement as this is a VTA bus route), and the inside lanes potentially reduced to 10.5 feet, based on Caltrans' DIB-94 Complete Streets: Contextual Design Guidance for active transportation corridors. This was the lever we applied to ECR in Palo Alto to enable better infrastructure.

Looking at Table 5.3 in that document, it might be possible. Could you jog my memory on how Foothill is categorized in the study and what the speeds are along it?

Thanks!
April

Screenshot 2026-03-11 at 9.45.44 AM.png

On Wed, Mar 11, 2026 at 9:05 AM Tim Oey <tim...@gmail.com> wrote:
April,

They have not provided this yet but the commission asked for these to be published on the website. 

The lane widths are mostly 12-13' and wider. Some are 11'. Current staff recommendation is to make all of them 11'.

Tim Oey

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Mar 11, 2026, 4:06:34 PM (5 days ago) Mar 11
to April Webster, Silja Paymer, SVBC Mountain View-Los Altos Team
Foothill has a 45 mph speed limit so 10.5 wide inside lanes should be possible.

Sincerely,
Tim Oey
Sunnyvale, CA 94087
http://www.timoey.com/
"Knowledge is Power"
On Wed, Mar 11, 2026 at 9:57 AM April Webster <apri...@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Tim — If advocacy efforts to get a road diet approved don’t pan out, I’m assuming the outside lanes could likely be reduced to 11 feet (requirement as this is a VTA bus route), and the inside lanes potentially reduced to 10.5 feet, based on Caltrans' DIB-94 Complete Streets: Contextual Design Guidance for active transportation corridors. This was the lever we applied to ECR in Palo Alto to enable better infrastructure.

Looking at Table 5.3 in that document, it might be possible. Could you jog my memory on how Foothill is categorized in the study and what the speeds are along it?

Thanks!
April

Screenshot 2026-03-11 at 9.45.44 AM.png

On Wed, Mar 11, 2026 at 9:05 AM Tim Oey <tim...@gmail.com> wrote:
April,

They have not provided this yet but the commission asked for these to be published on the website. 

The lane widths are mostly 12-13' and wider. Some are 11'. Current staff recommendation is to make all of them 11'.

Sincerely,
Tim Oey
Sunnyvale, CA 94087
http://www.timoey.com/
"Knowledge is Power"

On Tue, Mar 10, 2026 at 11:03 PM April Webster <apri...@gmail.com> wrote:

James Ford

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Mar 11, 2026, 4:06:38 PM (5 days ago) Mar 11
to Serge Bonte, Tim Oey, Kevin Wang, April Webster, Silja Paymer, SVBC Mountain View-Los Altos Team
In addition to biking, I am also an avid runner and will often run on the side streets that parallel Foothill, often on my way to some of the trails in the open space preserves on the other side of 280. I think those side roads are generally fine for running and walking, though some of them could use better pedestrian infrastructure themselves. I have seen people try to run on sections of Foothill despite the pedestrian prohibition, but I'm assuming those people just got lost. If anything, I think there are just a couple of areas without a direct parallel road where a pedestrian footpath might be nice to connect up, for example, downtown Los Altos with the Stanford Dish where currently you would walk or run Fremont Rd to Hillview and then cross Foothill to go through the office park to Page Mill and cross Foothill again to get to the section of sidewalk.

I have run on the sidewalk area on Central Expressway/Alma in Palo Alto/Mountain View, but Park Blvd is generally much nicer. 

Tim Oey

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Mar 11, 2026, 4:06:41 PM (5 days ago) Mar 11
to Serge Bonte, Kevin Wang, April Webster, Silja Paymer, SVBC Mountain View-Los Altos Team
Bike and ped facilities are very low cost compared to car facilities and have been long neglected. It is time to deprioritize and reduce the expensive car ones and spend a few pennies (in comparison) on bike & ped facilities instead.

This project includes all the intersections along Foothill including the one under and around 280. The intersections tend to be the most expensive parts for bike and ped. The straightaways are usually cheap although along Foothill there are some steep side grades and places with lots of trees.

The commission wanted more analysis around a road diet (per April’s asks around traffic volumes) so we could reuse the existing pavement instead of creating more. This would greatly reduce costs too.
Sincerely,
Tim Oey
Sunnyvale, CA 94087
http://www.timoey.com/
"Knowledge is Power"

April Webster

unread,
Mar 11, 2026, 4:06:45 PM (5 days ago) Mar 11
to Tim Oey, Silja Paymer, SVBC Mountain View-Los Altos Team
Hi Tim — If advocacy efforts to get a road diet approved don’t pan out, I’m assuming the outside lanes could likely be reduced to 11 feet (requirement as this is a VTA bus route), and the inside lanes potentially reduced to 10.5 feet, based on Caltrans' DIB-94 Complete Streets: Contextual Design Guidance for active transportation corridors. This was the lever we applied to ECR in Palo Alto to enable better infrastructure.

Looking at Table 5.3 in that document, it might be possible. Could you jog my memory on how Foothill is categorized in the study and what the speeds are along it?

Thanks!
April

Screenshot 2026-03-11 at 9.45.44 AM.png

On Wed, Mar 11, 2026 at 9:05 AM Tim Oey <tim...@gmail.com> wrote:
April,

They have not provided this yet but the commission asked for these to be published on the website. 

The lane widths are mostly 12-13' and wider. Some are 11'. Current staff recommendation is to make all of them 11'.

Sincerely,
Tim Oey
Sunnyvale, CA 94087
http://www.timoey.com/
"Knowledge is Power"

On Tue, Mar 10, 2026 at 11:03 PM April Webster <apri...@gmail.com> wrote:

Tim Oey

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Mar 11, 2026, 4:06:48 PM (5 days ago) Mar 11
to Serge Bonte, Kevin Wang, April Webster, Silja Paymer, SVBC Mountain View-Los Altos Team
Along Foothill, it is mainly runners and joggers who would like to use it as a running corridor. Some like clear long routes to run just like bicyclists do. While navigating side streets is possible for some destinations, it can be much longer and easy to get lost. There are some who cannot bike who need a path.

Places along Foothill that are major destinations include Stanford University, Palo Alto VA hospital, Broadcom/VMWare, Tesla, Xerox Parc, Los Altos downtown and some parks, Gunn High School, some synagogues (some conservative Jews can only walk on the sabbath), Loyola Corners, many residences, Homestead shopping plaza, Rancho San Antonio, and more.

Why the resistance to allowing pedestrians, wheelchair users, and bicyclists more direct safe ways to travel?

Sincerely,
Tim Oey
Sunnyvale, CA 94087
http://www.timoey.com/
"Knowledge is Power"

April Webster

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Mar 11, 2026, 4:06:51 PM (5 days ago) Mar 11
to Serge Bonte, Tim Oey, Kevin Wang, Silja Paymer, SVBC Mountain View-Los Altos Team
I was writing something similar to Tim's comment, but regarding Central Expy.

Quick observation on Central Expy: I see at least a few people a week walking along it near Rengstorff and San Antonio. I stopped being surprised a long time ago. It’s not a pleasant route, but I’m guessing it may be the most direct or easiest route for people in those residential neighborhoods who travel by foot — either by choice or necessity.

I’ve seen parents with children (sometimes with a stroller or bike), seniors, teenagers walking or biking, and adults carrying grocery bags.

The expressway is a major divider between the residential neighborhoods north of Central and major service centers south of it — including Caltrain access — and there are relatively few pedestrian crossings. In that sense, it feels like a smaller-scale version of the highway barriers we see in many cities, where travel becomes difficult unless you’re in a vehicle.

Tim Oey

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Mar 11, 2026, 4:06:55 PM (5 days ago) Mar 11
to Kevin Wang, Serge Bonte, April Webster, Silja Paymer, SVBC Mountain View-Los Altos Team
Kevin and Serge,

Currently some pedestrians must walk along these corridors to get to where they need to go. Some currently walk on shoulders or in the roadway. 

Per the County Active Transportation Plan, the county plans to make all our urban/suburban expressways complete streets so every age and ability can use them. Several destinations are not easily reached on foot due to barriers like major streets, expressways, and freeways that cannot be crossed otherwise.

Pedestrian advocates have been working to get sidewalks along expressways for 3 decades now. The County Active Transportation plan prefers fully separated bike/ped paths instead of sidewalks and bike lanes due to the volume and speed of expressway motor vehicles but sidewalks and bike lanes are also options. In the case of Foothill since it is such a popular bike route the current proposal is to keep the 8' wide shoulder for fast bicyclists while the multiuse path would mainly be used by kids and less experienced bicyclists as well as runners and joggers.

Sincerely,
Tim Oey
Sunnyvale, CA 94087
http://www.timoey.com/
"Knowledge is Power"

On Wed, Mar 11, 2026 at 7:35 AM Kevin Wang <k...@leftsock.com> wrote:

Tim Oey

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Mar 11, 2026, 4:06:58 PM (5 days ago) Mar 11
to April Webster, Silja Paymer, SVBC Mountain View-Los Altos Team
April,

They have not provided this yet but the commission asked for these to be published on the website. 

The lane widths are mostly 12-13' and wider. Some are 11'. Current staff recommendation is to make all of them 11'.

Sincerely,
Tim Oey
Sunnyvale, CA 94087
http://www.timoey.com/
"Knowledge is Power"

On Tue, Mar 10, 2026 at 11:03 PM April Webster <apri...@gmail.com> wrote:

Serge Bonte

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Mar 11, 2026, 4:20:57 PM (5 days ago) Mar 11
to Tim Oey, Kevin Wang, April Webster, Silja Paymer, SVBC Mountain View-Los Altos Team, timo...@gmail.com
Fair enough on design details. Still the budget priority should be
intersections (some of them in Los Altos routes to school) first
.....rest as budget allows (noting that per presentation Alternative B
is more flexible and cheaper).

After all, it wouldn't make too much sense to have a pathway that
would be all ages and abilities but only in between intersections :)

Serge .

Silja Paymer

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Mar 11, 2026, 4:59:35 PM (5 days ago) Mar 11
to Serge Bonte, Tim Oey, Kevin Wang, April Webster, SVBC Mountain View-Los Altos Team, timo...@gmail.com
My issue with the sidewalks is the speed of the cars. While 45 mph is posted, we know that many cars go 55-60 mph. So this is like putting sidewalks next to a freeway. While possible, it is dangerous for the pedestrians. 

I would like to see some design elements used to reduce speeds down to the posted limit so that the sidewalks (and bike lanes) are both safer, and more pleasant to use.

Silja 

Tim Oey

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Mar 11, 2026, 5:38:15 PM (5 days ago) Mar 11
to Silja Paymer, Serge Bonte, Kevin Wang, April Webster, SVBC Mountain View-Los Altos Team, timo...@gmail.com
Regarding speed, that is why the current direction is
1) Narrow the lanes from 12-13' and wider to 11'. It will naturally slow cars
2) multiuse path further from the cars is better than a sidewalk in most cases.

Sincerely,
Tim Oey
Sunnyvale, CA 94087
http://www.timoey.com/
"Knowledge is Power"

April Webster

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Mar 11, 2026, 5:38:19 PM (5 days ago) Mar 11
to Silja Paymer, Serge Bonte, Tim Oey, Kevin Wang, SVBC Mountain View-Los Altos Team, timo...@gmail.com
Absolutely, application of AB 43 should be explored as well as DIB 94 lane width recommendations, and other traffic calming measures.

Bruce England

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Mar 11, 2026, 6:45:38 PM (5 days ago) Mar 11
to Tim Oey, April Webster, Silja Paymer, SVBC Mountain View-Los Altos Team
Is 45 still appropriate if they're considering mode shift options? Personally, I hate to see anything over 35 or 40 in town, at all. 35 on Dana, for example, is crazy, but that's another story.
Bruce

Chris Parry

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Mar 15, 2026, 5:13:08 PM (2 days ago) Mar 15
to SVBC Mountain View-Los Altos Team, Bruce England

On Saturday, May 30, SVBC will be hosting its 6th Annual Bike Ride along El Camino Real from Santa Clara to Menlo Park.  For safety, the ride is organized into groups of cyclists (bike buses).  Additional information on the event is here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2026-el-camino-real-ride-santa-clara-to-menlo-park-registration-1983834819348

 

We are looking for volunteers to help with this event.  There are two main areas where we could use some help:

1.  Ride Support

 

For each of the bike buses, we are looking for experienced cyclists to ride as sweep and outriders.  There will be training on these roles prior to the event.

 

2. Mountain View Rest Stop

 

We are going to have a rest stop in Mountain View’s Eagle Park, with snacks and water.  We could use a few volunteers to help us staff the MV rest stop.

 


If you are interested in volunteering, please sign up on the EventBrite page:  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2026-el-camino-real-ride-santa-clara-to-menlo-park-registration-1983834819348

 

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about the event.

 

Regards,

 

Chris

Leendert van den Berg

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Mar 16, 2026, 3:18:24 AM (24 hours ago) Mar 16
to SVBC Mountain View-Los Altos Team, tim...@gmail.com
I like the proposal for more class 1 bike paths as they provide much better protection and cater to all ages and abilities. However, in many places we build these paths with substandard width (e.g. Steven's Creek trail is 10 feet wide, and narrower in some section like underpasses). We should advocate for a minimum of 12 ft width, and ideally 14 if it is truly a multi-use path. This should provide enough space so the fast and confident can also use this path rather than having another set of lanes/shoulders adjacent to vehicles.

Leendert
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