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CITY COUNCIL
STAFF REPORT
MEETING DATE: February 9, 2026
ITEM TITLE: Receive a Presentation from SamTrans on the Central El Camino Real Multimodal Plan, Review Preliminary Design Concepts, and Provide Council Feedback to SamTrans.
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommend that the City Council receive a presentation from SamTrans on the Central El Camino Real Multimodal Plan, review preliminary design concepts, and provide feedback to SamTrans.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
There are no fiscal implications, and no additional funding is needed.
BACKGROUND:
In February 2025, SamTrans launched the Central El Camino Real Multimodal Plan (“Central El Camino Plan”), a corridor study for an 8.5-mile segment of El Camino Real (Caltrans State Route 82) within the cities of San Carlos, San Mateo, Belmont and a short segment of Redwood City.
This Central El Camino Plan is a part of a broader effort called the Grand Boulevard Initiative (GBI), which is a collaboration in San Mateo County among 15 local jurisdictions, four countywide agencies, and Caltrans. This effort is supporting cities along the corridor by leading a joint, coordinated Caltrans process to advance local city visions for El Camino Real. GBI aims to make El Camino Real a safer and more comfortable place to walk, bike, drive, and take transit by installing streetscape improvements along the corridor.
Central El Camino Plan
In San Carlos, the Central El Camino Plan will identify corridor needs, define design alternatives, and advance preferred alternative(s) based on an analysis of tradeoffs as well as community and stakeholder feedback. This will allow the City of San Carlos to identify preferred conceptual alternative(s) for inclusion in the countywide Caltrans Project Initiation Document (PID) led by GBI.
The Central El Camino Plan builds upon San Carlos’ efforts related to El Camino Real over the years, including its Downtown Streetscape Master Plan (2025), Local Roadway Safety Plan (2024), and Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan (2020). In outreach conducted during these plans, San Carlos residents have indicated concerns related to the heavy traffic volumes, including the lack of safe routes to schools, high-speed traffic, and a lack of bicycle and pedestrian facilities. The Central El Camino Plan incorporated this input as well as findings from these plans in defining design alternatives.
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The Central El Camino Plan identified similar findings to local plans in Phase 1 of engagement, including the need for bus stop amenities and higher bus frequencies, safer pedestrian crossings wider and better maintained sidewalks, more pedestrian-scale lighting, separated bike facilities, and better bus connections to Caltrain stations. The SamTrans project team engaged with the San Carlos community throughout the first phase of engagement, including through social media, e-blasts, temporary bus signs, presentations to stakeholder groups including representing businesses and those with disabilities, a pop-up at the San Carlos Caltrain station (May 2025), a listening session with senior residents (July 2025 at SamTrans office), and a walk audit along the El Camino Real corridor in San Carlos (August 2025).
For Phase 2 of public engagement, the project team is collecting feedback from San Carlos residents at key touchpoints. These efforts are being advertised via City and SamTrans social media, temporary bus signs, and printed materials. An online multilingual survey is available from January 12 through February 28. Additionally, the team is conducting focused engagement with seniors, people with disabilities, business groups, and community-based organizations. On January 20, the team held a pop-up at the San Carlos Library during peak hours (3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.) to encourage residents to take the survey and share their insights. A virtual community workshop for constituents of all four cities will be held on February 26.
ANALYSIS:
El Camino Real is the main arterial of San Mateo County, connecting downtowns, businesses, schools, regional transit hubs, and other key destinations. While El Camino Real serves a range of trip purposes and users, its design reflects its historic role as a state highway focused on facilitating high speed auto travel. Consequently, the corridor is a barrier for pedestrians and cyclists and is challenging to navigate efficiently for buses.
Historically, implementing changes on this Caltrans facility has been difficult for cities with only a patchwork of improvements occurring over the past several decades. The development of the Central El Camino Plan is essential for San Carlos, in partnership with SamTrans and neighboring cities, to advance roadway safety and active transportation improvements. The Plan will allow San Carlos and its neighboring cities to complete the requisite planning for the first stage of the Caltrans project development process being led through GBI.
The Central El Camino Multimodal Plan proposes three conceptual alternatives for El Camino Real in San Mateo, San Carlos, Belmont, and a small portion of Redwood City, each showing a different vision for the future of the corridor. Each alternative exhibits different modal priorities:
one providing faster bus service and separated bike lanes, one providing wider sidewalks and more trees, and another providing continuous bike facilities. Each alternative is being both quantitatively and qualitatively evaluated. An evaluation matrix references various Caltrans and local agency plans and policies, including the San Carlos’ Downtown Streetscape Master Plan and Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan. The evaluation also assesses alignment with community input, and the effect of the designs on people who walk, bike, drive, and ride transit along El Camino Real.
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Conceptual Designs (Draft for Input)
Pedestrian: Wider sidewalks and more trees
Existing: What El Camino looks like today
Transit: Faster bus service and separated bike lanes
Bicycle: Continuous separated bike lanes
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ALTERNATIVES:
The alternatives available to the City Council include:
1. Receive a presentation from SamTrans on the Central El Camino Real Multimodal Plan, review preliminary design concepts, and provide Council feedback to SamTrans; or
2. Do not provide Council feedback to SamTrans at this time; or
3. Provide staff with alternative direction.
Respectfully submitted by:
Al Savay, Community Development Director
Approved for submission by:
____________________________
Nil Blackburn, Interim City Manager
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