Grand Boulevard Initiative &
El Camino Real Mobility Plan
October 22, 2025 City Council Meeting
El Camino Real Mobility Plan
Tonight
• Grand Boulevard Initiative
• El Camino Real Mobility Plan
• Plan Focus
• Corridor Snapshot
• Road Diet Considerations
• Community Engagement
• Closing
OCTOBER, 2025
GBI Overview
What is the Grand Boulevard Initiative?
Corridor-wide program to
modernize transportation
infrastructure on El Camino
Real in San Mateo County.
Convene a Task Force of
staff from cities, countywide
agencies, Caltrans,
advocates, and business
groups to establish a
cohesive vision for the
corridor.
Builds momentum toward
implementation by
advancing a coordinated
project through the Caltrans
approval process.
4 GBI is Coordinating Across Nine Different
Projects and Studies Underway
5 El Camino Real GBI Action Plan & Project Initiation Document Caltrans SR-82 North Comprehensive Multimodal Corridor Plan (including San Francisco and San Mateo Counties)
GBI Action Plan
GBI Action Plan
GBI Action Plan
GBI Outcomes
Caltrans Project
Initiation Document
7 The Action Plan is the precursor to
beginning a countywide Caltrans project
development process:
• Evaluate corridor-wide needs
• Establish a cohesive vision
• Build momentum toward implementation
Draft Corridor-Wide Vision
El Camino Real is a safe and
vibrant street where people of
all ages and abilities travel
comfortably
8 Problem Statements and Goals
Transform El Camino Real into a
complete street that works for all users.
Create a new framework for change
aligning vision, process, and funding.
El Camino Real has an unusually high
rate of fatal or serious injury crashes,
particularly for people walking and
biking.
El Camino Real’s highway-like design
discourages walking, biking, and transit
use.
It’s too challenging to develop,
implement, and fund transportation
projects on El Camino Real.
SAFETY
Adopt a safety-first mindset to eliminate
fatal and serious injury crashes.
SAFETY
MOBILITY
PROCESS
MOBILITY
PROCESS
→
→
→
PROBLEM STATEMENTS GOALS
Streetscape Changes Under Study
Safety
• Traffic calming
• Traffic signal gap
closures
• Medians
• Lighting
Active
Transportation
• Wider sidewalks
• Crosswalk
improvements
• Separated bikeways
• Street trees
Transit
• Bus stop
enhancements
• Bus lanes
• Transit signal priority
• Access improvements
10 GBI Timeline and Cost
11 2025 2026
~$750M
Rough order of magnitude cost for
up to 22 miles of streetscape redesign ($2025)
El Camino Real Mobility Plan
El Camino Real Mobility Plan
Plan’s Focus
El Camino Real (Highway 82)
within the South San Francisco city limits
El Camino Real Mobility Plan
El Camino Real is a dynamic and re-envisioned
boulevard that is a safe and healthy place
for transit riders, pedestrians, and cyclists,
with a diverse mix of commercial and residential,
and open space uses.
El Camino Real Mobility Plan
Project Schedule
TASK 2
Data Collection &
Needs Assessment
TASK 3
Concept Design
Alternatives
TASK 4
Community
Engagement
TASK 5
Traffic Operations
TASK 6
Design Evaluation
TASK 7
ECR Mobility Plan
JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY
2025 2026
FINAL
FINAL
PHASE 1 PHASE 2
Council Presentation
GBI PID
JUN
We are here
El Camino Real Mobility Plan
• Joint Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory
Committee and Traffic Safety Commission
meeting on September 3
• Concert in the Park booth on September 20
• Door to door outreach to the business
comments in early October
• Outreach to bus riders in mid October
• Survey live through mid-November
• Outreach through Mayor’s newsletter,
upcoming City print newsletter, social media,
and electronic boards at the LPR
Recent Engagement
El Camino Real Mobility Plan
We’ll be providing a light meal,
translation, and childcare.
Please register, and join us!
El Camino Real Mobility Plan
Corridor Snapshot
What does El Camino look and feel like today?
El Camino Real Mobility Plan
From Hickey Boulevard to San Bruno
Some space for pedestrians + space for vehicles + parking El Camino Real today
Source: Google Maps
El Camino Real Mobility Plan
Walking along El Camino Real
Shade and wide space to
walk
Missing pedestrian crossings or have unshaded,
narrow sidewalks
Some spots are nice to walk; others need improvement.
El Camino Real Mobility Plan
Bicycling
Source: Centennial Way trail near SSF station, Pi.1415926535. CC-BY-SA-3.0 El Camino Real Centennial Way Trail
El Camino Real Mobility Plan
Taking Transit
• BART
• SamTrans Routes
• Route ECR: Frequent service.
Connects cities along the
Peninsula.
• Route 122: Connects to SSF and
Colma BART stations and SFSU.
• Route 130: Connects from Daly City
BART to Colma and through
downtown SSF.
• Route 37: Special school route.
El Camino Real Mobility Plan
Bus Stops
Some lack shade or shelters, and
require buses to pull out of traffic,
which slows them down
Some provide waiting areas and
shelters while maintaining space for
people walking past the stop
Some good; some need improvement.
El Camino Real Mobility Plan
Driving (Evening)
• Vehicle volumes are highest going
northbound, south of the
Westborough/Chestnut intersection
• Southbound volumes are generally
lower
El Camino Real Mobility Plan
Road Diet
Considerations
Should we reduce the number of travel lanes?
El Camino Real Mobility Plan
What is a road diet?
Removing one vehicle lane in each
direction creates space to rebalance the
street for other uses
On-Street Parking Walking
Transit Bicycling
El Camino Real Mobility Plan
What could change with a road diet?
Safety
Street space better aligned
with City policies
Travel choices
Travel time
Space for walking, bicycling,
and transit improvements
Space for increased shade
and landscaping
Atmosphere and experience
El Camino Real Mobility Plan
Safety
improves when
there are fewer
lanes.
• Vehicle Crash frequency
can be reduced by 50%
• Also reduces likelihood
of collisions involving
people walking and
biking
El Camino Real Mobility Plan
There are more lanes
than needed along
El Camino Real.
• We collected counts at the
locations with highest vehicle
delay on ECR
• Amount of delay is
acceptable/reasonable for
most of the day
• Evening peak hour may
experience more congestion in
the northbound direction with a
road diet
No Road Diet (existing) With Road Diet
Southbound Northbound Southbound Northbound
12:00 AM C+ C+ C+ C+
1:00 AM C+ C+ C+ C+
2:00 AM C+ C+ C+ C+
3:00 AM C+ C+ C+ C+
4:00 AM C+ C+ C+ C+
5:00 AM C+ C+ C+ C+
6:00 AM C+ C+ C+ C+
7:00 AM C+ C+ D C+
8:00 AM D D D D
9:00 AM C+ C+ D D
10:00 AM C+ C+ D D
11:00 AM C+ C+ D D
12:00 PM C+ D D D
1:00 PM C+ D D D
2:00 PM C+ D D D
3:00 PM D D D D
4:00 PM D D D F
5:00 PM D D D F
6:00 PM C+ D D E
7:00 PM C+ C+ D D
8:00 PM C+ C+ C+ D
9:00 PM C+ C+ C+ C+
10:00 PM C+ C+ C+ C+
11:00 PM C+ C+ C+ C+
Counts collected in April 2025 south of the
Westborough/Chestnut intersection
El Camino Real Mobility Plan
For short trips,
people can shift
away from cars.
• Studies consistently show that
road diets reduce the number of
vehicle trips
• 20% of trips along El Camino Real
are under 3 miles
• Short trips can become walking,
biking, or transit trips by making
El Camino Real more enjoyable
and comfortable for people
outside of vehicles
El Camino Real Mobility Plan
Cut-through
trips can shift
to other
streets
• 40% of trips are longer
than 10 miles
• These trips could shift to
I-280 or Junipero Serra Blvd
• ECR can be rebalanced to
serve more localized
activity
El Camino Real Mobility Plan
Strong potential to implement a Road Diet
on El Camino Real.
Crashes Decrease in crashes for all road users
Vehicle Delay Increase in the PM Peak Period
Vehicle Speeds Decreased vehicle speeding
City Policy Increased alignment with adopted policies
Potential for walk, biking, and
transit improvements Increased space for other modes
Potential for Increased Shade
and Landscaping Increased space for shade and landscaping El Camino Real Mobility Plan
Thank you! We’ll be providing a light meal,
translation, and childcare.
Please register, and join us!
Discussion:
GBI Action Plan Framework
Goals: What goals do you have for the corridor?
Process: How can we best work together to advance the GBI Vision?
Next Steps: Are you supportive of the GBI process as we have described it?
34 Transform El Camino Real into a complete street that works for all users.
Create a new framework for change aligning vision, process, and funding.
Adopt a safety-first mindset to eliminate fatal and serious injury crashes.
SAFETY GOAL
MOBILITY GOAL
PROCESS GOAL