On Tuesday, March 22, Los Altos City Council will vote on whether to remove parking and install buffered bike lanes on El Camino Real from Rengstorff Avenue to around Los Altos Avenue. Caltrans will repave El Camino in 2023, and is offering to install bike lanes in cities where their councils support it. This is a once in 25-30 year chance to make improvements along this state highway.
There are dozens of important shopping, dining, and other types of destinations along this stroad, and students from both Mountain View and Los Altos need to ride along El Camino in order to cross it to get to schools, including Los Altos High in Los Altos and Mistral Elementary in Mountain View. Note: as a separate project, the City of Mountain View is also working with Caltrans to add buffered and/or protected bike lanes from Rengstorff Avenue to the Sunnyvale border when Caltrans repaves Mountain View’s stretch of El Camino. Continuity between the cities will improve cycing safety throughout the region.
Even though much of El Camino between Rengstorff Avenue and Los Altos Avenue falls in Mountain View, Los Altos and Caltrans have jurisdiction over this portion of the corridor, so Los Altos needs to hear from Mountain View residents who would like to see improvements here. Studies are complete for the Los Altos area and Caltrans will pay for the bike lanes. Caltrans and Los Altos staff recommend removal of parking and painting of buffered bike lanes. Los Altos City Council just needs to approve. Apparently there are some very vocal opponents to removing parking among the nearby neighbors and the council is split (likely a close vote).
Please support this project by emailing Los Altos City Council at:
PublicComment@losaltosca.gov
with the title: PUBLIC COMMENT AGENDA ITEM #5 El Camino Bike Lanes - March 22, 2022
Better yet, attend the Los Altos Council meeting online to speak in favor of the project. Here are the meeting details:
Date: Tuesday, April 22
Time: 7pm
Click to attend: https://webinar.ringcentral.com/j/1464860475
Note: if you don’t have the latest version of Ringcentral installed, download it here: http://www.ringcentral.com/download.html
Agenda: https://meetings.municode.com/adaHtmlDocument/index?cc=LOSALTOSCA&me=5a5f8c9cf2b64f88841a7d71c3121c1a&ip=True
Summary of agenda item #5 with links to materials (staff report, parking study, proposed resolution):
El Camino Real Bike Lanes: Consider and Adopt Resolution supporting Class IIB - Buffered Bicycle Lane Installation on El Camino Real – City Limits between Adobe Creek and ~500-FT South of Rengstorff Avenue as part of Caltrans Street Resurfacing Improvements scheduled for Summer 2023; Approve Removal of Street Parking to Accommodate this Improvement. Lane restriping along El Camino Real for bicycle traffic is exempt from review under CEQA pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15301 (Existing Facilities) in that it entails minor alterations to existing public facilities involving negligible or no expansion of existing or former uses, it would not create additional automobile lanes, and none of the circumstances described in CEQA Guidelines Section 15300.2 would apply. (M.Lee)
Stay tuned for info on Mountain View’s stretch of El Camino Real. We hope the topic will come to a Mountain View BPAC or City Council meeting in the future.