Personally I don't think I have ever parked on El Camino, wouldn't want to open my door in that traffic. However, I think keeping bikes on other streets rather than El Camino would make better sense to me.

Expect to be hit by a car if you ride on the meat grinder. Terrible idea.

Only by creating more safe bike routes will Palo Alto get more people out of their cars and onto healthy and environmentally friendly bikes. I support the Caltrans plan to install bike lanes on El Camino. I further hope that these new lanes provide adequate protection from cars, busses and trucks.

How special. Can't wait to see how many more businesses this kills and how many more cars get pushed into neighborhoods to accommodate those suicidal enough to choose to bike on this busy road.

Also how great that we're giving Caltrans even more money for this nonsense when they can't even fix the potholes that have been there forever.

Who determines these absurd priorities?? Shameful.

This is a great idea. I hope it works and look forward to riding it upon completion.

I love the existing pleasant bike paths that we have that connect the city. They are very relaxing and never seem crowded. So what need are we serving here?
I'm really concerned about the safety issues and losing parking on El Camino (which I do use, and even if you don't personally use it, you can see others use it). We have many businesses just north of Cal Av that don't have other good parking options. Then there are the RVs, which would need to be accounted for.
Unless there is a protective barrier, biking will not be safe. If there is a protective barrier it will need to be cut at every block to allow turns.

I don't understand what, specifically, is driving the plan to put a bike lane on ECR. It doesn't seem to connect anywhere (maybe someday?). Just a little bit off ECR is the Bryant bike blvd - much more pleasant and hardly near capacity.
I ride anywhere within 6-8 miles that I can. I get the exercise, it's much more pleasant, and parking is never a concern. This includes going to downtown PA, Castro, and Main St in Los Altos. But a bike lane on ECR is probably just one more reason I'll avoid it.

To understand these bike routes, you have to think regionally, and to think about the new residential developments coming for El Camino Real. Look to Mountain View and Redwood City and see how ECR is changing in those regions to see what is coming. As those new buildings come in, all those new residents deserve to have a safe bike route to their doorstep, and we all deserve to have a safe path to access businesses on El Camino.

Thinking regionally, you have to understand that people do actually bike commute over 10+ miles, and El Camino Real is the most direct route down the peninsula from downtown to downtown. ECR is going to be a bike route through other cities, and it doesn't make sense for Palo Alto to detour bike traffic from ECR, to Park Boulevard, to Wilkie Way, and back to ECR to accommodate through traffic. It's too hidden and indirect. If you want to build a regional direct bike route, it's going to have to be along a major road, because those are the only direct right of ways (other than perhaps train tracks and adjacent trails).

If I was a bike rider wanting to ride more than a block, El Camino is just not the place to do it. Too many driveways, too many traffic lights, too many bus stops. Choosing Bryant or Park makes more sense as less overall traffic, less traffic lights and the only driveways are residences, not strip malls.

In fact, driving El Camino more than a block or two makes little sense for the same reasons as above, I choose Alma and Central Expressway.

Who really is in charge of making these decisions? Do they actually ride a bike for miles on El Camino? Do they even drive more than a mile on El Camino?

Great project. People have a hard time envisioning how good a thing this can be, because El Camino is so awful right now. The sentiment will change once it gets built. ECR can be a critical connection for cyclists across the peninsula, which would otherwise require a convoluted maze of backstreets to accomplish.

Hundreds of PAUSD k-12 school students cross El Camino Real every day. Those long, busy CROSSINGS need to be safer. The VTA 22 bus is heavily used. As high density housing is added to this corridor, there will be more demand for transit, so more people will need to cross El Camino Real on foot and on bikes to get to the VTA bus stops. Plan for this increased need.

Caltrans should be looking at injury/fatality collision data to understand where our greatest needs for bicycle/pedestrian safety improvements lie. The city has asked for this data. I have been reaching out to Caltrans in writing since 2021, asking them to integrate improved CROSSINGS in their repaving plans, especially on school commute routes.

The State, and Federal government (and Caltrans itself) have all adopted the Safe System approach to planning. Before that, Caltrans and the State had a Complete Street policy which would also have required CROSSING improvements.--but Caltrans has resolutely ignored these policies and directives in this planning process. Follow policy!

Bike lanes on El Camino would decrease safety, not increase it. Safety comes from grade separation of different modes of transport - that's why we don't allow bikes and pedestrians on 280 or 101. Getting rid of street parking in a commercial strip like El Camino is nuts, too.

One of many news pieces lately about how the San Francisco bike lanes are bad for business:

Web Link

This is such an insane proposal. We already have a fantastic bike route an average of two blocks offset from El Camino, that is safe, shaded, and most importantly low-stress + pleasant. Ignoring all costs and external congestion, El Camino is noisy, has little to no shade, has stop lights every few blocks, and will be a miserable place to ride. I'd bet 100:1 that even if built, this will carry far less traffic than our existing and beautiful bike boulevard.

PS. I'm not saying there are no improvements to be made, but simply that El Camino is not the solution.

Here's the bike route map from the city: Web Link

For those unfamiliar, I'll describe the well used & enjoyed route, by students, commuters, stanford staff, and families for enjoyment. From North to South starting at the University Ave Caltrain station:
* Bike path on the Southwest side of the train tracks, past PAMF and Paly to Churchill.
* Bike blvd through Southgate (no through traffic, beautiful trees, good signage)
* Park blvd from Peers park to the Southern end of Ventura neighborhood. This already has traffic calming, mostly only bikes for through traffic, tons of shade, etc.
* Wilkie Wy to the bike/ped bridge to Mountain View.

Notes:
* On the Mountain View side things don't connect super well, but there's an opportunity as a new pedestrian park was put in between Fayette and El Camino, that could connect to a Southern bike route.
* The largest issue of the current route is RVs parked along Park Blvd, blocking visibility for cars & bikes, and infringing on the bike lane.

Yes, let's get everyone out of their cars. What a great sensible project.

Force parents to bike or walk their kids to / from school.

Force cleaning people, plumbers, gardeners, builders, roofers, painters and all other service people to use bikes, pulling all their equipment behind them.

Force delivery vehicles off the roads and require them to bike their deliveries from the airports / warehouses etc to the recipient.

Force seniors and those suffering from illnesses and disabilities out of their cars and medical transport vans to bike to their medical appointments

Convert all ambulances and fire engines to bikes.

Expand funeral parlor hearse fleets because EMTs, fire engines, police will be too gridlocked to reach the sites of accidents, fires, crimes etc. in a timely fashion.

Give the geniuses who dreamed this up raises and bonuses and increase the Caltrans accordingly.

Hire more retail consultants to focus on why retail is dying and to showcase PA as a new tourism destination as per City Council priorities. Increase utility rates accordingly,

Expand PA's Mental Health programs to explore increase in road rage and pedestrian injuries.

Revise PA's sustainability goals to account for increased pollution due to gridlocked idling cars.