San Mateo is closing in on a near-complete design for a major makeover of 19th Avenue and Fashion Island Boulevard, a roughly $28 million to $29 million multimodal package that bundles protected bike lanes, intersection fixes, and new pedestrian upgrades into one big corridor redo.
The project extends from Pacific Boulevard to Mariners Island Boulevard and has been identified by city staff as a priority to ease congestion and improve safety. A city commission recently reviewed what are essentially final design concepts, and the plan is headed to the City Council later this month for a key check-in.
Design Work Hits the Home Stretch
After months of outreach and two final public meetings in April, the draft plans have moved into detailed engineering, according to the City of San Mateo. The package calls for protected bikeways, new curb ramps, a pedestrian walkway on the south side of the Seal Slough bridge, and signal timing tweaks meant to make trips more predictable for buses, cyclists, and drivers alike.
Two-Way Bike Lanes on the West End
The corridor is slated to get Class IV separated bike lanes throughout, with engineers planning a two-way facility on the western segment that shifts both bike lanes to the same side of the street to keep things continuous.
Senior Engineer Bethany Lopez told the San Mateo Daily Journal, “We switched from a typical one-way bike facility ... to what is called a two-way facility,” a change staff say will strengthen crossings and continuity for people on bikes.
Crash History Drives the Push
Behind the design work is a sobering stat: roughly 200 collisions along the corridor between 2019 and 2024. Several hot spots show up in the data, including the Delaware intersection and the Fashion Island and Norfolk area, with a small but notable share of crashes involving people walking or biking.
That crash history, combined with community feedback, helped shape the draft layout, according to Move San Mateo, which has been tracking safety concerns along the route.
Bridge Lanes, Turn Pockets and Other Geometry Tweaks
The current draft would slim and shift lanes on the Seal Slough bridge to two eastbound lanes and one westbound lane. It would also stretch the left-turn lane at Fashion Island Boulevard and Norfolk Street into a roughly 550-foot left-turn-and-through lane, and carve out a new median to separate State Route 92 off-ramp traffic from vehicles turning into the ARCO driveway.
City roll-plot exhibits and design drawings highlight new curb ramps, the added south-side pedestrian walkway on the bridge and other elements intended to cut down on conflict points, according to the City of San Mateo.
Who Pays the Nearly $29 Million Tab
The total price tag is estimated at about $28 million to $29 million. A funding package outlined in a San Mateo County Transportation Authority memorandum includes around $21.5 million from Measures A and W, $3.9 million in federal grants, $3 million from Regional Measure 3 and roughly $500,000 from the City of San Mateo.
The memorandum notes that construction is anticipated to start in 2027, with final design work and environmental clearance still on the to-do list before the project can go out to bid, according to the San Mateo County Transportation Authority.
Next Stop: City Council
The Sustainability and Infrastructure Commission has already weighed in on the near-final design, with commissioners voicing support ahead of the upcoming City Council review, as reported by the San Mateo Daily Journal.
If the Council signs off and the funding lineup stays intact, the city would move into environmental review and final engineering, with an eye on that 2027 construction start.
