Five people were injured, two of them critically, in a multi-vehicle crash Tuesday morning at the intersection of Bay Road and University Avenue in East Palo Alto. The collision happened around 8:20 a.m., according to the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office, which responded alongside East Palo Alto police.
Two adults suffered life-threatening injuries, the Sheriff's Office said, while the conditions of three other people hurt in the crash were not immediately known. The cause of the collision remains under investigation. As reported by NBC Bay Area, the crash left the roadway littered with damaged vehicles and prompted a heavy emergency response at the busy intersection. Sheriff's deputies typically provide this kind of major-incident support to East Palo Alto police as part of a broader regional mutual aid arrangement, according to a City of San Mateo document.
Tuesday's wreck struck at ground zero for East Palo Alto's traffic troubles. The intersection anchors the city's “4 Corners” district, a high-density commercial hub designated under the Ravenswood/4 Corners Specific Plan, per city planning documents from the City of East Palo Alto. University Avenue also functions as the southern segment of State Route 109, funneling commuters toward Highway 101 and the Dumbarton Bridge via State Route 84, according to Gribblenation.
A Corridor With a Troubled History
This is far from the first serious wreck at this stretch of road. An 18-month analysis of police collision logs covering January 2024 through June 2025 found 346 vehicle collisions citywide, with University Avenue and Bay Road repeatedly flagged as primary crash hotspots, the East Palo Alto Sun reported. That same analysis found hit-and-runs accounted for 53 percent of all vehicle collisions recorded in the city during the period.
The intersection has seen tragedy before. In May 2022, a speeding solo-vehicle crash near Bay Road left one driver dead after the car struck a tree, shutting the corridor down for more than four hours, SFGATE reported at the time. Then in May 2025, a crash at the same intersection injured four people, including pedestrians, and ended with the arrest of a driver who tried to flee the scene, according to East Palo Alto Sun reporting.
A City Grappling With a Run of Crashes
Tuesday's collision also lands amid a stretch of high-profile traffic incidents in East Palo Alto this year. Hoodline previously reported on a hit-and-run earlier this month, on September 7, when a driver swerved around an illegally parked car near East Bayshore Road, struck two pedestrians, destroyed a neighborhood food stand and fled onto Interstate 880, according to NBC Bay Area. Investigators in that case used Flock automated license plate readers to track the suspect vehicle to Fremont.
City leaders reviewed and maintained the Flock Safety license plate reader contract in April, a tool that has become central to how East Palo Alto and county investigators pursue hit-and-run suspects, per East Palo Alto Sun reporting. The city has also invested in other infrastructure aimed at easing conflicts along the University Avenue corridor, including a bicycle and pedestrian overcrossing above Highway 101 that opened in July 2025 after police recorded 39 collisions within one block of University Avenue and Donohoe Street in the 18 months before it opened, the East Palo Alto Sun reported.
Regional Pressure on Local Streets
Part of the corridor's strain comes from its role funneling regional commuter traffic. SamTrans is studying the surrounding transit corridor through its Reimagine Dumbarton initiative, which aims to establish dedicated bus, bicycle and pedestrian connections between East Palo Alto and Redwood City, according to SamTrans. The unused Dumbarton rail corridor currently acts as a physical barrier separating local neighborhoods, the agency notes.
Whether speed or impairment played a role in Tuesday's crash has not been determined, and the updated conditions of the two critically injured adults have not been released. It also remains unclear whether city traffic planners will pursue additional signalization or calming measures at the 4 Corners intersection following this latest collision.
