Caltrans Construction on El Camino Still Underway

At the Millbrae City Council meeting Tuesday evening, an update on the construction at El Camino Real and Millbrae Avenue was presented by Millbrae public works director Ron Popp.

Construction delays, traffic congestion and pedestrian safety remain a concern as the work on the area continues.

The project began in February when Caltrans removed the triangular island by and Chase Bank to improve pedestrian safety on El Camino Real. The project plans also include interconnecting all the signals along El Camino Real from Millbrae Avenue to the San Mateo County line on the southern end.

“Once the work is done, safety vehicle access and bus traffic will be able to control the signals and control the green light time,” said Popp.

The work, which was slated for completion last month, is still causing traffic delays for motorists approaching the right-hand turn from Millbrae Avenue.

“The delay on completion is mainly due to the rain,” explained Popp at the meeting. “We talk to Caltrans once a week, and we’re keeping tuned in and putting pressure on them to get this project done this month.”

To ease traffic congestion, Caltrans increased the timing of the green light on Millbrae Avenue and now prohibits u-turns for southbound El Camino drivers.

“All the fallout from the construction, removing those two pork chop islands at Peter’s Café and Chase Bank, has been the heavy congestion we're experiencing at that intersection, and it’s even worse at commute time, backing up all the way to Rolands Road,” said Popp.

To mitigate some of the congestion, Caltrans has installed a right turn signal heading westbound on Millbrae Avenue and eliminated the u-turn heading southbound.

The problem is, “it’s not working,” said Vice Mayor Gina Papan.

"It’s too sharp of a turn to maneuver turning right off Millbrae Avenue onto El Camino, and it’s backing up to 101 during commute time so it’s not meeting the current needs and the change is affecting the commute,” said Papan.

Mayor Marge Colapietro, who has spent some time out there observing the traffic and construction, concurs, adding that many drivers are not seeing or are ignoring the no u-turn sign and now instead of getting warnings, offenders are receiving tickets from deputies who are out there on duty.

“We’ve had a lot of complaints in general,” said Popp.

Trucks have a tough time making that turn onto El Camino off Millbrae Avenue and some people pull up and stop without proceeding through, he explains.

“We’re seeing that a lot now during the construction. People come down to that intersection, and you can stop and make a legal right hand turn,” Popp said, “but people get scared especially with the cameras there, and so they don’t proceed.”

Mayor Colapietro said that she’s glad there’s a right hand turn signal “but it is not timed very well from the 76 Gas Station to Peter’s Café and so cars heading west aren’t paying attention to the pedestrians," she said. "There’s not enough safe time to get across, and it’s turning green before they can get across.”

She’s concerned that “something is going to happen to someone so they need to do something with the timing of those lights and pay attention to pedestrian safety,” she said.

Popp said Caltrans is looking into these issues and is hoping this project gets wrapped up at the end of this month before the city starts on its own project installing a traffic light at Victoria and El Camino early May.

The Millbrae City Council meets on the second and fourth Tuesdays each month at 7 p.m. in the City Council Chambers, 621 Magnolia Avenue, Millbrae, CA 94030. It is Council’s intent to adjourn this meeting by 11:00 PM. The times listed on this Agenda are offered to guide the flow of the meeting, are estimates, and are not binding. Matters may be taken up anytime after the starting time of the meeting.

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