26 May Ralston Avenue Corridor Study (City of Belmont)
The Ralston Avenue corridor includes homes, neighborhood serving retail, school campuses, and a Caltrain Station. The corridor is also connected with US 101 and SR 92 and can experience high traffic volumes. The goals of the Ralston Avenue Corridor Study were to determine the adequacy of the corridor for multi-modal use by evaluating the ability to accommodate pedestrians, bicyclists, transit riders and motorists under existing and projected future conditions; and to develop context sensitive transportation alternatives to improve conditions for all users along the corridor. The Ralston Avenue plan was the culmination of three formative working papers that were produced as part of this effort. Within the plan, each segment of the corridor was evaluated in terms of potential improvement to the walking, bicycling and driving environment with the goal of providing continuous, comfortable and safer facilities. Potential alternatives were presented to the community for review and determination of preference. Ultimately, recommendations were created that were the result of extensive stakeholder engagement and community input, prior to inclusion in the plan and presentation to the City Council. The Ralston Avenue Corridor Study was completed in April 2014 and included a complete street plan with context sensitive alternatives for improving multi-modal connectivity along the corridor. Among the key improvements are bicycle lane gap closures and pedestrian facility upgrades throughout the corridor.