70 responses to “Peninsula Ave. Interchange – Back, Really?”

1. Laura

   July 1, 2015

   That would be my guess Joanne. I can’t see how they can fight against it as this project is just a drop in the bucket for what they have planned for Burlingame. Unfortunately, our residents will wake up too late to stop any of it and they won’t realize what is happening till the bulldozers arrive.

2. Joanne

   July 1, 2015

   Too much money to be made Laura.
   The City is in essence like a business and they have to make money right?
   Who’s willing to get up off their couch and put up a fight?

3. Laura

   July 1, 2015

   Not many I’m finding out. They all talk a good story, but when push comes to shove, they don’t show up. They will unfortunately when it’s too late to stop. Once the cars come speeding through their neighborhoods and their parks get overrun with people, they’ll then wonder where the Burlingame they all loved, has gone. It really is a shame!

4. Joanne

   July 1, 2015

   History has shown you have to fight for what you want otherwise don’t complain.
   Put up or shut up!

5. fred

   July 1, 2015

   The main reason Burlingame will be behind this is the 3,000 new employees over at the drive-ins site. And there is a very good possibility of more office buildings going up in that area.

6. Cynthia

   July 6, 2015

   My 2 cents, Burlingame cannot add the new office building development at the drive-in site with upwards of 3,000 workers and then not support the southbound on-ramps to 101. How are those people going to get to/from work?

7. Pattern recognition…

   July 6, 2015

   Don’t worry, Cynthia. It’s like a 40 year old virgin at this point.

8. Pattern recognition…

   July 7, 2015

   …that is, no tenants seem to want to sign a lease at the property because every major tenant wants to be on the Caltrain (see Redwood City).

9. Joanne

   July 7, 2015

   So what are the facts on the drive in site?? Is a huge office development really going in there? I am hearing No.
   Meanwhile San Mateo keeps pushing Peninsula southbound ramps and continually mentions this huge office development at that site.
   Straight talk… give me the actual reality of this project moving forward?
   Otherwise a whole neighborhood and many businesses will be affected because of this pipe dream.

10. Laura

    July 7, 2015

    There has been an office complex planned there for quite some time now. It’s been on and off for years. Within the past few years, one developer that got his project approved in 2012 or the concept of it approved, I believe backed out. I recently read in April, here on the Voice, that an Asian Pacific investment group purchased it or took it over and will build offices to promote Chinese investments in the Bay area. So Fred is right, there could potentially be over 3000 employees there and Burlingame needs a way to get them to and from the office complex. You can read the article under Categories, Bay Front Development on the Burlingame Voice. So yes, our City is selling our neighborhood out and will more than likely not fight the overpass as they need to get those employees to and from the old drive in movie site. As well as to the 133 + unit, four story apartment complex on Myrtle and Bayswater, the six story high rise office complex proposed for the empty offices near Christies Cafe on California as well as the development of the old post office site. Those are just a few of the developments in the works that may be too late to slow down or stop. The politicians all think that since these projects that are near downtown, on a railroad line, that these people will all take the train to work, won’t want cars and will walk downtown, to the grocery store etc., and are all proposed to be under parked. That’s a pipe dream and more than likely, they will be racing down Howard, Baysater, Bloomfield, Dwight, Burlingame Ave., etc. etc. etc.
    That’s why this next election with two City Council members seats up for election is very important.

11. Bobby

    July 7, 2015

    I don’t know if this would work or not. But has there ever been any consideration for a LEFT hand lane exit/ramp going from 101S, right onto airport blvd/peninsula ave, right near the old drive in area? There is ample landing space there for a ramp, and I would think the seamless connection to airport blvd and peninsula ave (through the connector on the east side of 101 that was all built during the 2010 peninsula ave project) would be a plus. This could save the businesses on the west side of 101 on Amphlett. It would also provide natural traffic mitigation/control/pacing for traffic headed westbound on Peninsula.
    Still doesn’t solve the issue of the southbound ramp needed from Peninsula to 101s (which threatens that large apartment building), but maybe a 50% solution can be palatable to the neighborhood.

12. Jennifer

    July 7, 2015

    So, that is an interesting question, Bobby. At least four years ago, I asked a “consultant” they’d hired the same thing– a ramp that did a fly-over, like the one on 92. Since they couldn’t immediately think of a reason why not, it went to somebody else who supposedly looked into it. The next time I asked which was several months later, the answer was (through S.M. staff) that it would be too difficult to find an area to use for the “supports” for such a ramp. Since I’m not an engineer, I have no idea if this is true, or not, but how is it that these exist elsewhere, each time there are interchange connections. My guess is that it is just cheaper for them to lob off all those properties and do the typical interchange they build, with the southbound entry, than to do a more complex engineering project like one of those ramps.

13. fred

    July 8, 2015

    Well, it’s not hot wheels tracks. The 101/92 cloverleaf takes up a much larger footprint than a typical on/off ramp. There’s a big circle of land around the 92 ramp that is just for the freeway.

14. Laura

    July 29, 2015

    Just wanted to let you know that the current developer for the four story apartment complex that was being proposed for the corner of Myrtle and Bayswater has backed out. From what I understand, they could not get confirmation from the City as to how many units they could put at that site. They needed to have 133 to 140 units in order for them to proceed with the project. Since they couldn’t get a firm yes or no to that question, they have backed out. I’d like to think that the City elders heard all of us that wrote to them to voice our opinions on this horrendous project. However, I’m afraid there will possibly be more developers in the wings, waiting to give it another try so we need to stay on it! One down for now though..

15. Joe

    April 21, 2016

    If the declining taxes kill this idea, then maybe they aren’t such a bad idea!!
    __________________________
    As the state struggles to compensate for its transportation pocketbook falling nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars short, those who drive along San Mateo County’s increasingly congested highways may also feel the sting for years to come.
    In making up for a statewide shortfall due to a crisis-level drop in gas tax revenue, San Mateo County may not receive any assistance from the California Transportation Commission, or CTC, in the coming fiscal year. That means delayed improvements including the revamp of the State Route 92 and El Camino Real interchange, planning for the possible installation of HOV or carpool lanes along Highway 101, and interchange reconstruction at Willow Road.
    – See more at: http://www.smdailyjournal.com/articles/lnews/2016-04-21/congestion-cash-crunch-transportation-projects-facing-program-cuts/1776425162106#sthash.ZLSLBynL.dpuf

16. Jennifer

    April 21, 2016

    It doesn’t matter how many TODs they build around here, there is no “Transit” in the “Oriented” to speak of. It is still not convenient or cost effective enough to attract the general public to get out of their cars, and I cannot blame them.
    http://myinforms.com/en-us/a/30730835-staggering-drop-in-vta-bus-ridership-may-signal-dramatic-changes/

17. Bruce Dickinson

    April 21, 2016

    “If you build it they will come” is the famous quote from Field of Dreams, except this it’s the Cesspool of Nightmares that is the current situation with our state, local, and regional governing bodies with respect to allocating resources.
    Bruce Dickinson asks this question: why would one build the TOD housing before the existence of TOD? Any person at any company proposing such nonsense would have a very short lived career. That’s like booking a band for a tour when they even’t have written the songs and laid the tracks for an album!
    It’s absurd, no matter how you slice it. People in charge of these TOD decisions should be ashamed of themselves and how much money and resources they are wasting. Who do they think they’re really helping when what they are telling you is completely out of touch with reality. They cannot be believing what they say, because if they are, they may belong in a different institution, if ya know what I mean?
    Just as a further example, and no one saw this coming (*wink*), but looks like the grand plan to railroad the world’s biggest bus for down our throats is failing miserably! And this is in the midst of CA and SF record property tax and capital gains receipts. What happens during the next recession?
    http://www.sfgate.com/news/bayarea/article/City-Proposing-260-Million-Loan-To-Bail-Out-7242366.php
    Guys, any person who thinks HSR should not be killed immediately is someone you need to throw out of office faster than a drunken sailor about to ruin everyone’s fun at the bar!

18. Joanne

    May 18, 2017

    The City of San Mateo will soon be doing traffic studies (Peninsula Interchange Project) in and around neighborhoods near Peninsula Overpass including some areas of Lyon Hoag. Does anyone know whether the City of Burlingame will contribute to the costs of these traffic studies?? If not, they should just like they did back in 2007. The reasoning back then was so they would have a better handle on how these studies were being conducted by San Mateo since Burlingame paid for half the costs of the study.
    Thinking they should do the same this time around as well.
    Personally I do not have much confidence in San Mateo’s traffic studies in the past and feel they skew the numbers to their advantage.

19. fred

    January 22, 2019

    https://www.smdailyjournal.com/news/local/facebook-takes-all-of-burlingame-point/article_2f7ee206-1933-11e9-9f59-33c5b444ce09

20. resident

    January 25, 2019

    I heard the head of that part of Facebook says there will be 3500 employees there and many of them will be relocating here from Washington state and St. Louis. Why do we hear all this talk about affordable housing from politicians who turn around and approve things that do just the opposite? I feel sorry for the people near Peninsula but almost as sorry for the rest of us.