C/CAG and the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) hosted a ribbon cutting event on November 9, 2016 at the City of San Mateo Police Department to celebrate construction completion of the San Mateo SMART Corridor Project.
California Assemblyman Kevin Mullin, Caltrans District Director Bijan Sartipi, Chair of C/CAG and Commissioner of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission Alicia C. Aguirre, Chair of the San Mateo County Transportation Authority and San Mateo County Supervisor Carole Groom, and Mayor of Atherton Elizabeth Lewis, were in attendance along with the San Mateo City Manager, local law enforcement officers, and Public Works Directors from cities and the County.
This project brings new tools using advance technologies to manage traffic locally and regionally. It is an undertaking by 15 different agencies, a 20-mile stretch spanning from East Palo Alto to San Bruno, covering streets and roads that are parallel to US 101 such as the El Camino Real, Bayfront Expressway, Middle Field Road, Veterans Blvd, Industrial Road, Delaware Street, California Drive, and Rollins Road. It also includes streets connecting to the US 101 such as Whipple Ave, Brittan Ave, Holly Street, Ralston Ave, Hillsdale Blvd, Millbrae Ave, and San Bruno Ave.
This $35 million dollar project includes upgraded traffic signal controllers with remote management capability, new closed circuit television cameras acting as eyes and ears for traffic engineers and emergency responders, electronic message signs to direct drivers, and a vehicle 2 detection system. The entire sophisticated network is integrated by fiber-optic cables that link 10 cities along this corridor. This integrated communication system provides real-time information to local traffic engineers for day-to-day traffic management and to traffic monitors in the Caltrans Transportation Management Center (TMC) in Oakland. The system will also help manage local traffic impacts due to any major incidents along US 101 in San Mateo County.
“This project demonstrated the successful collaboration between local cities, C/CAG, and Caltrans to improve traffic congestion in the region,” said Alicia Aguirre, Chair of the C/CAG Board of Directors.
“The Smart Corridor is one more example of all agencies in San Mateo County working in partnership to do what can’t be done alone”, said Rich Napier, the retired Executive Director of C/CAG, who was originally conceived the project concept. Project partners include City/County Association of Governments of San Mateo County (C/CAG), California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), San Mateo County Transportation Authority (SMCTA), County of San Mateo, and the following cities: Atherton, Belmont, Burlingame, East Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Millbrae, Redwood City, San Bruno, San Carlos, and San Mateo.