As a lifelong California resident (I was born in California, although in Los Angeles, and not here in Redwood City) I was steeped in car culture pretty much from birth. Getting my learner’s permit, and then my license, were major rites of passage, and I eagerly looked forward to both. Although I didn’t have my own car until I was in high school (a used Chevy Vega that I bought from my older bother), until then my mother made her massive Chevy station wagon available whenever she wasn’t using it (which was often). So I grew up on LA’s freeways and streets, and grew up with a love of driving.

These days I still enjoy driving, but I do a lot less of it than I once did. I run the occasional errand, and still take a couple of long driving trips each year (to see my kids, to see my siblings, or to see my wife’s siblings), but my wife and I both put far fewer miles on our cars than we once did. These days, you’ll probably not be surprised to hear, I spend more time walking than I do driving. One thing I don’t do much of is ride my bike. When I was a kid I rode a great deal: I loved the freedom that my bike imparted, and back then the traffic levels were lower and drivers seemed to see and respect cyclists more. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case these days. Although I feel fairly safe riding in some of Redwood City’s residential neighborhoods, to really get anywhere one needs to ride on some of the city’s major thoroughfares, and those just don’t feel safe to me (and to many other cyclists, I’m told). Redwood City is slowly adding bike lanes to various city streets, but so far those are mostly (entirely?) just paint on regular streets, and paint of course doesn’t provide nearly the level of protection that physical curbs do. While a painted lane down a street like Vera Avenue might be good enough — the traffic levels on that street seem relatively low — the Vera Avenue Bicycle Boulevard, unfortunately, doesn’t even provide that level of protection but instead has cyclists sharing the full traffic lane with cars.

Very recently — last week or early this week, it seems — a project to add a bike lane to a portion of El Camino Real got underway. While this one is a proper bike lane with a small buffer between the bike lane and the right-most traffic lane, it is still just paint. Thus, I’m not sure I’d feel safe riding along it without more substantial protection. And even if I did feel safe, the fact that the project (so far, at least) is limited to a three-block section of El Camino Real — from Maple Street to Jefferson Avenue — and is only on the north side of the street (the one most people probably think of as the east side) greatly limits its utility.

In the new bike lane’s favor is the fact that there are very few driveways and only one intersecting street along El Camino Real on that side. Thus, theoretically the danger from cars crossing in front of cyclists is fairly limited. And all of the street parking along that section of El Camino has been eliminated, so ideally there should be no danger from cars looking for a place to park. Of course, just today I observed a UPS truck and what I’m guessing was a delivery or ride-share driver both temporarily parked in the bike lane, completely blocking it. Hopefully people will come to realize that the curb along that entire stretch is now painted red, and will change their habits accordingly. But I’m not holding my breath. Oh, and SamTrans buses will continue to service stops along this section of El Camino Real. What I don’t yet know is if the buses will simply stop in the traffic lane, or whether they will pull into the bike lane in order to pick up and drop off passengers.

At some point the project to rework Woodside Road will do something similar. So far most, if not all, of Woodside Road’s curb corners have had ADA ramps added to them, and much of the street has been repaved. But that project is also slated to eliminate parking along much, if not all, of Woodside Road between I-280 and US-101, and add painted bike lanes. Exactly where those will run and what they will look like, though, we may have to wait and see: I have yet to see the actual plans for that particular project.

Speaking of Woodside Road, for those who drive along it and who have an soft spot for fast food, as far as I can tell the Woodside Road McDonald’s is pretty much done now. The parking lot and drive-thru lanes have been paved and striped, and almost all of the landscaping has been installed. Since the building itself seems to have been finished some weeks ago, I see little to keep the contractors from removing the construction fencing.

I was interested to see that on either side of the trash enclosure there are electric car charging stations (these are ChargePoint chargers). I have to wonder just how much use they’ll get — I can’t imagine spending an hour or two in a McDonald’s parking lot just to charge up my car — but then again, the more charging stations there are scattered around our cities, the more people will feel comfortable driving electric cars, which is a good thing.

Over on Whipple Avenue, the project to rework and expand the drive-thru lanes at the Chick-fil-A continues apace. Although the asphalt has yet to be poured, the concrete curbing that will define the lanes appears to be in place, so it may not be long now. If I had to guess, I’d say that Chick-fil-A is on track to reopen before the end of the year.

One place I’d like to be able to ride to is the new Veterans Memorial Building/Senior Center, which suddenly seems to be making great progress. Although there is still a lot of trim work to be completed on parts of the building’s exterior, and undoubtedly there is still a lot to be done inside, I’m heartened to see that with this project, too, the curbing is being installed around the parking areas and driveways, and the sidewalks along Madison Avenue are being rebuilt. As well, the large exterior shade structure that will span a portion of the promenade between the Veterans Memorial Building and the next-door YMCA building (which won’t get underway for quite some time yet) is being erected:

Here is where the “promenade” will run:

This used to be a short section of Nevada Street, but will now be a pedestrian walkway leading from Madison Avenue (in the foreground) between the two buildings (the new Veterans Memorial building is on the left, and the old one — eventually to be replaced by the new YMCA — is on the right).

The Veterans Memorial Building/Senior Center will actually have a fair amount of bicycle parking — 18 spaces near the front entrance (just past those two redwood trees in the above photo) and another 22 by the east entrance — so if I ever do opt to ride my bike over there once it is up and running, I suspect that I’ll have little competition for parking. Then again, I’ll probably just walk, as I do today. Red Morton Park isn’t too far (by my standards, anyway) from my house, and the walk through the residential neighborhoods is a pleasant one. And after all, although I still do enjoy an occasional drive, my preferred method of getting around Redwood City is by walking…