NEW! Take The California Street "Before" Survey Today

The City of Mountain View has a project to enhance safety, eliminate fatal or severe injury crashes, and increase the number of sustainable trips on California Street between Showers Drive and Shoreline Boulevard. As part of the 2024 repaving project, the City plans to install new crosswalks and sidewalk corners, and redo the lane striping on California Street. This neighborhood will first experience a Pilot Project, which will be evaluated before it becomes permanent. 

Proposed Lane Configuration Cross Sections

Project Elements

• From Showers Drive to Mariposa Avenue: A four-lane-to-three-lane road diet with one vehicle travel lane in each direction and a center left-turn lane 
• From Mariposa Avenue to Shoreline Boulevard: A four-lane-to-two-lane road diet with one vehicle travel lane in each direction. The center median with trees will remain in place
• Protected intersections (where bikes are separated from vehicle travel ways)
• High-visibility crosswalks throughout the corridor
• Three high-visibility midblock crossings with bulb-outs, refuge islands, and enhanced lighting
• Parking-protected bikeways with a buffered section separating the parked cars from the bikeways
• Green bike lane striping at conflict points such as driveways and bus stops
• Temporary bulb-outs (extra protected space at the corners)
• Car parking spaces will be shifted 12 feet away from the curb

The bikeway buffer area will contain different elements in each section as we test out vertical delineators (flex posts), armadillos (small oval-shaped bumps), and planter boxes to see what works best, what is most cost-effective, and what the community prefers.

The project will remove approximately 63 of the 275 on-street parking spaces to privide sight line clearance at driveways and instersections with the implementation of the parking-protected bikeway, protected intersections, and the new mid-block crosswalks.

California Street is a key east-west corridor connecting downtown Mountain View to the San Antonio Shopping Center with Rengstorff Park and Community Center, the Mountain View Senior Center, and the Teen Center. California Street has a variety of housing types, including multi-family dwellings and rent stabilized units. As a calmer alternative to El Camino Real, it is in a good location for bicycle and pedestrian trips. The Mountain View Community Shuttle and VTA bus routes utilize California Street. California Street is on the High Injury Network, and on the list of the top 8 streets the City plans to improve for safety.

Project Area

Recology Container Placement

After the installation, many residents will need to place their Recology trash collection containers in a new location, several feet away from the curb. See the below image showing where to place your Recology containers. Please do not place your Recology containers in the bike lane. Containers in inappropriate locations will not be emptied. Contact Recology with any questions at 650-967-3034 ContactUsRMV@Recology.com

Timeline

Construction is anticipated in late 2024

The California Street Plan Line Study was presented in the March, 2023 BPAC meeting.
The project plans and specifications were approved by City Council on Tuesday, May 28, 2024.
The project was presented to the Council Transportatin Committee on Tuesday, June 2, 2024.

The public has access to all City Council and Committee meetings which are open for public comment. The public has access to agendas, reports, attachments, and past meeting videos on MountainView.Legistar.com or at YouTube.com/@MountainViewGov. City Council meetings are also broadcast on Comcast Channel 26.

Community Outreach

A flyer explaining the project and announcing the "Before" survey in English and Spanish was sent home with over 550 students at Castro and Mistral schools, dropped at every business along the corridor, and posted at the Mountain View Library and other public locations in late April, 2024. Twenty-four yard signs were placed along the corridor, and 11,800 postcards were mailed in May, 2024. Flyers were posted to over 300 residential doors along the corridor in June, 2024.

More Information

View the Final Project Plans.

If you have any questions or comments, please contact the project manager Hoa Nguyen at hoa.nguyen@mountainview.gov or at 650-903-6311.