Below is a recent letter from the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition to the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors. After careful research and thoughtful deliberation, the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition decided to support Stanford's offer to fund the study of safer alternatives for pedestrians and cyclists along the lower Alpine Road corridor. As a member of the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition, current resident of Ladera, and past resident of Stanford Weekend Acres, I encourage you to read this letter.

December 1, 2011

San Mateo County Board of Supervisors

Hall of Justice

400 County Center

Redwood City, CA 94063

VIA EMAIL: bos_webmaster@co.sanmateo.ca.us

RE: Lower Alpine Trail

Dear Board:

We encourage the County Board of Supervisors to accept a portion of the money offered by Stanford in regards to the Lower Alpine Trail to study various alternatives regarding a multi-use path.

We recognize that the existing substandard trail alongside Alpine Road is currently being utilized by children, families, and recreational cyclists and walkers/joggers. We believe that the current trail is unsafe, and believe that San Mateo County should accept money from Stanford University to study various options connected with improving bicycle and pedestrian travel in the

Alpine corridor.

While Stanford's money may only be available for the design and

construction of off-road multi-use trails, we also urge the County to maintain its focus on the on-road cycling infrastructure in this corridor. We ask the County to support a study that examines further improvements to the Alpine Road / I-280 interchange. Public Works staff has already proposed several relatively inexpensive improvements to the interchange—however, there may

be opportunities to incorporate more significant intersection improvements into a more comprehensive corridor study.

Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition members have significant concerns regarding the design of the trail. We encourage San Mateo County staff to investigate innovative design standards, such as the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) guidelines, in identifying alternatives for the multi-use path. The study should include a safety analysis for trail users.

In studying the Lower Alpine C1 Trail redesign options, SVBC would request to be involved in the plan review and offers our expertise in cycling infrastructure to provide constructive feedback to San Mateo County regarding trail design and implementation.

Sincerely,

Corinne Winter

President & Executive Director