After the adoption of the Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan in 2012, the City Council of Palo Alto will begin discussing the implementation of bike boulevards to improve bicyclist safety, according to City Councilman Marc Berman.

Maybell and Churchill Avenue will be the locations of first boulevards. “Both of these roads have considerable student bicycle traffic,” Berman said. “We [the city] want to make these routes safer and more convenient for Palo Alto’s students to be able to bike to school.”

These boulevards will improve bicyclist safety by integrating both traffic control and increased amenities for bicyclists. For example, the city will restrict parking on Castilleja and Churchill during certain hours as well as improve intersections like El Camino and Churchill.

Following these first two bike boulevards, the City of Palo Alto plans to implement similar safety improvements all throughout Palo Alto. The completion date of all these boulevards, however, is yet to be decided.

“We want to make sure that we conduct maximum outreach to the community so that everyone has an opportunity to participate in the process,” Berman said. “We intend to take on a few bike boulevards at a time.”

Parent and student participation will be a huge factor in the implementation of these boulevards, according to Berman.

To stay up to date on the progress as well as view all the ongoing bicycle boulevard projects, visit http://paloaltobike.fehrandpeers.net.