New Palo Alto Highway 101 Pedestrian, Bike Bridge To Be Unveiled

By Jana Kadah, Bay City News Foundation

PALO ALTO, CA — A pedestrian/bicycle bridge over U.S. Highway 101 in Palo Alto is opening this weekend.

On Saturday morning, city, county and other project leaders will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony to commemorate its completion.

The bridge, located at Adobe Creek near the city's southern border, was built to replace the seasonal Benjamin Lefkowitz underpass that was typically available only half the year because of seasonal flooding.

This project is one of the city's nine key Capital Improvement Program projects outlined in Palo Alto's Infrastructure Plan, adopted by the City Council in 2014. Its completion links Palo Alto and north Santa Clara County residents to "amenities like the Baylands Golf Links, hiking and biking the Baylands Nature Preserve, Byxbee Park, San Francisco Bay Trail, and so much more," city officials said in a news release.

The Highway 101 Pedestrian/Bicycle Bridge spans 1,400 feet in length from the West Bayshore Road landing to the East Bayshore Road landing.

To secure the bridge on top of the overpass, steel trusses that are about 100 feet long were placed and cantilevered about 30 feet over the freeway. It's a process that required Highway 101 to fully close between San Antonio Road and Embarcadero Road for nearly five hours earlier this year as the center truss was installed, city officials said.

Construction for the new bridge began in 2020 and ended with a total price tag of $23.1 million from local, state and federal funding, including a $5.5 million grant from Santa Clara County's Stanford Recreation Mitigation Fund, $4.35 million investment from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission's One Bay Area Grant Program and $1 million from a Google grant.

Those interested in learning more about the project can visit cityofpaloalto.org/highway101bridge.

The ribbon cutting Saturday at 10 a.m. will be streamed at youtube.com/c/cityofpaloalto/.

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