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Fourteen new all-way stop signs, better paved roads and more infrastructure for walking and biking are among the million-dollar changes in store for the Centennial Neighborhood.
The Redwood City Council unanimously approved the contract on Monday for the 2026 Centennial Neighborhood MicroSurfacing Project. The contract designates roughly $3.3 million to better Centennial Neighborhood’s roadways. The project will improve pavement conditions, add road signs and complete street enhancements.
Staff stated in a report Monday that all-way stops increase pedestrian and bicyclist safety and activity. The 14 intersections at which the council agreed to introduce all-way stops were identified through a Centennial Neighborhood traffic study. It considered locations for new ADA-compliant curb ramps, pedestrian mobility, the planned bike network and community concerns related to traffic on certain streets.
RWC Walk Bike Thrive, the city’s plan document to improve walking, biking and traffic safety conditions throughout Redwood City, noted that the Centennial Neighborhood is among the city’s “most vulnerable and impacted in terms of transportation needs,” with one of the largest percentages of non-white residents in the city.
The plan identified future bikeways along E Street, A Street, Arguello Street, Warren Street, Allerton Street, Howland Street, Standish Street, Hopkins Avenue and Samson Street to “create a seamless bicycle network” in that part of the city, the staff report stated.
The city drew from the Federal Highway Administration’s 2019 Bikeway Selection Guide in curating this bikeway. The guide favors low-speed and low-volume streets, as well as safe intersection crossings. Moreover, the all-way stops at each intersection are intended to clarify the vehicle and bike right-of-way, to quell collisions.
The approved improvements include 10-foot vehicle travel lanes with parking edge lines to visually mark roadways. “Share the Road” markings will also be introduced. At the all-way stop intersections, the city will add high-visibility crosswalk markings and reflective red signposts where high pedestrian activity and cut-through traffic frequently compete, according to the staff report.
Council member Chris Sturken asked the city’s director of engineering and transportation, Tanisha Werner, why one of the intersections along the stretch would not get all-way stop signs. Werner said it’s because of circulation and flow of traffic reasons.
Sturken added that he appreciates the stop signs being added to Standish and Warren streets, where there have been several accidents over the past few years, and where his neighbors and constituents have pressed him to improve traffic safety.
At a presentation before the council last year hosted by Principal Transportation Planner Malahat Owrang, she highlighted that, of the 100-plus cities in California of its size, Redwood City has the third most collisions. She then compared the city’s score to that of Palo Alto, which has the second fewest number of collisions in the state, according to the California Office of Traffic Safety. California is in the top 10 for most deadly states for pedestrians.
Between 2019 and 2024, Redwood City saw more than 3,000 collisions, with 3% either fatal or severe, according to Owrang. Most of these accidents, she said, took place on wider streets, which have a higher volume of cars that move faster.
