University Avenue Pedestrian Overcrossing Construction is Underway

Christopher Kao -

Exactly 2 years ago I wrote a post about East Palo Alto raising $15M for the University Avenue pedestrian/bicycle overcrossing.

East Palo Alto Raises $15 M for University Avenue Pedestrian/Bicycle Overcrossing
On December 7, 2021, East Palo Alto City Council announced it had raised $15 million for the University Avenue pedestrian/bicycle overcrossing.
East Palo Alto SunChristopher Kao

I have been tracking this project closely and wanted to write some updates, as it has made a lot of construction progress over the past 3 months.

But first, some photos...

(1) Construction equipment on the south side of Highway 101 preparing to install metal encasements for the concrete foundations of the overcrossing. (2) Better view of dirt work on the south side. (3 & 4) Center divider has been removed in preparation for the center pillar for the new bridge. (5 & 6) New dirt hill has been created on the north side of Highway 101.

Last week, I stopped by to speak with the construction workers and I learned these updates on the project:

  1. The dirt hill on the north side (Chevron, Amazon, Ikea) needs 90 days to settle before more work will be done on top of it.
  2. Construction crews are not working the week of Christmas. After the holidays, they will continue
  3. Construction has been happening at night too because when they open a hole, they need to fill it in soon before water pools in due to the higher groundwater levels as we are closer to the Bay.

For more information, see the City's official page here.