A project by Laura Melahn, Candidate for Menlo Park District 4 City Council·Get Updates →
Transportation/Traffic
Funded FY27–31

Willow Road Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Project

Project CPT022 · Public Works

Also identified in the budget as “Willow Rd Ped and Bicyl Safety Proj” (project code CPT022).

Cost & funding
Five-year planned cost
$9,900,000
Where the money comes from
  • Special Revenue Funds$9,900,000
Specifically
  • Transportation Impact Fees$9,900,000

    Fees paid by new development to offset its traffic impact. Can only fund transportation projects in the City's nexus study.

Source: FY 2026–27 CIP, Fund 351 appropriation.

Funding pathway
Mixed sourcesIn pursuit

Mixed funding. City Transportation Impact Fees (Fund 351) are the primary committed source in the FY 2026-27 CIP detail, alongside two SMCTA grants disclosed in the June 9, 2026 City Council budget staff report (Attachment D): the Measure A & W Highway Program Grant ($3,500,000) and a Willow Road / US 101 Interchange landscaping grant ($430,000). Total identified funding is approximately $13.83 million. The City continues to seek additional grants for the construction phase. (The grants are awarded and publicly disclosed but do not appear as expense or revenue line items in the published FY 2026-31 CIP — a point to clarify with staff.)

Category
Capital Improvement Plan
Department
Public Works
Spent FY 2023–25
$789,119
Budgeted FY 2026
$1,450,000
Estimated lifetime cost
$9,900,000
Budget labels for this project

Sources: City of Menlo Park OpenGov CIP detail, project code CPT022; resident-facing name shown here is “Willow Road Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Project”. The OpenGov summary label is “Willow Rd Ped and Bicyl Safety Proj”. Budget worksheet labeled “Willow Road Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Project”.

Related developer project

This project is connected to Willow Village — its scope was shaped, at least in part, by that development (a likely link, inferred from the public record).

Fully funded
No remaining gap
Estimated lifetime cost $9,900,000
Estimated lifetime cost
$9,900,000
Secured (awarded, received, allocated)
$13,830,000
Committed, not yet executed
$0
Pending application
$0
Anticipated (not yet applied for)
Amount not yet determined
Funding gap (not yet covered)
$0
Show source

The lifetime cost estimate is $9,900,000, from 5-year CIP plan total (sum of FY27-FY31 expense) — full lifetime cost NOT yet confirmed (May 30, 2026). Source: https://www.menlopark.gov/Government/Departments/Public-Works/Capital-improvement-projects/Willow-Road-Pedestrian-and-Bicycle-Safety-project. The funding gap is the estimated lifetime cost minus all funding that has not been lost, added up from the funding sources listed below. Year-by-year figures come from the City's adopted five-year capital plan.

Who is paying

Funding sources

Each source carries its own status and citation. Expand a row to see the conditions, dates, and source document. “Ongoing” sources are recurring formula funds; sources still being pursued show no dollar amount.

Transportation Impact Fees (Fund 351)Allocated
$9,900,000
City of Menlo Park (city) · design and construction

Conditions: City-controlled discretionary capital funding source. Collected from developers under the City's transportation nexus study. Restricted to transportation infrastructure tied to that nexus.

The CIP appropriates the full $9.9M FY 2028 spend from Fund 351. This is the City's portion. The SMCTA Measure A&W grant amount, when confirmed, will offset this if the grant is received as reimbursement.

Source: FY 2026-27 Proposed CIP detail, CPT022 line
SMCTA Measure A & W Highway Program GrantAwarded
$3,500,000
SMC Transportation Authority (SMCTA) (regional) · design and construction (partial)

Conditions: Partial funding for both design and construction phases. Award amount $3,500,000, publicly disclosed in the June 9, 2026 City Council budget staff report (Attachment D, grant funding summary as of May 2026).

Award amount publicly disclosed in the June 9, 2026 City Council budget staff report (Attachment D, Grant funding summary as of May 2026). Funding period 2024-26. Prior framing of 'amount not publicly disclosed' was based on the April 2025 Complete Streets Commission presentation; the June 9, 2026 budget staff report has now disclosed $3,500,000.

SMCTA Highway Program — Willow Road/US 101 Interchange LandscapingAwarded
$430,000
San Mateo County Transportation Authority (county) · related work

Conditions: Adjacent/related grant; landscaping portion of the Willow Road corridor work

$430,000 SMCTA Highway Program for Willow Road/US 101 interchange landscaping, funding period 2023-28, per June 9, 2026 staff report Attachment D. May be tracked separately from the primary CPT022 pedestrian/bicycle project but is part of the same corridor.

Additional grant pursuit — construction phaseAnticipated
Various federal, state, regional programs (mixed) · construction

Conditions: Per April 2025 CSC presentation: "Staff is continuing to seek grant opportunities to fully fund Construction Phase." Likely targets include the California Active Transportation Program (ATP), OBAG-3 / OBAG-4 regional allocations, and federal Safe Routes funding.

Captures the City's explicit statement that construction-phase funding is incomplete.

Source: Willow Road CSC presentation, April 9, 2025
Spending

Spending by year

Past years are recorded actuals from the City's general ledger. FY 2026 is the adopted current-year budget. FY 2027 through FY 2031 is what the five-year Capital Improvement Plan proposes to spend.

FY 24$170,395
FY 25$618,724
FY 26$1,450,000
FY 28$9,900,000
Spent Current year (adopted) Planned
Where the money went, line by line
YearFundCategoryAmount
FY 24Special Revenue FundsServices$170,395
FY 25Special Revenue FundsServices$618,724
FY 26Special Revenue FundsFixed Assets & Capital Outlay$1,450,000
Show source

Past years are summed from gl_transactions for this project. FY 2026 is the adopted current-year budget for the project. FY 2027 through FY 2031 is what the City's adopted five-year CIP proposes to spend, taken from cip_projects.

How decisions were made

Council actions

No Council actions are linked to CPT022 yet. As decisions tied to this project are added to the database, they will appear here.

Plan history

How this project changed between plans

The City publishes a new five-year capital plan each year. Here is how this project's five-year total moved from the FY 2025-30 Adopted plan to the FY 2026-31 Proposed plan.

FY 2025-30 Adopted
$3,522,405
FY 2026-31 Proposed
$11,350,000
Change
↑ $7,827,595

“Five-year total” is every expense line for this project in each plan (carryover estimate plus new money). The two plans cover different five-year windows, so part of a change can be the window shifting by a year.

Flagged for clarification
low

5-year envelope increased from $3,522,405 to $11,350,000. SMCTA Measure A&W Highway Program grant referenced in the April 2025 Complete Streets Commission presentation funds the project but the awarded amount is not publicly disclosed.

Possible explanations

  • Increase may reflect updated cost estimates from the April 2025 design progress.
  • Increase may reflect newly secured grant funding for the construction phase.
  • Increase may be a phased authorization aligned with project schedule.

These are possibilities to check, not findings. The published data shows the change; it does not state the reason.

Question for staff

What is the funding mix behind the $11.35M Willow Road Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety 5-year envelope, and what is the disclosed amount of the SMCTA Measure A&W Highway Program grant?

Show source

Each figure is the sum of this project's expense lines in that plan snapshot (view v_cip_plan_comparison, from cip_plan_lines). Flagged questions come from cip_plan_clarifications.