Three weeks ago, 31-year-old Andrea Vallebueno, a Mexico City-born data scientist at Stanford University was killed by a car while riding her bike on the dangerously designed Holly St freeway overpass in San Carlos California, a sprawled suburb south of San Francisco.

5 years ago (2019), I was walking through the exact area where the incident happened, coming from San Carlos' CalTrain station to the business park on the other side of US 101 Fwy. I was to attend a meeting at the nonprofit offices of the Silicon Valley Social Venture Fund (SV2), where I will venture a guess that very few (if any) commuted by any other means than a car

I had one single thought: “this place almost wants to kill pedestrians and cyclists.” I took pictures:

The full details of the incident are unknown, so I am not attributing my complaints directly to the cause of death. But the fact that the site in question had been burned into my memory as appalling for its lack of safety, I feel it is timely and important to share my thoughts.

The city of San Carlos reportedly "was working toward a bicycle and pedestrian overpass over Highway 101, which was said to be ready for construction in 2019, but was ultimately delayed by a widening project."

By widening project, they mean “FREEWAY widening project.”

And this is my first gripe: there is a possibility that Vallebueno’s' life could have been saved had the city of San Carlos decided to prioritize walkability and bikeability over car-Centric urban sprawl. They did not.

If you want to access the east side of highway 101 and the Bay Trail from the actual city of San Carlos, you are required to walk or ride over the Holly St overpass in the path of high-speed traffic.

The pedestrian crossings at the freeway onramps do not have any protective infrastructure for people crossing the street or riding down the bike lane.No stoplights. No signals. Just a little bit of faded paint.

If you wish to use these pedestrian crossings, you will need to negotiate fast moving vehicles eager to get on and off the 101 freeway. I waited on the curb, no one stopped for me. You wil have to cross the street assuming that none of the vehicles can see you. Essentially, you have little choice but to run and pray…

…and repeat four times.

If you are lucky enough to make it past the first challenge (the overpass), you'll then have to contend with interrupted sidewalks. If you suddenly find yourself walking on green lawn, or carefully manicured plant life, the message is clear: “the sidewalk is on the other side of the street, silly!”

While it is somewhat encouraging to see they invested in sign infrastructure for the safety of local wildlife, eventually you start to suspect that the City of San Carlos cares more about the ducks than humans who don’t drive.

Almost there! Just one last obstacle to negotiate. Because the sidewalk only exists on one side of the street, and your final destination exists on the other side, you are now forced to walk across five lanes of road, no crosswalks.

What’s another dice roll anyway? Time to run and pray.

While dodging traffic from both directions, if for some reason you are appalled at the lack of mobility justice, you only have yourself to blame for picking a destination that happens to be on the opposite side of the sidewalk. Sorry.

Have you considered driving a car?