Reimagine Dumbarton is a vision to transform a former freight rail line into a busway and trail for walking and bicycling spanning 5 miles between Redwood City and East Palo Alto on the Peninsula. Reimagine Dumbarton will identify opportunities to use the Dumbarton Corridor to provide access to community destinations, local and regional job centers, and the regional transportation network. The Reimagine Dumbarton study area includes the Dumbarton Corridor between University Avenue in East Palo Alto and Redwood City Transit Center. The feasibility study will determine how to best use the Corridor to create new bus, walking, and biking connections.

The Dumbarton Corridor is currently unused for transportation and is a barrier between communities.

This project offers a unique opportunity to reconnect communities and meet growing transportation demand. Since 2020, the number of trips on an average day between Redwood City and East Palo Alto has increased by more than 30%. These local trips, coupled with increases in regional traffic, result in increasing congestion.

A high-quality bus service responds to the community’s travel patterns and can be delivered more quickly and at lower cost than rail projects, while still providing fast and reliable transit. Busway projects are flexible as travel needs change and have been successful in attracting riders in many other regions.
 

The goals of Reimagine Dumbarton are to:
 

• Improve connections between neighborhoods along the corridor
• Add new pedestrian and bicycle crossings
• Enhance speed and regional bus and Caltrain connections
• Support environmental sustainability
• Connect people to jobs and economic opportunity
• Preserve flexibility for future corridor use
   

SamTrans operates public bus service in San Mateo County and owns the Dumbarton corridor right-of-way. SamTrans is leading the study to assess how reusing it can benefit communities along the Dumbarton Corridor. 

The Project design proposals, released in September 2026, include a continuous four-mile -long paved walking and bicycling trail parallel to a dedicated busway. Project designs also include 15 new public access points; four of these access points will provide a new crossing to help people walking and bicycling get from one side of the corridor to the other. These crossing locations are at Eighth/Ninth Avenue, Bay Road, US-101 and Belle Haven Community Campus. 

There are two possible designs for the new walking and biking trail – a multi-use/combined walking and biking trail or separate trails for people walking and biking. Both options would be paved and run parallel to the busway. Check out the Project Designs tab for more information.

Nine bus stations are proposed between Middlefield Road and University Avenue, spaced approximately 0.3 to 0.6 miles apart. These station locations were chosen to provide access to neighborhoods, employment areas, community destinations, intersecting transit services, and the broader bicycle and pedestrian network, while also considering stop spacing best practices, available access points, and other physical constraints.

• Fair Oaks Health Center/Middlefield Road
• Fifth Avenue
• Ninth Avenue
• Bay Road/Marsh Road
• Bohannon Drive
• Belle Haven Community Campus
• Chilco Street
• Willow Road
• University Avenue

Bus service will also extend to Redwood City Transit Center/Caltrain and destinations  further into East Palo Alto beyond University Avenue. The exact location of routes and stops will be determined based on future community engagement.
 

A dedicated busway will make transit faster and more reliable than it is today. 

The dedicated busway between Middlefield Road and University Avenue would provide a consistent travel time of approximately 13 minutes in both directions, without fluctuations during peak periods or because of traffic. The Project substantially improves transit travel times between destinations, with travel time on common trips dropping by as much as 74%; trips that currently take approximately 48 to 65 minutes would be reduced to approximately 17 to 39 minutes. This will make transit more attractive for riders and more efficient for SamTrans to operate. 
 

The Project looked at many options for how to best connect to Redwood City Transit Center/Caltrain. At this time, we have two near-term options which both exit the busway at Middlefield Road. The Middlefield-Woodside option uses Woodside Road to access El Camino Real before terminating at the Transit Center. The Middlefield-Jefferson option accesses the Transit Center primarily via Middlefield Road and Jefferson Avenue, similar to current SamTrans route 296.

The Project is projected to generate significant growth in transit use in the Project area. Forecasts identify approximately 4,000 weekday transit boardings in the Corridor in the base year (2025) and up to 8,300 in 2050, including over 2,000 and 5,000 new transit trips in the base year and 2050, respectively. The Project alone is forecast to generate an increase in systemwide SamTrans ridership of up to 16 percent in year 2050. Increased ridership on Caltrain and other regional transit services is also expected. 

The Iron Horse Trail, a walking and bicycling trail in the East Bay, has similar land uses and population density to the Dumbarton corridor. Average daily use at the most comparable location along the Iron Horse Trail is approximately 1,000 users, indicating the potential for meaningful daily bicycle and pedestrian use of the Dumbarton Corridor trail.

New or modified signalized intersections will be installed where the busway crosses all streets. The traffic signal design and sequencing would include a phase for pedestrian and bicycle movements along the trail, across the crossing streets. Buses would be fitted with transit signal priority technology to help buses move quickly through intersections. 

With these treatments, traffic simulation models and analysis show that the new busway intersections, including new signals, operate with minimal additional delay compared to today. The Project will work with local city and county partners to ensure smooth signal and traffic operations. 

Community feedback received during Phase I of community engagement directly informed the design alternatives. During Phase I of community engagement, more than 1,000 community members throughout the corridor participated and shared their travel patterns, transportation challenges, and priorities for improving the Dumbarton Corridor. The project team used this input, together with technical analysis, to develop alternatives that respond to the community’s highest priorities while balancing engineering, operational, environmental, and cost considerations.

For example, the alternatives presented during Phase II:
 

• Improve regional transit connections by evaluating multiple ways to connect to Redwood City Transit Center and Caltrain, while providing convenient connections to regional bus services, including Dumbarton Express.
• Provide faster, more reliable transit through a dedicated busway that supports more direct service, increased frequency, and fewer transfers.
• Expand opportunities for walking and bicycling by including a shared-use trail, new pedestrian and bicycle crossings, and improved access to destinations along the corridor.
• Improve access to community destinations by positioning bus stations near neighborhoods, parks, community facilities, and regional transit, with shelters, lighting, and other rider amenities.
• Enhance the corridor as a community space by incorporating opportunities for public gathering and recreation spaces as well as landscaping, where feasible. All designs include privacy treatments such as landscaping and lighting to enhance safety.
   

Yes. This Project will not preclude the opportunity to convert the corridor to passenger rail in the future. 

Reimagine Dumbarton is a multi-phase project. The current phase is a feasibility study, anticipated to be completed in spring 2027. After the feasibility study is complete, environmental studies and preliminary engineering take place, followed by final design. Pending funding availability, construction would start after 2031. 

SamTrans will combine both technical analysis and community input to select a preferred alternative. Technical analysis will include review of existing mobility activity, ridership projections, existing and planned land use, and projected transit travel time savings. Community input will be used to identify current transportation needs, refine the draft alternatives, and understand community priorities.

Should the SamTrans Board of Directors adopt a preferred alternative at the end of the Reimagine Dumbarton feasibility study, the preferred alternative would then advance into environmental clearance, preliminary engineering/design, and eventually final engineering, design and permitting, followed by construction. SamTrans has already secured funding for the environmental clearance and preliminary engineering phases, should the project move forward.

In 2018, SamTrans kicked off a process with Cross Bay Transit Partners, LLC (Facebook and Plenary Americas) to evaluate the technical and financial feasibility of a transit project along the Dumbarton rail bridge, connecting the Caltrain corridor at Redwood City to the East Bay. In Spring 2020, the project was put on hold due to the global pandemic. Facebook and SamTrans compiled and documented pre-environmental work of the alignment and technology options under consideration for the DRC Project.

This effort followed the completion of the 2017 Dumbarton Transportation Corridor Study, a feasibility study that evaluated potential multimodal transportation improvements within the Dumbarton Corridor and found high ridership potential for bus-based alternatives on the corridor.
 

The Dumbarton Corridor has been studied multiple times, mostly focused on regional passenger rail uses. This Study is focused on opportunities to provide new bus, pedestrian, and bicycle connections in the near-term, and is focused on San Mateo County only, west of University Avenue to Redwood City Transit Center. Building off community input received during previous studies, Reimagine Dumbarton focuses on creating safer, faster, and more sustainable connections in the near-term, without a new Bay crossing, to meet the needs of communities in southeast San Mateo County and regional travelers alike.

Bus service on the Dumbarton Corridor would include stations within Peninsula communities and will be operated with quieter and more sustainable zero emission vehicles, reducing noise and greenhouse gas emissions. While this study focuses on near-term bus, pedestrian, and bicycle improvements, it does not prevent train service from being explored along the Dumbarton Corridor in the future.