Ruus Rd 

The Ruus Road Complete Streets project is at risk, and we need your help to save it!

Please email the Hayward City Council at list-mayor-council@hayward-ca.gov and urge them to support this project. You can use our email templates or draft your own using the Public Comment Worksheet by Bike East Bay.

¡El proyecto de Calle Completa de Ruus Road está en riesgo, y necesitamos su ayuda para salvarlo! 

Por favor, envíe un correo electrónico al Concejo Municipal de Hayward a list-mayor-council@hayward-ca.gov para instarles a que apoyen este proyecto. Puede usar nuestras plantillas de correo electrónico o redactar el suyo propio usando la Hoja de Trabajo para Comentarios Públicos de Bike East Bay. 

The heart of the problem today is the intersection at Ruus Road and Industrial Parkway. It’s a chaotic and dangerous free-for-all that fails everyone. As a driver, you’re forced to make a risky, unprotected left turn, inching across multiple lanes of high-speed traffic. For anyone walking or biking, the crossing is terrifyingly long, leaving you exposed and vulnerable. The intersection’s excessively wide design acts as a funnel, channeling high-speed traffic from an industrial zone directly into a residential neighborhood, right past a preschool, churches, and community centers.

The Ruus Road Complete Streets project is a comprehensive, data-driven solution. This isn't just about bike lanes; it's a complete safety overhaul that benefits everyone:

• For Drivers: It finally fixes the intersection with protected left-turn signals and uses speed humps to calm the dangerously fast traffic coming from Industrial Parkway.

• For Residents: It improves visibility for people living on the east side, making it safer to pull out of their driveways.

• For Pedestrians: It adds new, high-visibility crosswalks with flashing beacons at key locations like the Peixoto Center preschool and Ruus Lane, making it safer for kids and seniors to cross.

• For Cyclists: It replaces the dangerous 'door-zone' bike lanes with a protected two-way bikeway, creating a safe path for all ages that connects directly to the Ward Creek Trail and the Peixoto Center preschool. It also provides a safer route to multiple community centers and Tennyson Park, especially for the many kids and families now biking to the new Pump Track. 

And yet, this critical safety project is being threatened by the prioritization of saving underutilized on-street parking on the east side, a choice that puts the overall safety benefits for everyone at risk—including the very residents raising concerns about the project.

While it’s right for everyone affected to voice their concerns, the plan shows these impacts have been carefully studied and minimized. The project uses a space-efficient two-way bikeway design, which is what makes it possible to keep all on-street parking on the west side of the street. For the 10 affected homes on the east side, removing parked cars actually improves visibility, making it much safer to pull out of driveways. The city’s own data confirms that evening parking use here is as low as 23%. This shows a thoughtful plan designed to balance the needs of the entire community.

The plan strategically removes parking on only one side of the street, affecting just 10 homes—most of which have large driveways that can fit multiple cars. The city’s own data shows that in the residential area, evening parking usage is as low as 23%.

The Ruus Road Complete Street project is about creating a street that works for everyone, protecting our most vulnerable residents—kids, seniors, people with disabilities—while also making the road safer and less stressful for drivers.

The choice is clear: The overall safety of our community must come first!

If you agree, the most powerful thing you can do is make your voice heard. Please email the Hayward City Council at list-mayor-council@hayward-ca.gov and urge them to support this project. You can use our email templates or draft your own using the Public Comment Worksheet by Bike East Bay.

And in case you’re still wondering why your single email is so critical, let me share a personal story.

Many of you will remember the Hayward Boulevard Traffic Calming project. It was a data-driven plan to make the street safer for everyone, especially students at Cal State East Bay, right after a tragic fatal crash had occurred there. The city spent $150,000 on a study proving the project was needed and that impacts would be minimal. My nephew goes to Stonebrae Middle School, and I’d always dreamed of a safe route to pick him up by bike. That project was our chance.

But the Hayward Blvd project was killed. Despite the data, the tragedy, and the clear need for safety, not enough people spoke up. A project that would have saved lives was stopped by baseless claims. I don’t want that to happen again on Ruus Road, where another child's childhood is negatively impacted and put at risk.

We learned a hard lesson on Hayward Boulevard: facts and studies aren't enough. The only thing that makes a difference is your voice.

Thank you,

Alejandro Jasso Hayward 

Hayward Resident and Co-chair at Bike Hayward