Foster City Driving School

Driving in Foster City: What New Drivers Should Know

The city sits on flat, filled bay marsh behind a levee. Seven bridges cross its lagoon. The main boulevards are wide arterials, and many have medians. Several are signed bike routes. State Route 92 splits the city and leads onto the San Mateo Bridge. In the afternoon commute, bridge-bound traffic cuts through on East Hillsdale Boulevard and East Third Avenue.

• State Route 92 and the San Mateo Bridge

  SR 92 is a divided highway with mostly three lanes each way east of US 101. Its local interchanges are partial hook ramps, so check which direction each ramp serves. The bridge's western end lands in the city. The toll is collected only westbound, electronically.

• US 101 and SR 92 interchange

  It sits in San Mateo at the city's western edge. The county transportation authority says it is often criticized for tricky merges and tight off-ramps. Five lanes from US 101 merge into three toward eastbound 92. Caltrans expects the work to finish in summer 2028.

• East Hillsdale Boulevard at Edgewater and Shell Boulevards

  On weekdays between 4 and 7 p.m., lighted signs bar left turns from eastbound East Hillsdale onto Edgewater and Shell. City staff have observed confusion and illegal left turns at Edgewater. Farther east, the boulevard crosses the east lagoon on the Rainbow Bridge.

• Foster City Boulevard and Chess Drive

  The boulevard is a four- to six-lane arterial that crosses SR 92. Just west of it, Chess Drive has hook ramps to westbound 92. Metro Center Boulevard has the eastbound ramps. Chess Drive narrows to two lanes east of the boulevard.

• East Third Avenue along the bay shoreline

  This four-lane divided arterial runs along the bay north of SR 92. It has a full interchange with US 101 in San Mateo. It ends at the foot of the San Mateo Bridge. It is a signed bike route. Afternoon bridge traffic cuts through it.

SR 92 and its Chess Drive hook ramps are good practice for freeway merging, where highway traffic has the right-of-way. The US 101 interchange adds lane-change practice. The East Hillsdale turn ban is practice for obeying timed signs. East Third Avenue is practice for sharing the road with bicyclists.