"A retrospective plan applied yesterday to today's problems." That is how Woodside resident Christin New described Caltrans' plan for Four Corners at a town hall on October 29, 2025, and she supported it anyway. Nearly a year later the plan is under construction. Caltrans expects to convert the intersection of Skyline Boulevard and La Honda Road to a four-way stop by the end of November.
For anyone whose weekend involves breakfast at Alice's Restaurant, a stop at Skywood Trading Post, or a climb up Old La Honda, this is the biggest change to the hilltop in years. Skyline traffic has always run through the junction while La Honda Road traffic stopped. That right of way is ending. The weekend demand that pushed Caltrans to act stays, and over the next few months its effects will show up in places the stop signs don't reach.
The intersection before and after
As it stands, Four Corners is a 40 mph intersection with two stop signs and two crosswalks. One crosswalk runs from the Skywood Trading Post lot to Alice's. The other "leads to nowhere," in The Almanac's words, ending at the triangle of land between the roads.
The first round of changes went in back in August. Caltrans painted the curb red in front of Skywood Trading Post, upgraded the north crosswalk between the Mountain Terrace parking lot and Alice's, and added "Keep Clear" pavement markings. The next phase changes how the intersection works.
| Element | Before | Planned |
|---|---|---|
| Traffic control | Two stop signs; Skyline traffic does not stop | All-way STOP with new signs and pavement markings |
| North crosswalk, Mountain Terrace lot to Alice's | Standard striping | High-visibility ladder striping now; Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons on SR-35 just north of the intersection |
| Second crosswalk | Ends at the traffic triangle | Removed in the design Caltrans presented in 2025 |
| Alice's parking lot exits | Open onto the highway | Stop signs at the entryways in the 2025 design |
| Warning signs | Existing set | Upgraded, plus new "stop ahead" and turn-restriction signs |
There is a caveat on the last three rows. They come from the design Caltrans presented in October 2025, when the project was at 50 percent design. Caltrans' current project page confirms the all-way stop, the striping, the sign upgrades and the beacons. It does not list the crosswalk removal or the parking-lot stop signs.
Caltrans gave two reasons for the redesign. Collision rates at Four Corners are higher than the statewide average for similar intersections, and a large share of reported collisions involve improper turns. An all-way stop answers the turning problem directly. Every driver arrives at a stop, so nobody is judging a gap in Skyline traffic moving at 40 mph.
Two dates on the same project
Residents will see two timelines for this work, and they describe different things. The Almanac's end-of-November date refers to the stop-sign conversion. The Town of Woodside's September 21 notice says work began in late September and should continue through spring 2027. Caltrans lists the construction window as September 2026 through April 2027.
So the stop signs may go up within weeks, but the corridor will host a work zone through the winter. The Town says drivers can expect one-way traffic control at various points, and that construction may also bring minor delays from equipment staging and reduced parking. All of the work depends on the weather. Of those possible effects, reduced parking matters most, because parking is what the intersection already has least of on a weekend.
A weekend problem with a weekday fix
The Almanac's reporting this year describes how the weekend crowd at Four Corners outgrew the intersection. On Sunday, August 16, the junction was packed with motorcycles and cars, some from as far away as Montana and North Carolina. The paper reports that the gatherings have grown over roughly the past five years, to the point where hundreds of people now show up. Andy Kerr, a co-owner of Alice's, said the number of cars in the restaurant's lots went up during the pandemic as the lots turned into a place for car enthusiasts to meet.
The restaurant has spent this period pushing back on that use of its property. Alice's leases more than 65 parking spaces from Caltrans for its customers. Andy Kerr turns car clubs away unless they are there for breakfast, and the restaurant discourages meetups in its lots. A sign outside reads, "This is our community. No racing." "We're not a motorcycle bar," he told The Almanac. Jamie Kerr, his brother and co-owner, sits on the South Coast Traffic Advisory Panel with County Supervisor Ray Mueller. He has said he would rather see a four-way traffic light than stop signs.
The pressure to act grew after two deaths. In August 2025, Redwood City cyclist Eric Biron was killed in a collision with a pickup truck at Four Corners. In July 2026, cyclist Jakub Solovsky died nearby on SR-35. Walker Wells, a member of Woodside's Circulation Committee, started the Safe Corridor Initiative petition for Highways 35, 84 and 9, which has collected hundreds of personal testimonies. In 2025, Wells pointed out that the Caltrans design team had not visited the intersection on weekends, when traffic is heaviest.
That gap is behind the skepticism at the 2025 town hall. Tamara Gables said drivers already roll through the existing stop signs and questioned whether new ones would help without round-the-clock enforcement. Lifelong resident Steve Lubin said, "When you have a lot of signs, it's kind of a sign that the design isn't working." Stop signs work best on drivers who already intend to follow them. Most of the people quoted in this debate want help with the drivers who don't.
Where the pressure goes next
When an intersection slows down, traffic tends to look for another route. Residents raised that point in 2025, warning that longer backups on SR-84 could push traffic onto rural roads like Old La Honda and Kings Mountain Road. Atherton Planning Commissioner Jerry Leugers called the stop signs "a great short term fix" but said they would do nothing about the weekend backups on 84.
Old La Honda already has its own work this fall. The Town says crews are installing guardrails and cleaning and clearing the upper section from Monday, September 28 through Friday, December 11, 2026, with periodic closures announced in advance. Palo Alto Online has called Old La Honda a world-renowned road-bike climb, and its suggested loop climbs from Portola Road and descends on SR-84. Riders on that loop will pass through both work zones before mid-December.
Enforcement, the measure most residents have asked for, is still pending. At a September 22 study session at Independence Hall, Supervisor Mueller announced about $125,000 in county Measure K money to pay for one CHP officer on Highways 84, 35 and 9 on Saturdays and Sundays for a year. As of September 25, the paperwork between the town and the county was not final. Caltrans has also promised more work outside the intersection:
- Guardrail improvements on the stretch about a mile west of Four Corners known locally as the "Curve of Death."
- New safety signs at Kings Mountain Community Center, Portola Heights Road, Castanea Ridge Road, Clouds Rest Vista Point and Old La Honda Road.
- High Friction Surface Treatments where loss-of-control crashes are frequent, along with "Turnout Ahead" signs and replacement mile markers.
Lower on SR-84, Caltrans plans to cut the speed limit near Woodside High School to 35 mph by November 2026. Taken together, the fall work covers the whole corridor, and the stop sign at Four Corners is the most visible piece of it.
Planning a hilltop morning this fall
Every destination at the top of the hill is still open. Getting there takes a little more planning until spring.
- Check Caltrans QuickMap before you leave. The Town points to it for real-time conditions, since one-way control can move around the project corridor.
- Plan for tighter parking at Four Corners. Alice's Restaurant is at 17288 Skyline Boulevard and lists hours of 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday. Since the Town says construction may reduce parking, arriving earlier on a weekend makes sense.
- Know the trailhead lots. Midpen lists 100 spaces at Skyline Ridge and 37 at Russian Ridge, and warns that Russian Ridge parking can be limited at peak weekend times. Windy Hill's upper lots on Skyline are smaller, with 10 spaces at Upper Spring Ridge and 11 at the Picnic Tables lot. Its lower lot is on Portola Road.
- Call ahead before riding Old La Honda. Woodside Public Works answers closure questions at 650-851-6790 through December 11.
- For an evening drive, check the calendar first. The Mountain House currently posts hours of Wednesday through Sunday, 5 to 9 p.m., and is closed Monday and Tuesday.
Caltrans says it will hold a community meeting with project updates and schedules, and will post the details on its Four Corners project page once they are set.
The work on Skyline and La Honda Road this winter will change the routines of the families who live along them, and buyers who look at the hills next spring will ask how the new intersection is working. If you own a home off Skyline, Kings Mountain or Old La Honda and want a discreet read on how these changes may come up in a future sale, Stephanie Von Thaden is glad to talk it through. Request a Confidential Home Valuation.
