Oakland’s Telegraph Ave Bikeway, Ten Years in the Making

Author: Bike East Bay

Date: October 28, 2024

On October 11th, 2024, elected officials, city staff, and advocates gathered to celebrate the long-awaited grand opening of Oakland’s concrete-protected bikeway on Telegraph Ave, 20th to 29th Streets.

This facility was ten years in the making. Read on for details on how Bike East Bay saw this project through from vision to reality, and a bike-through video of the ribbon cutting festivities.

We would like to acknowledge all of Oakland City Council whose unanimous vote in 2021 enabled the protected bikeway project to proceed, with a special thanks to Council Members Carroll Fife and Dan Kalb whose districts Telegraph Ave runs through.

District 3 Councilmember Carroll Fife
District 5 Councilmember Noel Gallo
District 1 Councilmember Dan Kalb
At-Large Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan
District 7 Councilmember Treva Reid
Former District 6 Councilmember Loren Taylor
Former District 4 Councilmember Sheng Thao
District 2 Councilmember Nikki Fortunato Bas

"THANK YOU! Telegraph Ave is a major corridor through Oakland and Berkeley, notorious as a hot spot for traffic violence. A decade ago, a group of residents and workers connected with city staff to reimagine the street's design... What happened next?" — click the right arrow to scroll

"2014 NO BIKE LANE? WE'LL BUILD IT OURSELVES With the help of volunteers and our friends at WOBO, we constructed a 1-day pop-up bikeway to transform a section of Telegraph. The city was supportive of our experiment, and since we launched it on Bike to Work Day, many riders got to try it out. Shout out to former staff member Dave Campbell for championing this project from the beginning Mayor Jean Quan checked out our project-- here she is riding a bike from Oakland's first bike share!" — click the side arrows to scroll

"2015 WHEN THERE'S A WILL, THERE'S A WAY Oakland applied for and won a state Active Transportation Program grant to pay for the concrete bikeway upgrades. MTC scored the application with a perfect 100 out of 100 points." — click the side arrows to scroll

"2016 GETTING THERE. AND ALREADY SEEING GREAT RESULTS! We saw significant improvements between 2016-2017, including the initial parking-protected bikeway, green paint, and repaved roads. OakDOT staff implemented an unprecedented amount of study and reporting on this installation, revealing. • a doubling of bike/walk trips after the installation • increased yield rates to pedestrians in crosswalks • lower rates of speeding drivers Thanks CM Lynette McElhaney and the KONO business district for the support during this phase!" — click the side arrows to scroll

"2021 UNANIMOUS VOTES OF SUPPORT CITY OF OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL OAKLAND BIKE / WALK COMMISSION AC Transit board of directors Despite controversy there was never a single vote made against the project! We want to give a big shout out to OakDOT staff for not only winning the funding and making this project a reality, but also working with us throughout the construction process to continue honing design details, and mitigating construction impacts on road users and local businesses whenever possible." — click the side arrows to scroll

"2024 WE FINALLY GET CONCRETE! Between 2023-2024, concrete separated bikeways and bus loading zones were installed, creating a much safer corridor. We celebrated with partners, advocates and City Staff in October 2024!" — click the side arrows to scroll

Telegraph Ave, Mayor's Ride to the Ribbon Cutting

Telegraph Ave KONO Bikeway, Virtual Ride-Through

Telegraph Ave, 2014 Bike East Bay Demonstration Project vs 2024 Completed Bikeway

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Bike East Bay (@bikeeastbay)

Questions about these or other projects? Reach our advocacy team for info by emailing advocacy@BikeEastBay.org

Or click the button below to learn more about our other major campaigns (San Pablo Ave, East Bay Greenway, and Bay Area bike bridges) and sign up to receive email updates:

Oakland’s Telegraph Ave Bikeway, Ten Years in the Making

Author: Bike East Bay

On October 11th, 2024, elected officials, city staff, and advocates gathered to celebrate the long-awaited grand opening of Oakland’s concrete-protected bikeway on Telegraph Ave, 20th to 29th Streets.

This facility was ten years in the making. Read on for details on how Bike East Bay saw this project through from vision to reality, and a bike-through video of the ribbon cutting festivities.

We would like to acknowledge all of Oakland City Council whose unanimous vote in 2021 enabled the protected bikeway project to proceed, with a special thanks to Council Members Carroll Fife and Dan Kalb whose districts Telegraph Ave runs through.

Telegraph Ave, Mayor's Ride to the Ribbon Cutting

Telegraph Ave KONO Bikeway, Virtual Ride-Through

Telegraph Ave, 2014 Bike East Bay Demonstration Project vs 2024 Completed Bikeway

Questions about these or other projects? Reach our advocacy team for info by emailing advocacy@BikeEastBay.org

Stay in Touch with Us!