Oakland is ready to start final design for protected bike lanes on 14th Street, from 980 to Oak Street, right thru downtown. 14th Street is one of the most used streets in Oakland by residents bicycling, and is also a ‘high-injury’ corrider, which the street is also too dangerous to walk across or even drive on. Safety improvements are coming.
Below are design options we proposed several years ago. Since then, Oakland received a state Active Transportation Program grant (funded by gas taxes) to build protected bike lanes on each side of the street–Option 2 shown below. So, that is the plan. But please amuse yourself with other options that have been considered, so that you will better understand the design challenges and tradeoffs. Look for an action alert soon to volunteer with this campaign.
There are several good bikeway design options for 14th Street:
-
Option 1: Two-Way Cycle Track
With a 2 way cycle track, the bikeway is on the north side of 14th Street and is a 2-way facility on a 12ft wide, 2-way bikeway, buffered by a 4ft median and then a parking lane for cars. An advantage of this option is it creates a comfortable facility that is similar to an off-street pathway, which is the idea since it would connect at one end to the pathway around Lake Merritt and at the other end to the new pathway being designed to connect to the Bay Bridge from West Oakland. This option also keeps car parking lanes and loading zones. Read our blog on 1-way vs 2-way protected facilities.
Take a ride down our proposed two-way cycle track on 14th Street
14th Street Two Way Cycle Track from Dave Campbell on Vimeo.
-
Option 2: Protected Bike Lanes
Here is a cross-section of what protected bike lanes on each side of 14th Street could look like
With this design, the bike lanes are next to the curb, protected by flex posts, planter boxes or a curb (as shown) and additionally protected by parked cars. At intersections where a turn pocket is needed, parked cars would be removed for a few spaces to make room for the turn pocket. This design requires a consultation with the Fire Department to allow for large fire trucks to maneuver.
Here is a photo of a similar street in Copenhagen–Frederiksborggade, a street with the same width and same number of traffic lanes, parking lanes and cycle tracks
-
Option 3: Buffered Bike Lanes
Here buffered bike lane designs drawn up by our volunteer landscape architects, Alana McWhorter and Justin Richardson, with a tremendous amount of input from our members and people who bicycle and took the time to take a quick survey about their bicycling experience on 14th Street.*
Brush St to Castro St:
MLK Jr Way to Jefferson:
Clay to Broadway:
Broadway to Franklin:
Webster to Harrison:
Alice to Jackson:
Madison to Oak:
If these design proposals excite you too, please volunteer with our 14th Street campaign and help gain public support for some needed bike improvements. Send an email to Dave Campbell, Bike East Bay Advocacy Director.
Download as a 1.7MB pdf our 14th Street Bikeway Design Proposal
*Note that these designs are proposals by Bike East Bay for new bikeways. The City of Oakland will conduct a public process in 2017-2018 to evaluate various options for a safer 14th Street.
