2015: Your Membership $$$ at Work on the Campaign Trail

Author: Bike East Bay

Thanks to the support of members, donors and volunteers,  Bike East Bay made major leaps forward in biking infrastructure in 2015.

  • Protected bike lanes were built or are nearing construction in three East Bay cities this year: Shoreline Drive in Alameda, Christie Avenue in Emeryville, and Telegraph Avenue in Oakland.

  • We got a huge victory on our decades-long campaign for a bike path on the Richmond/San Rafael Bridge, which was approved by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission this September and will be completed as soon as late 2017.

  • Bike East Bay helped to secure $30 million in state funds dedicated to biking and walking projects in East Bay cities, much of which will go towards building protected bike lanes throughout the region.

Please continue your support by joining or renewing your membership, or making a donation to support campaigns in the new year.  

 

2015 saw several protected bike lane projects move forward, many Bay Trail segments open, approval of bike access on the Richmond/San Rafael Bridge, engineers busy redesigning a West Span Pathway for the Bay Bridge, a major expansion of bike share coming to the East Bay in late 2016 and $30 million in state funds awarded to East Bay cities for bike & ped projects.  That said, challenges were encountered in Contra Costa County to develop a plan augmenting Measure J transportation funding, the County continues to struggle with bikeway designs for Treat Blvd, and there’s Lafayette’s obese, car-oriented roundabout, and resistance continues strong in Alameda to family-friendly bikeways. Still, bikeway designs evolved more in 2015 than any year to date.

Protected bike lanes opened on Shoreline Drive in Alameda and Telegraph Ave in Oakland (chalked, striping coming real soon), Hearst Ave protected bike lanes in Berkeley were approved, progress was made on a Central Ave bikeway in Alameda, Christie Ave cycle track in Emeryville opened, a contractor is on board to start work on a short two-way cycle track on upper Broadway in Oakland, agreement is secured to pursue protected bike lanes on Harrison St/20th St at Lake Merritt, funding approved for protected bike lanes on Rumrill Road in San Pablo. Green bike lanes came to San Leandro, Orinda, and Berkeley. And Bike East Bay secured two significant legal victories this year. One, AB 902 legitimizes diversion programs for bicycle traffic citations, and the Magee Ranch CEQA lawsuit yielded an appelate court decision holding under CEQA that your safety riding a bicycle legally matters.

What holds the most promise moving forward is how much bikeway design advanced in 2015, both locally and nationally. Bike East Bay is thoroughly incorporating Dutch and Danish bikeway designs into our work, and we are developing a complete street methodology that will assist in getting comfortable bikeways on to busy streets with regular bus service. At the state level, Caltrans worked on its first ever Protected Bike Lane Design Guide, which will be publicly released in January, 2016. Nationally, the Federal Highway Administration released its own “Separated Bike Lane Design and Planning Guide” and we have been using this a lot to push your local city to start designing its first protected bike lane. And most exciting, protected intersections are getting built, and we are eyeing several locations in the East Bay for our first.

If 2012 was the year of campaign organizing; 2013 was the year of volunteer organizing; 2014 the year of community outreach; and 2015 the year of modern bikeway design, what year will 2016 be? We the year of ‘complete streets.’ We are busy working with AC Transit on developing a model complete street design for a major transit corridor that is also a major bikeway. Together, we will push the Alameda CTC to fund this complete street project with countywide Measure BB monies. In addition, we are pushing the Contra Costa Transportation Authority to fund a complete street program in a new Measure J, with 15% of funds. Such a program would vastly improve street designs on busy roads such as Contra Costa Blvd, San Pablo Ave, Railroad Ave, Monument Blvd, and many more.

Thanks for your continued support and if you haven’t renewed your Bike East Bay membership yet, do so here.