Bike East Bay is at the table again: advocating for your access on the Bay Bridge Bike Path. We’ve been here before. This time the San Francisco County Transportation Authority (SFCTA) is closing bike access to Yerba Buena Island on weekdays while keeping car access open. Car traffic is down, and biking across bridges has never been higher: with the Bay Bridge path seeing a 77% increase in crossings since shelter in place began. The closure means Bay Bridge riders and walkers can’t touch down on Yerba Buena Island, turning the path into a weekday bike pier. Tell the SFCTA: keep access to Yerba Buena Island open.
Email SFCTA’s Project Engineer Thomas Fresquez at tfresquez@mnsengineers.com. Please cc our Advocacy Director at dave@bikeeastbay.org
SFCTA’s plan is to close the end of the East Span bike path at the touchdown on Yerba Buena island on weekdays starting today—keeping it open on weekends and holidays—through April 2021. Already we’ve already seen signs incorrectly closing the entire East Span path, instead of closing only the segment onto Yerba Buena Island.
We are working with SFCTA, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, and Caltrans to work out a better solution. A temporary bike path on the Bay Bridge into San Francisco could have been a mitigation for weekday closures on Yerba Buena Island, since traffic volumes are down. But Caltrans turned down our this ask, claiming that funding for bike access into San Francisco is not a priority. We’re continuing these discussions, and will be out on Yerba Buena Island with SFCTA staff trying to figure out how to maintain bike access along with car access during freeway construction activities. Contact SFCTA with your feedback today.