Bridging the Bay

Learn more about
this campaign

May 21, 2025, Richmond-San Rafael Bridge Trail Update

Bay Conservation Development Commission (BCDC) staff were going to recommend keeping the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge Trail open 24/7, while indicating that the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and Caltrans closure proposal did not meet the "maximum feasible public access" standard.

MTC and Caltrans are still trying to bring a trail closure proposal back to BCDC sometime in Summer 2025. This will happen in August at the earliest, possibly at the BCDC meeting date on the 7th or the 21st.

Join our email list for the most up-to-date info!

New Bicycle Bridges are on the way around the East Bay, to both enhance connectivity as well as reconnect communities have long been bisected by infrastructure barriers.

Campaign Map

Click the dots to learn more about each project segment

campaign events

Join us at ribbon cuttings, rides, and trainings as part of our Bridging the Bay campaign, to celebrate these facilities and advocate for a more people-friendly East bay.

Bridges Over Waterways

Click the project titles below for info

Richmond-San Rafael Bridge

The bridge path is at significant risk of closure all day Mondays through Thursdays, to make way for a breakdown shoulder lane! Click through to our campaign page here to learn more and speak up to help keep the pathway open 24/7.

A bicycle and pedestrian path on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge has been in the works for decades. Throughout this project, Bike East Bay and our local partners including Rich City Rides pushed for more: We won an additional $500k for bike lane and trail improvements, plus better ferry service and new bikeways to connect Richmond neighborhoods to the bridge, the waterfront, ferry service, and one another.

The bridge path opened in 2019 after years of relentless advocacy, but it remains under attack from some who want to convert it to a car lane instead.

Thank you to those who celebrated its 4-year anniversary with us in November 2023! Caltrans and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission will release a report on this pathway “pilot project” in Summer 2024, sign up for our campaign mailing list below to learn how you can help us fight to make it permanent.

The Bay Bridge

The Bay Bridge is among the most well-known symbols of the Bay Area, and you can bike on it! Well… half of it.

Named after one of Bike East Bay’s founders, Alexander Zuckermann, the Bay Bridge East Span bike path is a beautiful ride, but the remainder of the trip from Treasure Island to San Francisco remains inaccessible.

Since it opened in 2013, over a million people have enjoyed walking and bicycling on the popular “people path” extending from Oakland/Emeryville.

Bike East Bay worked with Caltrans, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), and the San Francisco County Transportation Authority to ensure completion of the bike path to Yerba Buena/Treasure Islands and safety improvements on the island.

We also are working with these agencies on designs for the Bay Bridge West Span Pathway, and building connections from West Oakland residential neighborhoods to the East Span people path.

Sign our petition here to help complete the Bay Bridge path the rest of the way to San Francisco.

Oakland-Alameda Estuary Bridge

Still very much in development, this proposal will span just 1000 feet between Oakland’s Jack London Square and the western end of Alameda, eliminating a 7-mile bike detour for anyone understandably deterred by the substandard 4-foot wide walkway through the noisy and dirty Posey Tube.

But it will also need to be designed to accommodate frequent Coast Guard and other boat traffic underneath, raising the cost significantly.

In the meantime a free water shuttle service started in Summer 2024 to test the demand and to raise awareness and support for the bridge project.

The water shuttle has already been a huge success, with many calling for additional service.

Bridges Over Freeways

May 2024 Update: The Berkeley Bike/Walk Bridge over 580 at Gilman St is now open! This bridge connects between a new 2-way cycletrack on the east side and the beautiful Bay Trail to the west. Take a test ride via our video preview here.

March 2024 Update: The new Mokelumne Trail Overcrossing of Hwy 4 between Brentwood and Antioch is now open! Read our blog post here about the ribbon cutting celebration, and how the bridge came to be.

Our built infrastructure creates many barriers for walking and biking, but among the most destructive are freeways that were cut through existing neighborhoods, displacing residents and bisecting communities.

Impermeable freeways also create barriers for people to access natural spaces and enjoy a major part of what makes the Bay Area so special.

In development are additional bridges over I-80 to the Bay Trail at Ashby Ave in Emeryville, the West Oakland Link bridge over 880 along W Grand Ave, and in Fremont both the Sabercat Trail bridge over 680 and the Innovation Bride over 880, all of which are in the planning stages with construction timelines dependent on funding.

Trail Bridges

November 2024 Update: The Iron Horse Trail Bridge over Dublin Blvd in Dublin is now open! A ribbon cutting ceremony is being held on November 23, 2024.

Three new bike/walk bridges along the Iron Horse Trail will take users up and over otherwise wide and imposing roadways.

These include a bridge at Dublin Boulevard in Dublin, which opened for use in November 2024, a bridge at Bollinger Canyon Road in San Ramon with construction through 2025, and another bridge at Crow Canyon Road in San Ramon, to start construction in a future year.

Another trail bridge is also in the planning stage for the Richmond Greenway crossing of 23rd Street and the Amtrak/BART tracks, closing the last gap to create a continuous trail and protected bikeway connection between central Berkeley and Point Richmond.

This bridge was the top priority identified in Richmond’s 2023 bicycle and pedestrian plan update, and will join together the two halves of the Greenway as well as the neighbors on each side.