The City of Berkeley is in the midst of building many new bike facilities as part of several grant applications received over the past 4 years. It’s great to see these needed projects moving forward and we know our members will love using them everyday once they are open for business. Here is the latest from the City of Berkeley:
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In 2012, Berkeley has installed 636 bike parking spaces in new racks around the city. Even better, the City is looking for another 80 locations for new racks in order to place it’s next order for racks. If you know of a business that needs a bike rack on the sidewalk out front, please have them contact Eric Anderson, Berkeley Bicycle Planner (or do this yourself) and request a bike rack. They are free to the business, the City does all of the work.
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Berkeley will have a new ordinance next year requiring bike racks in new buildings. Currently, only new commercial buildings require bike racks, not residential, and there are no guidelines for how these new racks should be designed or installed. The new ordinance addresses all of these issues and once in force is going to make locking your bike much more convenient and safe in new construction;
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Check out the new Safe Routes to Transit work going on at Solano & Colusa. There are new bus stops and bulb outs, as well as on-street bike parking coral. Coming soon is a bike kiosk on the south side of Colusa. A 2nd Safe Routes to Transit project will soon start at Vine & Shattuck, with a new bike kiosk and bus shelters. The Safe Routes to Transit program funding this work is coordinated by the East Bay Bicycle Coalition, in partnership with Transform, and is paid for from bridge tolls;
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At Malcom X Elementary School, there is a new Safe Routes to School project at Ashby & Ellis, with a new flashing light for safer crossing of Ashby. 3 additional Safe Routes to School projects will be complete during the Summer 2013 construction season at Thousand Oaks, Rosa Parks and Berkeley Arts Magnet schools. The SR2S project at Berkeley Arts Magnet will include a new rapid flashing beacon at the intersection of Shattuck Ave & the Virginia Street Bicycle Boulevard. EBBC has been pushing for this new upgraded boulevard crossing for years and we are pleased to see it included in this SR2S project coming soon;
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Berkeley’s 1st buffered bike lane is in the works, on Tunnel Road. More work is coming early next year on this project, with full bike lanes in both directions, as well as the new buffered bike lanes. This project is funded through monies secured by EBBC from our lawsuit against Caltrans and the 4th Bore Caldecott Project. Many more bikeway projects will be built in 2013 in Oakland as a result of this project;
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9th Street Bicycle Boulevard Crossing of Ashby. The city is repaving Ashby at 9th Street in 2013 and is ready to finish the final phase of this section of the 9th Street Bicycle Boulevard, along the railroad right-of-way. The project is designed and the work on Ashby can happen next Summer. However, the City needs additional money to complete the final phases of the bicycle boulevard. Measure B1 can fund the completion of this project;
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Berkeley is ready to update its long out-of-date Bicycle Master Plan, next year. It is going to be a complete overhaul of the plan and most exciting, the new plan will include detail design work on new, safer intersection crossings of the bicycle boulevards with major arterial streets, such as the intersection of Milvia & University, Russell St & Sacramento, etc. Look for updates for the launch of the public process for the new bike plan in Spring ’13;
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The Bay Trail Spur Pathway is under construction and should be complete this Fall. The bikeway extends from the Bay Trail at University and the West Frontage Road, right near the I-80 Bike/Ped Bridge touchdown, out to the parking lot for the Adventure Playground and Cal Adventures.