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Berkeley’s Southside Pilot Project Brings Bike & Transit Improvements

Author: bcomadmin

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Starting in the fall of 2017 with the Bancroft West section, the Southside Pilot Project will create a network of protected bike lanes, transit improvements, and pedestrian improvements in the south side of UC Berkeley’s campus. Working in collaboration with the City of Berkeley, AC Transit, Telegraph Business Improvement District, and UC Berkeley, Bike East Bay hopes to extend the protected bike lane on Bancroft West all the way to Piedmont Avenue on the Bancroft East section, connect a Dana Street protected bike lane with the protected bike lane on Bancroft West and a bikeway on UC Berkeley’s campus, and create transit improvements on crowded Telegraph Avenue. Once all the sections are complete, this project will make Southside safer to travel on bike and by foot, more convenient to travel via bus, and more welcoming for the thousands of people who transit the Southside area.

Sections:

Telegraph Avenue

 

Safe

  • Increased bicycle safety from parking-protected bike lanes (no more dealing with traffic, fear of getting doored)

  • Increased pedestrian safety from narrower streets (vehicular speeds should decrease, yield rates should increase)

Convenient

  • Bicyclists will be able to bike up on Bancroft Way and connect to UC Berkeley

  • Pedestrian should wait less time to cross streets

  • Bus stop times should increase in reliability, making buses more convenient to ride

Attractive

  • There will be less obstruction to store fronts, making them more visible and more likely to be visited

  • Larger separation of sidewalks from vehicular traffic make them more comfortable (and therefore more attractive) to walk on.

  • More store traffic is likely to make a shop more popular through increased numbers of referrals, making the entire area more attractive as a whole

Good for Business

Street redesigns such as the Bancroft Way Complete Street project are good for local businesses because they encourage more people to visit the street, hang out on the street longer, and spend more money. There are many examples of street redesigns around the country where businesses have benefited from streets redesigned for people. Many studies have been done to examine shopping activity before and after these projects. Here is a list of many of these studies.

Good for Cal

Cal students, faculty and staff benefit from this project by having more options to safely get around campus, including getting to and from local businesses and off campus facilities. As Cal’s student population grows, the University is doing more to support alternative modes of transportation. These efforts include the student bus passes for AC Transit, commuter benefits for staff, transit improvements like the new bus-only lane on Bancroft Way at the ASUC building and the bus boarding islands on Hearst Avenue, which is also getting protected bike lanes. Visitors to Zellerbach Hall, Haas Pavillion, and other popular Cal entertainment venues now have better options to driving to campus.