The City of Oakland is preparing to repave and stripe bike lanes on E. 12th St, from 14th Ave to Fruitvale Ave, and your support is needed to make this happen. We need you to contact the City and tell them they have your support for this important bikeway project. The project will extend the recently installed bikeway on E 12th St at the transit village and complete almost 2 miles of an important section of the City’s bikeway network.   The City has already mailed a flyer/post card about the project to businesses and neighbors along Broadway, asking for their response to the project by February 22, 2012. While this is going on, EBBC and Walk Oakland Bike Oakland are mobilizing to garner additional public support for the project. Here’s how you can help:
- Send an email to the City with your support to bikeplanner@oaklandnet.com
- Ask your friends to also send an email of support to bikeplanner@oaklandnet.com
- Download the flyer/post card for the project and get a local business to sign and support the project
Staff are planning to bring the project to City Council for approval in May, 2012 and the resurfacing and bike lane striping is planned for completion in 2013. Bicycle wayfinding signs will also be installed, directing bicyclists to key destinations along the corridor. The project will serve the San Antonio and Fruitvale neighborhoods with direct connections to Fruitvale BART and the Fruitvale Bike Station. It would create new connections to the Dimond District and the city of Alameda via the existing bikeway on Fruitvale Ave, as well as to the Laurel District via the new bikeway on 38th Ave. Connections to the San Francisco Bay Trail, Embarcadero Cove, and San Antonio Park will be created soon via a new bikeway pending construction on 16th Ave. Currently, E 12th St within the project area has two or three lanes in each direction with many transitions between these configurations. The project would create a uniform and consistent roadway with two lanes plus bike lanes in each direction. At the congested intersection of E 12th St and 22nd Ave, the project would maintain the current three travel lanes in the eastbound direction. Shared roadway bicycle markings (aka “sharrows,”) will fill gaps to form a continuously marked bikeway. A feasibility study was conducted to evaluate potential traffic impacts of the proposed lane reconfiguration. The evaluation showed that the proposed design will not have significant impacts on motor vehicle traffic flow, either now or in the future. The bikeway project is recommended in the City’s Bicycle Master Plan (BMP) and is Oakland’s highest priority project in the Alameda Countywide Bicycle Plan. These plans call for the installation of bikeways throughout Oakland and Alameda County to encourage bicycling as a healthy, non-polluting and affordable transportation option. Bikeways help Oakland realize its sustainability and livability goals. Great news indeed!