Our push for a pilot test of bike lanes on Dublin Blvd has expanded to include an additional push to accelerate implementation of new and better bike lanes connecting to Dublin Blvd, including bike lanes on Village Parkway, Regional, St. Patrick Way and Amador Plaza, better bike lanes on Amador Valley. Rapid completion of these new bikeways will create a functional bikeway network in Downtown Dublin and improve popularity of bike lanes on Dublin Blvd. Your support is needed and below is what you can do.
We had a great advocacy ride on Dublin Blvd with 11 passionate members on Sept 6, ironing out details of the bikeway improvements needed on Dublin Blvd and other Downtown streets as part of the City’s bicycle plan update. Priority streets for bikeway improvements are Dublin Blvd of course, Amador Plaza Rd, Amador Valley Blvd, Village Parkway, Regional St and St. Patrick Way.
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For Dublin Blvd, we are pushing for bike lanes and a 6-4 lane reduction as part of this streets upcoming repaving project–however, City staff and the Chamber of Commerce are resisting this proposal. For the other streets, the City is ready to add bike lanes or improve existing bike lanes, but EBBC is making sure that all new bikeways are modern, well-designed bikeway that are comfortable for many users of the roadway, and provide safer turning movements at intersections. And we are insisting that Dublin Blvd be included as a bikeway in this Plan.
While Dublin staff continue to resist your preferred option of bike lanes on Dublin Blvd, EBBC is busy reaching out to the Dublin Chamber of Commerce to build a better understanding of how to achieve our mutual goals of making Downtown Dublin walkable and bikeable and at the same time ensure efficient flow of traffic. EBBC met with Chamber members on Aug 14 to discuss our proposal for a 3-month pilot bike lane striping project in 2014 and heard some interest and understanding from some Chamber members while at the same time hearing serious concerns. We have a lot of work to do to build the Chamber’s comfort level with our proposal. We were delighted to hear Dublin Mayor Tim Sbranti voice interest in considering our pilot proposal as a viable option.
EBBC met with the Dublin Champber of Commerce on August 14 to discuss this issue and heard some encouraging feedback. We will also be meeting with city traffic engineers to further explain to them that a street like Dublin Blvd, with 29,000 cars/day is sufficiently served with 4 lanes of traffic plus center turn lanes. EBBC is proposing a 3-month pilot of new bike lanes on Dublin Blvd, as part of a planned Summer 2014 repaving project. Please support us in asking for this option.
Crashes involving pedestrians and bicyclists, red indicating a fatal crash
Meanwhile, city staff are sticking to their proposal to allow you to ride on a narrow sidewalk, in the short term, for a promise of an 8′ wide sidewalk in the future that they don’t know whether it’s feasible to build, would be dangerous to pedestrians and that has no realistic expectation of getting funded.
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Contact your Dublin City Councilmember today and insist on a safe bike option for Dublin Blvd that you can ride next year
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Patronize these Dublin Chamber of Commerce Board Member businesses and ask them to support a more walkable, bikeable Dublin Blvd
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Chuck Tyler |
Chairman |
Dublin Cyclery |
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Rick Sanciangco |
Vice Chair |
Nothing But Bundt Cakes |
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Brad Johnson |
Vice Chair |
Imprint Works |
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Steve Kau |
Treasurer |
Steve Kau, CPA |
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Janice Dressler |
Board |
The Dapper Dog |
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Les Jacobs |
Board |
Select Imaging |
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Dan Karos |
Board |
Acclaim Print & Copy |
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Richard Lavine |
Board |
Dublin Grocery Outlet |
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Jeff Lemmo |
Board |
Lemo Insurance Agency |
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Grant Schleiger |
Board |
Scepter Scientific |
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Please send an email to Ferd del Rosario, Dublin’s Senior Civil Engineer, and let him know you want bike lanes on Dublin Blvd. You can also call Mr. Del Rosario at 925.833.6630.
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Contact your Dublin City Council member:
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Find out what happened at Dublin City Council November 21, 2013
Press Coverage of our Campaign:
Background:
We want a lane reduction from 6 lanes to 4 lanes with bike lanes and we need your support in asking the City of Dublin to stripe bike lanes on Dublin Blvd. So, send a supportive email today.
Dublin is currently updating its Bicycle Plan and is including a lot of new, much needed bike lanes around the city, including new bike lanes on Village Parkway and Brighton Drive, but the City is resisting putting bike lanes on Dublin Blvd in the new ‘downtown’ area proposed at the intersection of Amador Plaza Rd and Dublin Blvd. Your support can make a difference!
Provision of good bike lanes on Dublin Blvd would require removing one travel lane in each direction to make room. The roadway currently has 6 lanes, plus turn lanes. Dublin has a goal of making this area a walkable and bikeable neighborhood, much like a real vibrant downtown. However, 6 lane arterials and downtowns do not go together. Dublin needs to commit to prioritizing its residents first and thru traffic 2nd. And in the meantime, redesigning its city as a lively place for people and not just cars. Can you help? Send an email today. If you know a business in this area who is supportive, please contact EBBC Advocacy Director Dave Campbell to help. Thanks. City of Dublin Bicycle Plan Update website 
EBBC Letter to Dublin, March 25, 2013:
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March 25, 2013
Ferd del Rosario
Senior Civil Engineer
Public Works Department, City of Dublin
Dublin CA 94568
RE: Request for Bike Lanes on Dublin Blvd
Dear Mr. del Rosario:
The East Bay Bicycle Coalition strongly supports bike lanes on Dublin Blvd as part of the city’s update to its Bicycle Master Plan. Specifically, we request that you evaluate how to remove a travel lane in each direction in order to provide space for a buffered bike lane. The graphic to the right is an illustration from the NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide, which has technical specifications for designing buffered bike lanes on arterial streets.
http://nacto.org/cities-for-cycling/design-guide/
The area of Dublin, between San Ramon Rd and City Hall is part of Dublin’s new downtown, with a goal of making this community a thriving walking and bicycling community served by good transit. New in-fill housing in under construction. To do this, the main road through the new downtown has to have a safe and comfortable place for people to walk and bike. Fortunately, Dublin Blvd has plenty of travel lanes-6, plus a turn lane. Removing one lane in each direction leaves two lanes in each direction for traffic and the center turn lane. We are aware of the freeway cut-thru traffic that Dublin Blvd suffers from. However, the city has no obligation to encourage this cut-thru traffic and discourage bicycling and walking, by keeping 3 travel lanes in each direction. In essence, you can’t have a downtown and a 6-lane major arterial. No city in the Bay Area has achieved this yet and we don’t foresee any city doing so in the near future. 6-lane arterials with heavy traffic are not walkable and not bikeable, because people are overwhelmed by cars and discouraged from getting out of their cars in the first place. You need to commit to making Dublin Blvd a smaller, more neighborhood commercial street that people want to come to and enjoy Dublin.
In addition, all of the new homes going into the downtown are going to be filled with residents that will want to be able to walk and bicycle in their new communities. In fact, this is the goal of the One Bay Area Grant Program, which Dublin is seeking funding from for new in-fill development and support. Dublin should be commended for taking a lead in this area by designating an area for in-fill development in order to encourage less sprawl development. Dublin is setting a good example for its neighbors. Yet this good example requires Dublin to take another important step forward and that is to make its new development walkable and bikeable. The two go hand in hand.
We are also encouraged that the City of Dublin has approved a ‘complete streets’ policy and was one of the first cities in the County to do so. This new policy requires that the city make a good faith effort to design comfortable and inviting bikeways all around the City so that its residents, employers and visitors all have the option of bicycling as a viable means of transportation. The idea proposed at the February 28 public workshop on the Bicycle Plan, of having bicyclists ride on the sidewalk on Dublin Blvd, does not satisfy this new policy and certainly is not going to encourage many new people to try bicycling. It also makes it much more inconvenient and dangerous as well to walk on a sidewalk when people are bicycling there.
In connection with our request for new bike lanes on Dublin Blvd, we also request that Amador Plaza and Village Parkway also receive well-designed bike lanes their entire length. These two streets are important parts of Dublin’s new downtown connectivity. If it takes a more thorough analysis of parking needs, we would like to see the City of Dublin starts this process as soon as the Bicycle Plan is approved. It should be the first action item in the Bicycle Plan-a parking analysis.
We realize making the downtown area of Dublin will involve some tough decisions, and perhaps this is one of the early such tough decisions and priority setting you will have to do. You have our support making these types of decisions and we will be reaching out to the community to further gather their support for you to make Dublin a more walkable and more bikeable city. Thank you again for improving the Bicycle Plan by making all important streets walkable and bikeable.
Cordially yours,
Advocacy Director
East Bay Bicycle Coalition
510.845.7433 ext 4
cc: Mayor Tim Sabranti
Vice Mayor Don Biddle
Congressman Eric Swalwell
Rosie Marterhazy, Safe Routes to School Alameda County