Faced with concerns about the safety of both drivers and pedestrians on its steep (20% grade) freeway (4 lanes), El Cerrito Public Works director Jerry Bradshaw has proposed a road diet. The upper portion of Moeser Lane (Shevlin to Arlington) would become a 2-lane road, with left turn pockets, wider lane separations, and wide paved shoulders. Bradshaw, along with Yvetteh Ortiz, Engineering Manager, explained the proposal at a town hall meeting on Sept. 10. (It was carefully pointed out that the proposal has nothing to do with cyclists, whom they say are seen either tacking back and forth on the steep ascent or flying downhill at high speed.)
Unfortunately, most of the crowd who attended the open house expressed opposition to the proposal, lamenting that they might get stuck behind slow ascenders, and that they liked having more 2 lanes in each direction to choose from. The traffic engineers tried to explain how the proposed striping changes would address most of the imagined difficulties, but many in the audience were unreceptive and did not follow the technical details. In the end, Bradshaw indicated he may favor retaining 2 lanes for the uphill direction, and would place priority on trimming vegetation that obscures visibility at corners.
Comments can be directed to Yvetteh Ortiz: yortiz@ci.el-cerrito.ca.us