EBBC’s Campaign focus on the Estuary Crossing has brought progress to an effort that stalled soon after we reported in rideOn, Feb 2004, the opening of a Water Taxi funded by the Air District. Inept operation led the Port of Oakland to deny docking rights and the long-awaited service was scuttled.
We can again be optimistic over news of Measure B Program funding to study options for the Alameda-Oakland Estuary Crossing published in the Alameda Sun. We can celebrate this victory along with the near-term success of BikeAlameda and EBBC in creating a proposal for a water shuttle to be implemented in 2008 as part of the Alameda Landing project.
Now we can turn our attention to envisioning what the long-term solutions may look like. I recently visited a couple of bridges in Buenos Aires that offer very different ways to connect our two East Bay cities and not impede ship traffic in the Estuary.
Either the Puente de Mujers (Calatrava design like Redding, CA “Sundial Bridge”), or Puente Nicolás Avellaneda (“transporter bridge” design that could recycle sections of the East Span of the Bay Bridge) offer intriguing possibilities. Click to enlarge.
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