It took two Bike East Bay pop up bikeway demos and years of convincing Berkeley to fund and build its first protected bike lane, but when construction completes this Fall (estimated late September), Hearst Avenue will be Berkeley’s fourth protected bike facility, having been caught at the finish line by new protected bike lanes on Fulton Street and Bancroft Way (coming August), and a protected intersection at The Alameda and Hopkins Street.
However, Hearst Avenue one ups these other bikeways with your first bus boarding islands in the East Bay, with raised, curbside bike lanes, one at Arch and another at Euclid, paid for by AC Transit. These will avoid you jockeying with buses as buses pull over. At Northgate, a bike traffic signal will indicate when it’s your turn to cross the intersection heading north from campus. A new sidewalk has been built along the southside of Hearst, connecting Arch directly to Northgate, and Hearst Ave’s intersection with Arch is getting fixed so students can safely walk across Hearst to campus. Plus, a bioswale was dug at Oxford, where the right turn bike slip lane is.
This, in addition to several blocks of protected bike lanes. Our October 2015 pop up protected bike lane had an effect, convincing Berkeley to add two additional blocks of protected bike lanes to the Hearst project. The issue was around how much on-street parking to remove, with Bike East Bay actually arguing to keep more on-street parking and then doing neighborhood outreach needed to convince residents. More on our successful pop up bikeway. Your membership and support of Bike East Bay over the past four years has helped make Hearst Avenue a better street for walking, bicycling and taking transit.
What you can do
Thank your Councilmember for supporting this project:
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Mayor Jesse Arreguin
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Kriss Worthington