Less than a week after a 53-year-old bicyclist died while descending a steep road in the Oakland Hills, one East Bay bicycle advocacy group has asked the city to repair and repave the road that it says poses a hazard to cyclists.
Allen Douglas Lee, of Alameda, had been on a road ride Saturday with his cycling club, Alameda Velo, and while descending Grizzly Peak Boulevard near Fish Ranch Road, his wheel caught in a longitudinal crack in the road.
The crack was slightly wider than the tire, throwing him from his bike and into the path of an oncoming car. Lee sustained major injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Renee Rivera, the executive director of the East Bay Bicycle Coalition, said that she is urging the Oakland Public Works Agency to take immediate action to fix the streets and reduce the risk cracks and potholes pose to cyclists.
“We’re so saddened to see something like this happen,” Rivera said. “It feels preventable. It makes it that much harder when something like that happens.”
Rivera sent an email Thursday to the agency’s director, Vitaly Troyan, asking him and his staff to reconsider how roads are prioritized for pavement so that injuries and deaths can be avoided.
“While all users of the road suffer when our streets crack and crater, cyclists don’t just experience damage to their vehicles, they also risk serious injury and death,” Rivera wrote.
Her request asked public works to dispatch a crew Thursday to the section of Grizzly Peak Boulevard where Lee died to repair and seal the 1-mile stretch of road from Lomas Cantadas to Fish Ranch Road.
The cracks run in the direction of travel along the route, one of the most popular bike routes in Oakland that is used by hundreds of cyclists each week, Rivera said, noting that the group’s members have concerns and have made reports to public works.
Rivera’s request also asks Troyan to reinforce existing city policy that roads designated as bike routes in the city receive first priority for repaving as funding becomes available.
Source: The Bay Citizen
View the original article here
View the East Bay Bicycle Coalition’s letter to the Oakland Public Works Agency here