February 5, 2019
In response to concerns over loss of on-street parking, Berkeley has developed a promising idea to make Milvia Street work downtown with protected bikeways: make it one-way for cars. Between University and Addison, on-street parking is retained on the ACE Hardware side of the street by making Milvia Street one-way southbound for a block. Protected bike lanes are provided on each side of the street, as called for in the bike plan, and the one-way street design vastly improves safety issues in Milvia’s offset intersection at University. The protected bike lanes would continue south two more blocks to Allston, but with Milvia Street retaining two-way car traffic on these blocks.
The problem is staff cannot deliver the project by Bike to Work Day May 9, as Mayor Jesse Arreguin promised last year. Using standard traffic engineering, Berkeley would need to conduct a traffic analysis of making Milvia Street one-way and conduct a public hearing on the results, and both take time and divert staff from other projects. We have a solution, but need your continued push.
Make your voice heard – the countdown to May 9 begins today!:
- Email Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin and Downtown Berkeley Councilmember Kate Harrison and tell them: “Add protected bike lanes on Milvia by May 9, Bike to Work Day 2019.”
The Milvia Street Bikeway Project will start a series of protected bikeway improvements on the street, as well as increase safety at intersections and calm traffic in Berkeley’s busy downtown. Learn more about the project and make your voice heard.