Good news: Doolittle Drive in San Leandro is getting bike lanes
Not so good news: Construction of the Oakland Airport Connector to BART will temporarily close the Bay Trail segment along Airport Drive, west of Doolittle Dr. (shown in photos, left).
The Bay Trail segment to close is the new pathway that links to the Bill Lockyer San Leandro Slough Bridge. There are two detour routes designated and signed for cyclists, and new permanent bike lanes on Doolittle Drive in San Leandro coming soon as part of the detour. The new Doolittle bike lanes will extend from the Oakland city line, south to Williams St in San Leandro, which is part of the detour route around the east side of the closed Bay Trail segment on Airport Dr. From the north, cyclists can also detour from the Bay Farm island bike/ped bridge to the west on to Ron Cowen Pkwy. Complete detour signage and information kiosks with detour maps will be in place. In addition, bike racks will be added to the Oakland Airport BART shuttle buses in about one month (by end of September). Your Bicycle Coalition will keep the pressure on BART and the City of San Leandro to expedite the new bike lanes on Doolittle and bike racks on the shuttle buses.
Detour details:
Description: Bike lanes on Doolittle Drive connecting to existing bicycle lanes on Williams Street. Doolittle Drive Striping Plan. The width on Doolittle Drive is adequate to accommodate bike lanes and these bike lanes will close a gap in the bicycle network by connecting the Williams Street bicycle lanes to Doolittle Drive. Traffic volumes tend to be lower on Williams Street compared with other detour routes considered, such as Davis Street.
At the Davis Street Intersection with Doolittle Dr, San Leandro is considering eliminating a travel lane to accommodate bike lanes and is considering reducing lane widths to 10′ or 11′ in order to accommodate the bike lanes.
Also under consideration is narrowing left- most lane to 11′ in order to accommodate a wider parking bicycle lane. At a minimum 3′ is required outside of gutter pan. At Williams Drive Intersection, On Williams Drive San Leandro will ensure loop detectors can be triggered by bicycles.
