Both Hayward and Oakland plan to become green cities this year with the addition of new green painted bike lanes.
Oakland:
We are excited to announce that at the March 21 Oakland Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee staff heard our calls for green bike lanes and are preparing initial plans to do a pilot of green paint in conflict zones where cars often cross over the bike lane. We have been pushing for green lanes for the past year.
Green paint is used to alert both motorists and bicyclists of a conflict zone where a continuous bike lane crosses a slip turn, a turn pocket opening, or an oblique intersection. The green paint will only appear in the merge zone of the bike lane, not the entire lane. Additionally, the City plans to install signs that say “Yield to Bikes”.
Where are the green bike lanes going in:
- Grand Ave & Bay Place: where there is an oblique right turn slip lane where cars do not slow down as they cross over the bike lane;
- 27th St at Northgate: here there are two right turn lanes for traffic going to the freeway and the green paint will be used for a long stretch extending from just before the turn lanes start all the way up to the intersection;
- 27th St at Broadway: again, another right turn slip lane where traffic crosses over the bike lane;
- Lakeshore Ave & Lakeshore Ave: where Lakeshore Ave becomes 1st St, at the new configuration around Lake Merritt. There is a right turn lane here;
- Lakeshore Ave at E.18th St: where there is a bus stop/right turn lane. The green paint will extend between Foothill and E. 18th St on Lakeshore Ave;
- Lakeshore Ave just east of E. 18th St: where a right turn pocket merges with Lakeshore Ave, crossing the bike lane.
The strategy here is to consolidate the locations of these new green bike lane segments in order to maximize their impact and effect upon motorists and bicyclists alike. In addition, there are opportunities to include some of this work as part of the Measure DD improvements around the Lake.
Once this pilot project of green paint is successful, the City will roll out green paint at over 50 locations throughout the City and in all neighborhoods. The ‘NACTOization of Oakland begins soon!’
And of course this is in addition to the green supersharrows coming to 40th Street this year, and the new green cycle track coming to upper Broadway most likely in 2015 at the latest.
Hayward:
Hayward will be the first green city in the East Bay, when it stripes green bike lanes on Dixon St this May. The new green bike lanes will connect south Hayward neighborhoods to the South Hayward BART Station. They will also provide a nice boost to the transit-oriented development planned for the area around the BART Station.
The announcement about these new green bike lanes came on March 26 at Hayward City Council, where Mayor Michael Sweeney issued a Proclamation for Bike to Work Day and in the Proclamation itself stated that “The City will be installing a green bicycle lane on Dixon Street as a pilot project,” which makes it as official as can be. We will keep you posted on when the new lanes are in and schedule a celebration of the East Bay’s first green bike lane.
Learn more about green bike lanes on the NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide website