There is a lot of construction happening in Oakland right now, with a record setting SIX concrete-protected bikeway projects being built at the same time!
This also means many questions from people about what’s happening. Read on for info on each of these projects, and for several more breaking ground later in 2025.
This progress would not be possible without a lot of hard work from Oakland DOT staff and contractors, along with support from Oakland elected officials on plans, funding, and project approvals. Thank you to these partners for prioritizing high quality bike, walk, and transit infratructure!
Under Construction Now
7th St / E 8th St from Fallon to 5th Ave, past Laney College. This one is being built via a routine paving contract, including concrete islands & curb stops (not yet installed). Drivers are already behaving well & parking in the correct spots even before the curbs have been installed.
Eventually this facility will connect to a 2-way cycletrack on Oak Street, a protected bikeway on 5th Ave, and the East Bay Greenway continuing south through Oakland to Hayward.
14th St, from 980 to Lake Merritt. This project is funded by a major grant and is fairly complex so construction will continue for a while, but it’s coming along.
The grant also includes funding for landscaping, bus boarding islands and shelters, street lighting, a bike counter kiosk, and five protected intersections.
Eventually this facility will connect to a protected bikeway on Lake Merritt Blvd continuing around the south end of the lake, and to a 2-way cycletrack on MLK Jr Way connecting to Jack London Square.
20th St, from Lakeside/Harrison to Broadway. This project is funded by a major state grant, and includes sidewalk widening, new landscaping, along with other nice stuff.
It will provide a better connection between the existing Telegraph Ave & Lakeside/Harrison cycletracks.
This project is on Harrison St, from 21st St to 27th St, also referred to as “Lakeside Family Streets” (info here).
This is a partial upgrade to an existing cycletrack and an extension north of Grand. It closes the slip turn at Harrison/Grand and adds a protected intersection, as well as bus boarding islands.
It is part of our Lake Merritt Loop campaign, and will eventually connect to additional protected bikeways on 27th Street and Grand Avenue.
Grand Ave from Harrison to Bay Pl. Technically this is part of the same Harrison St project described above, but on a connecting street.
It provides a one-way protected bikeway westbound, and on the other side of Grand it continues the 2-way cycletrack loop east around the lake, to be continued by a separate Grand Avenue paving and bikeway project in 2026/27.
Fruitvale Ave, E 12th to Alameda Ave. This project is Oakland’s first major raised, protected bikeway and adds many new street trees in addition to a slip turn lane conversion and protected intersection at E 12th Street.
This facility will eventually connect to the East Bay Greenway at E 12th Street continuing south through Oakland to Hayward, and with bike lanes across the Fruitvale bridge to upcoming Tilden/Clement protected bikeways in Alameda.
Breaking Ground Next
This Lakeshore Ave 2-way cycletrack will run from E 18th to El Embarcadero, and is part of our Lake Merritt Loop campaign.
Sadly this project was approved after the death of a young child in summer 2023, but the city’s response is very welcome.
Stay tuned for a groundbreaking announcement very soon.
Very imminent for construction is a protected intersection and one block of angled parking-protected bikeway (Oakland’s first!) on 10th Street from Madison to Jackson Streets. This is part of a Safe Routes to School project in Chinatown.
This project is adding a painted bike lane on 17th Street from Market Street to the existing bike lanes at MLK Jr Way. Construction on the sidewalk work has started, with the paving and striping to follow.
This includes a protected corner at 17th/Brush for bike riders to safely wait at a red light away from right turning drivers, and a post-separated section across the I-980 overpass from Brush to Castro Street.
27th Street / Bay Place from Telegraph Ave to Grand Ave. This project is fully designed/funded and will hopefully start construction later this year, extending into 2026.
It includes multiple slip turn lane closures and three protected intersections, including at 27th/Broadway where Steve Bloom was killed while biking in 2024.
Doolittle Dr from Davis St in San Leandro, through Oakland and up to Island Dr in Alameda.
This is a Caltrans project, to which we have been pushing over the past several years for upgrades from the originally proposed paint-only bike lane.
Bike East Bay staff are still advocating on some design detail improvements, but Caltrans has now committed to plastic curb and post separation. Construction is estimated to start in late 2025 or early 2026.
Much more is clearly needed on the 45-50 mph Doolittle corridor, but this concession from Caltrans is a sign of progress that we will continue to build on.
Even more Oakland protected bikeway construction starts are queued up for 2026 and 2027, so there is more news to come!
This is in addition to other important and valuable work happening with new off-street trails, painted bike lanes and traffic calmed neighborhood routes.
Still have questions about these or other projects? Get in touch to let us know!