Concord has a lot of roadway projects in the pipeline, some great but others with designs that will not provide safe facilities that work for people of all ages and abilities. Here’s a rundown on the good, the bad, the ugly, and what you can do to help.
The Good: Pine Hollow Road
This month Concord City Council approved the concept plan for a fully protected bikeway on Pine Hollow Road between Ygnacio Valley Road and the city limits near Atchinson Stage Road. This gives city staff the green light to further the design and pursue funding for what could be the city’s first protected bikeway, connecting five schools within the study area via a curb-protected, 2-way cycletrack for 2 miles.
This is a fantastic project that we will be very happy to help prioritize for funding opportunities. We commend the city staff and consultants who developed the plan, community members who provided input on the plan, and the city council members who approved it.
The Pine Hollow Road concept plan is available to review here.
The Bad: Treat Boulevard
Concord is preparing a paving project for a 3.2 mile section of Treat from Clayton Boulevard to the Walnut Creek border near Winton Drive, but so far is including a bike lane on only half of it from the Contra Costa Canal Trail to Clayton, and only painted bike lanes despite the street’s 40 mph speed limit. There are also numerous long gaps between marked crosswalks in the project plans, several for over a third of a mile.
Given what staff showed us what they’re capable of with the Pine Hollow project with strong support from City Council, we are asking for the design to be revisited and upgraded with protected bikeways and protected intersections, removal of slip turn lanes at Turtle Creek Road, improved and more frequent pedestrian crossings, and a more direct Contra Costa Canal Trail crossing of Treat.
A protected bikeway project here would join up with the Pine Hollow Road project described above, the Canal Trail, and help connect to a County Public Works bikeway upgrade planned for Treat to the Pleasant Hill BART station, building out a network of safe, high quality facilities.
The concept plan is available to review here, and our joint Bike East Bay and Bike Concord letter to the city with revised design recommendations is available here.
The Ugly: Oak Grove Road
Concord is preparing another paving project on Oak Grove Road from Treat Blvd to the Contra Costa Canal Trail, but has no plans to add any bicycle facilities here despite this roadway also being signed at 40 mph, and connecting between the trail and several area schools. A painted bike lane along Treat Blvd in Walnut Creek currently ends at the Concord border, even though the roadway is the same width between the two cities.
Elsewhere on Oak Grove a painted shoulder was added as part of a separate paving project and used by bike riders, but then removed to make way for a right turn lane (shown above).
Our immediate asks to Concord staff are to mirror Walnut Creek’s design for Oak Grove by adding a painted bike lane, and to take steps right away to lower the excessive 40 mph speed limit. Medium-term, protected bikeway facilities should be investigated for this corridor as a means to provide a truly safe design that is accessible to everyone.
What you can do:
- Join our Concord Bikeways email list to receive notifications on how and when to provide your input on these and other bikeway projects in the area.
- Subscribe to the Bike Concord Facebook group to connect with local advocates and learn about organizing activities.
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Email Concord city staff to thank them for the great work on Pine Hollow Road, but also encourage them to spend some more time fixing the Treat Boulevard and Oak Grove Road plans before moving forward to construction:
Kevin Wheat, [email protected]; Abhishek Parikh, [email protected]
