In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, last year the Alameda County Transportation Commission (Alameda CTC) approved thirteen small scale, quick-build bicycle and pedestrian projects, one from each city that applied, to address the need for greater bicycle and pedestrian access in light of social distancing guidelines. By March 31 this year, nearly all thirteen projects have been completed within a nine-month turn around. While bike lanes have, on some occasions, been built quicker than nine-months, this one-time program with “rapid” in its name significantly shortened the project timeline for an agency that normally takes years to deliver projects.
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How did your city respond? Emeryville by far did the best, with a slow street upgrade on Doyle Street which includes bollards, painted bulb outs and street closures, and was one of the first quick-build projects to finish. View the project in action and hear from Alameda CTC on the quick-build program in the video below.
Fremont built its first parking-protected bike lane on Fremont Blvd. in Centerville as part of a road diet project with a parklet too. Oakland added posts to the already painted buffered bike lanes on Embarcadero where parked cars consistently blocked the bike lane near Nido’s Backyard. New buffered bike lane projects were completed in Pleasanton on Saint Mary Street where a left turn pocket was also removed, on Jarvis Street in Newark between Newark Blvd. and Gateway Blvd., and in Dublin on Regional Street near West Dublin BART Station.
Hayward was ready to add more safety upgrades to the relatively new protected bike lanes on Patrick Avenue near Weekes Community Park, but residents’ pushback to the new parking-protected bike lanes has been intense and the upgrades paused, pending the April 28 Council Infrastructure Committee meeting in Hayward. Want to hear the latest on Hayward area updates? Sign up today.
Berkeley and Alameda also upgraded, and expanded, their slow streets with more robust signage, A-frames and stanchions. Albany, San Leandro, Livermore and Alameda County all added various pedestrian safety improvements. Union City and Piedmont did not apply.
Bike East Bay members support better biking, walking, and transit, moving forward a sustainable and accessible future across the East Bay. Not a member yet? Join today.