Is there a particular bike project or bike improvement you want to see implemented in West Berkeley? Now is your chance to see it happen.
The West Berkeley Redevelopment Agency is putting together a community-driven Circulation Master Plan. The planning process takes into account all bike, ped, transit, truck, and automobile traffic in the area. It is a very diffcult balancing act. On the one hand, the community wants to maintain traffic flow, but does not want to encourage even greater cut-through traffic. Computer simulations show that the projected increase in West Berkeley traffic is almost entirely regional (i.e. car trips passing through the area).
Staff is soliciting input from the community as to what projects should be considered. This list of projects will then be evaluated using various criteria, including: livability, affect on VMT (vehicle-miles-traveled), and mobility. (following Berkeley’s “Transit-First” policy, transit improvements score higher on the “mobility” index since moving a busload of passengers has a greater “person-mobility” than a SOV).
As a baseline, staff looked at the Bicycle Master Plan for projects to include in the Circulation Master Plan. In addition, there are some automobile and transit proposals that are being proposed for further study:
Gilman grade separation project
Due to increasing volume of freight rail traffic, there is a proposal to grade separate the Gilman crossing. This would be a challenging project, because the roadway would rise up above the railway, and then quickly dive under the I80 interchange. The gradient could far exceed ADA requirements, meaning that some kind of alternate bike/ped accommodation would have to be implemented. One way to minimize the gradient would be to raise (slightly) the tracks while lowering the roadway, but it is unclear whether this is a feasible solution. More engineering study is required.
I80 interchanges
Traffic simulations identified the various I80 interchanges as bottleneck for automobiles. A “Future Conditions” study was done which took into account various improvements/rebuilds of the interchanges. In terms of dollar amount, these proposed interchange projects would make up the vast majority of transportation spending, if implemented. For the most part, these interchange projects were consistent with existing plans, and in the case of Gilman and Ashby would improve bicycle access across I80.
“LOS”
The WBPAC has defined LOS (level of service) for the various users. At a number of intersections with poor automobile-LOS, various tweaks have been suggested: mainly the addition of new left-turn and right-turn lanes (with corresponding removal of onstreet parking), as well as changes to signals to provide exclusive left-turn phases. Queue-jumping lanes (for AC Transit) have also been proposed, to improve transit-LOS. And an all-red pedestrian scramble zone has been proposed for some of the busier intersections. Obviously, it is not possible to do all these types of LOS improvements for a particular intersection, which is where the ranking and prioritization comes into play.
Once the entire laundry list of projects is compiled, the WBPAC will then begin an evaluation and ranking process to develop a comprehensive Plan. No doubt the vast majority of projects currently on the list will be eliminated or combined, based on analysis by consultants and community feedback. On August 26, the Berkeley Bicycle Subcommittee will hold a meeting with WBPAC staff (Amber Evans) to review and make suggestions on the project list.