Though with the OFD clearance requirements applied that would still mean two 13’ lanes, which isn’t great either.
Advocacy Director at BikeEastBay. See me for bicycle culture & transportation infrastructure news on the sunny side of the Bay. My posts are my own.
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Though with the OFD clearance requirements applied that would still mean two 13’ lanes, which isn’t great either.
I’m glad for the road diet but was secretly hoping for a 2-way cycletrack here, and a further reduction down to 2 car travel lanes. The construction site activity over the last few years has shown the street doesn’t need any more than 2 car lanes.
Interested in making local transit better? Live in West Contra Costa County or Albany (the bright blue area on the map)? Apply now to be on the AC Transit Board - application period is now through October 8, 2025. www.actransit.org/boardofdirec...
I don’t know but assume it’s funded by the developer & included as a condition of development, as the work only stretches across the building frontage & not the entire block. Oakland also has a publicly-funded paving project planned for this block, which will complete the remainder of the bikeway.
I didn't know either. I'm trying to follow up with city staff to see how we can better coordinate on development-led bike/walk infrastructure updates despite the work happening primarily via the planning dep't instead of the DOT.
The development project is the Samuel Merritt University campus project between 11th & 12th Streets, on the block between Clay and Broadway. oaklandside.org/2024/04/04/s...
The 11th St project is one block long, but it's in addition to many more protected bikeway projects in the works or starting construction soon in Oakland, mostly in the Downtown area. It wasn't planned this way but it's great to see so much happening at once! bikeeastbay.org/oaklands-rec...
A development project on 11th St in Downtown Oakland is adding this curb & parking-protected bikeway, along with a road diet. A follow up paving project from the city will extend the road diet & bikeway the rest of the way from Clay St to Broadway.
This OPD press release says they seized 128 vehicles so far *this year* but the way it was reported in some news outlets led folks to infer that this number was just from the recent sideshow events. www.oaklandca.gov/News-Release...
Caltrans will be closing the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge trail 6am-3pm Mon-Fri for 2 weeks in September for inspections. They’re planning to close the bridge trail on weekdays starting Oct to make way for a breakdown shoulder, but decided to also twist the knife in advance w this inspection schedule.
bsky.app/profile/prin...
Has @berkeleyside.org ever covered this? Seems like readers would be interested to know that the city is giving away a lot of their tax dollars to already very wealthy property owners.
Reminds me of this anti-gentrification video from 2012 criticizing a realtor for claiming that $400k 2 bdrm houses in NW Oakland were “affordable”. Seems extremely quaint now. youtu.be/JneAYdmDGCE?...
A reminder that @avaenergy.org has a monthly drawing to give out rebates for electric bikes. Enter now for an instant rebate of $400 to $1,500 off a new e-bike. avaenergy.org/go-electric/...
Of all the buildings one could claim are soulless, that’s definitely an odd one to pick on. There is a lot of nice detailing on that development. But also, didn’t it open in 2010 or so? Talk about being stuck in the past…
Advocates should also engage in anti-displacement strategies w learn from orgs & individuals who have long been involved in these issues. Even if bike infra isn’t cause/effect wrt displacement, it’s still something we should care about, helping to build collaborative relationships & trust.
Advocates would do well to not dismiss these realities & make sure the needs of the most vulnerable are centered in the project decision making process, & that the discussion doesn’t end w just a “line on a map” bikeway type. Details matter & local input makes for projects that work better.
The lack of better designed facilities isn’t necessarily a reflection of the community interest, but the fact that the primary users are often also those w the least amount status & political clout. This doesn’t make them any less deserving of safety though.
In other neighborhoods there has long been bike infrastructure , but only in the form on minimum painted lanes on wide/fast streets, or dangerous shared-lane markings. Usually the only people biking here are those w no other options, low income and/or unhoused folks.
There was an assumption by some here that E Oakland didn’t want bike infrastructure. But when the city entered into a public process on streets like Havenscourt they found that residents were skeptical that just paint would be enough, & were also asking for roundabouts & traffic calming.
Possibly, but it’s also hard to know where a century old industrial venture might have left something nasty, even in the hills. Areas around old factories, landfills or rail lines are the worst but not the only spots.
Worse than worms, blackberries also absorb toxins from contaminated soil. If you’re foraging around urban areas here in the East Bay, it’s best to avoid them & stick to tree fruit instead.
If they had a sense of humor, they could commission an artist to make a sculpture that looks just like a bike rack, then install it next to the other piece with a sign that reads “Public art, not bicycle parking”.
When you have to install a sign in front of your bike rack to let people know it’s a bike rack, then you know you’ve failed. That said, some things which people do recognize as a “bike rack” are also crap.
So far the most popular Bay Wheels trips in the East Bay are to BART stations. There is an opportunity for a similar use case to AC Transit stops, in areas w less bus transit density, but Lyft has failed to orient around these needs.
That plus the premium membership proposal w some amount of e-bike usage / day w no per minute fees was intended to help people w limited income be able to budget for daily bike share usage better. Other transit fees are consistent between identical rides, but currently BayWheels e-bike fees aren’t.
The proposal to credit users who bring a non-station bike back to a station was another incentive.
Here’s what the East Bay cities’ proposal was to Lyft back in May 2020. There was an added fee for locking away from a station, but the station areas could be more abundant by not needing so much hardscape infrastructure. Capping the per-minute fees for some users was also critical.
I’ll be generous & say the privately-owned bike share experiment has proven the demand & the system now deserves to be publicly owned/funded. A similar trajectory as to rail transit in the mid-1900s. Let’s not make the same mistake by allowing service to degrade before then.
Or just write “My $150 bike share membership helps me avoid having to…” above it.
When Lyft’s Bay Area bike share contract is up in 2027 MTC needs to simply take it over themselves. Lyft could still participate as a contracted operator, but we need to stop subsidizing private companies with public tax dollars. Bike share should be public transit.
ALSO Lyft only followed up to bring e-bikes back to the East Bay when they got a $20M bailout from MTC. Ridership has exploded since then, contrary to Lyft’s prior claims that they couldn’t afford to provide more service in the East Bay due to low ridership.
Pre-pandemic I was working w the East Bay cities to advocate for bringing e-bikes back w hybrid dockless, better pricing structures, & serving more of Oakland. The local cities were clamoring for this, & yet Lyft didn’t follow up for nearly 5 years. It’s the profit motive, not a local rules issue.
Portland’s bike share is operated by Lyft but publicly owned by the city. BayWheels is privately owned & operated. Publicly owned bike share systems (like Portland, LA or DC) tend to center access & equity more than privately owned ones.
BayWheels has indicated they aren’t adding any more hybrid dockless bikes to the SF system. They conveniently decided to pull the plug on them just when the e-bikes were being reintroduced to the East Bay, making the previously planned expansion to E Oakland impossible.
Standard stations could still exist, but others could be set up quickly & cheaply as just striped curbside areas w signage. This serves less dense areas much better, since destinations tend to be not as concentrated. It also solves the issue of a “full” station at the end of a trip.
Hybrid dockless, meaning there are still stations but people can still park away from them when need be. This was the original promise for BayWheels expansion into E Oakland, allowing for more bikes without the need for so much expensive station infrastructure.
Hybrid dockless would have allowed for a lot faster infill station development w/o as much cost. Such a misstep by Baywheels, largely due to the profit margin being prioritized over service & user experience.
IMO they should have gone the opposite direction to add the hybrid dockless option to the pedal-powered bikes as well, instead of removing it from the e-bikes.
I continue to stress that removing the hybrid dockless option for the East Bay system was a terrible idea, as dock density & walkability here is worse than SF, & @baywheels.bsky.social rebalancing isn’t reliable.
Tried to take a @baywheels.bsky.social trip w my mom today but the destination station was full & there weren’t any others w/in walking distance for her.
Bike East Bay’s list of shops that provide discounts to members is at BikeEastBay.org/discount Not on the list yet, but I’ve been taking my bikes to Towne Cycles on Adeline in W Oakland: www.townecycles.com
East Bay Parks is closing the Iron Horse Trail in Danville for maintenance for the next 2 weeks, but the detour routes are very inadequate for school kids that rely on the trail. Danville’s over-reliance on just a few trails for their low-stress bikeway network leaves users w few alternatives.
Market is a bus corridor which precludes a roundabout at the smaller 45th Street intersection, unless the bike lanes were removed. The general plan for sideshow deterrence would probably be center line hardening before/after the xwalks as far in as possible w/o impacting bike/car through movements.
Oh yeah, I was thinking of the larger Market/Adeline/57th intersection also mentioned in the article, which has long been an even higher target for sideshows. The one this past weekend stretched between 57th and 45th Streets.
I’ve heard from individuals whose trajectory into homelessness started with a traffic crash after which they were unable to work & otherwise support themselves & dependents.
It’s not just about enforcement. If an e-scooter rider is involved in a crash they can be found partially or entirely at fault for one of the minor violations listed above. This could limit their access to care & compensation, which can have disastrous implications.
This is never going to happen though, so we need to focus on what can be done in the short term with a limited budget, hopefully incorporated into a planned paving project in 2026.
That being said, if the budget was unlimited I’d actually prefer it be subdivided into two signalized intersections, each of them squared up as a T, & close off 57th as a through street for cars. This would open up more usable public space & be more bike/walk friendly than a roundabout.
There’s no way that kind of money is going into the Market/Adeline intersection in the foreseeable future. Any nearterm updates will have to be made via low cost / temporary materials. I drew up a plan proposal back in 2019 to address some of the basic remaining issues quickly.
Some have called for more aggressive policing, while others see street infrastructure changes as a more lasting solution.
Is it just me, or has there been a pretty steady increase in what seems like very generic "vote blue no matter who" type accounts that are almost like a parody of boomer liberals, who mostly repost anti-Trump memes/stories? Are these real people or is it a bot swarm that'll be weaponized eventually?
If the National Guard is sent to "protect" Oakland, 100% the fake doomloop propaganda will be used as a justification. You can not convince me that this wasn't the intention of it, at some level.
I’m not telling folks not to ride e-scooters. But the complexity of CA’s laws & lack of protections seems like it leaves them at higher risk/liability in the case of a crash, & gives police a lot of leeway to target e-scooter riders for biased pretextual stops.
Two-stage turns (not dismounting) can be a great option in many contexts, and protected intersection infrastructure which supports this is super. But requiring it for e-scooter riders at every single left turn is nuts.
Who are you, why are you following me, and why did you feel compelled to respond with such a useless trope of a reply?
Not many are built to do this, but mobility scooters are legally allowed to go up to 30 mph and are also legally defined as a “pedestrian”. leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_...
Yeah, at the same time devices like segways operate at up to 12 mph but are legally “pedestrians” under CA law. Our rules for micromobility devices are all over the place w so much complexity & little consistency.
E-scooters also weren’t included in legislation like CA’s 3 foot min bicyclist passing rule for drivers, the “change lanes to pass” rule, bicyclist allowances to cross on walk signals, or other recent safety legislation.
Also motorized scooters have a helmet requirement, drivers license requirement, 15 mph limit everywhere, and they aren’t allowed on streets signed above 25mph if there is no bike lane.
California’s e-scooter laws are the goofiest. I don’t ride one, but just noticed the section requiring a rider to dismount and cross as a pedestrian for *any* left turn. I can’t imagine that anyone does that, nor would it be safer to do so in many instances.
Looks like it’s actually in Richmond, sorry!
Yep looks like that’s part of Richmond City Council District 6. You could try reaching out to Councilmember Jimenez with any inquiries: Claudia_Jimenez@ci.richmond.ca.us
@rebeccaforec.bsky.social let me know if you have any intel.
Looks like it dips in the center, so my hunch is that it’s for stormwater handling and is not primarily a pedestrian path. Could be that the city can’t officially identify it, since it’s not ADA compliant. I’ll ask though.
Only here.
Sorry I don’t understand. Your inquiry was about how people can see the video. Sharing this link will allow them to do so. I can’t help you any further beyond this. bsky.app/profile/prin...
Yeah bus operations in urban areas is constant chaos, much harder than other AV scenarios. I’ve heard some AV boosters assume infrastructure fixes, but then the question becomes why aren’t we already doing that to improve existing service?
In concept it’s great, but it’s also naive to believe AV buses won’t be used as a justification to reduce staffing & attack transit unions. Similar to EV bus mandates, it has the real potential to reduce funding & attention for much higher priority needs.
And bus operators serve many more functions & needs than just driving the vehicle.
I believe if you use this button then choose “copy link to post” you can then share that link with anyone & they’ll be able to view the video, even without a Bluesky account.
More on this + a bunch of other Oakland protected bikeways in construction now via this blog post: bikeeastbay.org/oaklands-rec...
It would be great if more cycletrack projects could get widened concrete gutters or raised bikeways to eliminate the seam, but not many project budgets can support this. The next time you see an annoying bikeway gutter seam, remember it’s more a funding issue than a design oversight.
An interesting design detail is that the already wide concrete gutter on 10th meant the curbside bikeway could be installed w/o an asphalt/concrete seam in the middle. Thankfully the concrete was in good shape so they didn’t have to rebuild it, which can be very expensive.
Already getting some good use! Also #TwentyIsPlenty
Oakland’s first angled parking-protected bikeway is nearly complete, on 10th St in Chinatown between Madison and Jackson Streets.
Indeed, as long as one survives the 14% grade descent down to Treasure Island, & assuming the 3 bike rack spots on the bus aren't already taken. This will get a little better w/in a few years once the 7% grade TI Road connection is re-opened, & the electric short-hop ferry service starts.
Only halfway from Oakland to Yerba Buena Island so far, unfortunately. We’re pushing for a continuation the rest of the way to SF, but it’ll be a while: secure.everyaction.com/upUKn61UNk2J...
Let us know how to make it safer to bike in Berkeley and strengthen our network of calmed routes and roads. We are soliciting feedback on the draft Bicycle Plan until September 26. 1) Read the Bicycle Plan: berkeleybikeplan.org/ 2) Email bicycleplan@berkeleyca.gov Info: berkeleyca.gov/commu...
This is the same reason why events like Bike East Bay’s Oakland Gran Fondo & Walk Oakland Bike Oakland’s Love Our Lake Day ended. The extreme cost of hiring police for traffic control ate up all the profit & then some.
I don’t know if the cut-through was specifically added back as a result of our advocacy, but we did definitely push for it during the project planning. Either way, I was happy & excited to see that design detail!
For Oakland to improve the state needs to commit significantly more funding to street safety. Because under-resourced jurisdictions which have the worst issues are also the least able to address it themselves.
As a political tool, a space for organizing like-minded people that have real world connections is much more effective than one for trying to debate/convince hostile anons. The latter can easily be rigged to simply waste your time.
At a certain point the balance of Twitter became more arguments & less info. Constantly fortifying a wall of blocks to maintain a shred of normalcy would have been a full time job. So I bailed.
If you’re the type who enjoys arguing w anons endlessly for no real world benefit or influence, then Twitter might be for you. Personally, my main social media use case is info sharing & gathering, mostly hyper local stuff that doesn’t make the media. Hot takes & punditry are less useful to me.
Alameda TMA is looking for a new General Manager. Great position for someone who is committed to sustainable transportation w/ non-profit experience. Share w/ your networks. @bikeeastbay.bsky.social @sfbayferry.com @prinzrob.bsky.social @warrenjwells.bsky.social workforgood.org/listing-job/...
The reports so far are that the bike rider was headed northbound on Shattuck in the crosswalk on the west side of the street, and the driver was headed westbound on 51st/52nd. The initial police report indicated that the bike rider was crossing against the signal, but folks are looking into this.
That 2013 Shattuck design was also before protected bikeways were allowed in California. There were some comments at the time that a curbside paint-only bike lane there would just get parked in anyway. We could solve this now with physical separation, but that wasn't an option back then.
It's a testament to how underfunded & understaffed transportation needs are in Oakland that the corridor has been basically untouched since then. If designed today, this part of Shattuck would be significantly better.
I was around for the planning talks ahead of when that Shattuck bikeway was striped in 2013. Not to excuse it, but things were *very* different 10+ years ago. At the time, Oakland's bike staff acknowledged the design issue but didn't feel empowered to convert car parking for a continuous bike lane
Not ideal, but they could alternately have turned the 680 shoulder into a temporary barrier-separated path until the Lopes Road reconstruction was complete.
Lopes Road, the only direct non-freeway route btwn Benicia & Fairfield, has been closed due to a landslide since March 2023. Repairs are estimated to start in April for completion Dec 2026, 45 months later. Imagine this timeline for a freeway repair... youtu.be/0uK4RTEVLLo?...
East Bay meeting options tonight: • Oakland bike/walk commission 6pm @ Carmen Flores Rec Center, Fruitvale - General Plan & Slow Streets discussion www.oaklandca.gov/files/assets... • Berkeley transpo commission 6:15pm at the N Berk Senior Center - Bike Plan discussion berkeleyca.gov/sites/defaul...
If CASS was able to handle the rutted train tracks & potholes that were there prior to the recent paving, I’m sure they’ll be able to adjust to the speed humps as well.
There were complaints from semi & forklift drivers on Lowell St after speed tables went in there too. But they were able to adjust, in some cases by simply driving slower, which was the point of the speed tables.
When the city implemented another paving project on this corridor years ago, we were told that traffic calming couldn’t be added due to adjacent industrial uses. It’s great to see the Oakland’s new bikeway safety guidelines supercede these concerns.
Markings on the new speed humps to be added shortly.
Five new speed humps on 26th St in W Oakland btwn Magnolia and Campbell, along w new 4-way stops. All added w/o extra process as part of OakDOT’s commitment to routine traffic calming alongside paving projects on neighborhood bikeways.
On Saturday a driver hit and killed women in her 50s as she was biking across 51st at Shattuck 😢 Our hearts go out to her life cut short as she was doing something as simple as riding her bike, and we extend our deepest sympathies to her family and friends www.oakrapidresponse.org/posts/bicycl...
