Bicycling Improvements Planned for Rockridge Streets

Biking may be healthy for the environment but it can be harrowing for the bicyclist trying to navigate the streets of Rockridge and other parts of Oakland.

Broken pavement, oblivious drivers, narrow streets and suddenly opened doors from parked cars are some of the hazards faced by the city's relatively large number of commuters who travel by bike.

The city's ability to make streets friendler for biking is severely hampered by a shortage of funding, resulting in $435 million in deferred street maintenance, according to Jason Patton, Bicycle Program Manager for the city's Public Works Agency.

As a result, he said, the city can't keep up with needed fixes, meaning that city streets as a whole suffer from growing decay. "The overall quality of Oakland’s roads is deteriorating," he said.

That's especially bad news for people on bikes. "Bicyclists are disproportionately affected by poor pavement," he said.

But at the same time, some improvements are planned that will help bicyclists in the Rockridge area in particular and in other parts of the city as well, he said.

This year, bike lanes will be added to Broadway between Broadway Terrace and 38th Street, to Shattuck Avenue between 59th Street and the Berkeley border and to Alcatraz Avenue, he said.

Also, the city's Bicycle Master Plan calls for converting Broadway above Broadway Terrace from a four-lane road into a road with two lanes for vehicles and two dedicated bike lanes, with a left/right turn lane in the center of the roadway. 

The plan also calls for marking the pavement on College Avenue with shared lane markings known as "sharrows" indicating that the road is meant to be shared by cars and bicycles. A "sharrow" is painted onto the road surface and consists of the outline of a bicycle topped by two chevrons forming a directional arrow-shape. (See attached photo.)

These two projects will involve community outreach, which could begin within the year, Patton said.

In addition, the city next year will repave Chabot Road, "an important bikeway into the Oakland Hills," Patton said. Sharrows will be added to Chabot also, said Kristine Shaff, spokeswoman for the Public Works Agency.

For those who'd like more details on the plans and constraints faced by the city, here is the full text of Patton's responses provided by email to questions from Patch:

1. How big of a gap is there between safety for bicyclists and the high number of bike commuters in the city?

Out of the 50 largest US cities, Oakland ranks as the 13^th safest for bicycling (Alliance for Biking & Walking, Bicycling and Walking in the United States: 2012 Benchmarking Report). In comparison, Oakland has the seventh most bicycle commuters out of the 100 largest cities in the US (US Census Bureau, 2011 American Community Survey). From 2000 through 2009, there was an average of 0.9 bicyclist fatalities per year and 134 bicyclist injuries per year. The overall trend is that the number of bicyclists is increasing dramatically – by 250% since 2000 – while the total number of bicyclist-involved collisions is relatively stable. This relationship, known as “safety in numbers,” is supported by research showing that the cities with the greatest number of bicyclists are the safest cities to ride in. This is because the general population is more aware of bicyclists and knows to expect them on roadways.

In addition to “safety in numbers,” Oakland is becoming a safer city for bicycling through the implementation of bikeways and bicyclist education. For most bicyclists to feel safe in traffic, they either need dedicated space separating them from motorists or they need to ride on streets with few cars and low speeds. Oakland is installing bike lanes on busier streets to create that separation and installing bicycle boulevards that calm traffic on neighborhood streets. In partnership with the East Bay Bicycle Coalition, Oakland is developing a new program to offer bicyclist safety education classes in three languages at recreation centers throughout the city.

2. In the Rockridge area, what are the biggest obstacles to getting bike lanes or sharrow lanes on major arteries?

Currently, the only major street with bike lanes in the Rockridge area is Telegraph Ave north of Highway 24. In 2013, bike lanes will be added to the length of Alcatraz Ave and Shattuck Ave, and to Broadway below Broadway Ter. Of the major streets in Rockridge, that leaves 51^st St/Pleasant Valley Ave, Claremont Ave, College Ave, and Broadway above Broadway Ter. Each has its own challenges. 51^st St/Pleasant Valley Ave and Claremont Ave would require the removal of travel lanes in order to install bike lanes. While a practical solution for many of Oakland’s streets, such projects require lengthy feasibility studies and approval processes – these studies can take longer and be more expensive than the resulting construction projects. For College Ave, the street is just wide enough to meet the minimum requirements for bike lanes. But most of the bike lane would end up in the “door zone” – the portion of the road that the doors of parked cars open into. In recognition of this issue, the City’s Bicycle Master Plan proposes the installation of sharrows on College Ave. (See this FAQ on sharrows:www2.oaklandnet.com/n/OAK025000.) For Broadway above Broadway Ter, the City’s Bicycle Master Plan proposes to convert this four-lane roadway to one lane and a bike lane in each direction plus a two-way center turn lane. The feasibility study was completed in 2007 and the project is being developed in coordination with a resurfacing project. The project is also being coordinated with improvements at the intersections of Broadway at Lawton Ave and Broadway at Ocean View Dr that are proposed by the City of Oakland’s settlement with Caltrans over the Caldecott Fourth Bore. Each bikeway project includes community outreach, and these efforts for College Ave and Broadway could begin within the next year.

3. To what extent does the condition of Oakland roads pose a problem for bicyclists and what your mission?

Bicyclists are disproportionately affected by poor pavement, and the overall quality of Oakland’s roads is deteriorating. In recent years, Oakland has had approximately $4 million/year to invest in paving. In contrast, it would require $28 million/year to keep the pavement in its current state of repair. With $435 million of deferred maintenance, the City is unable to keep streets from deteriorating. And once a street reaches a certain stage of decay, it becomes very expensive to repair. In fact, it is more cost-effective to spend those resources on other streets to keep them from reaching that critical stage of decay. This situation is symptomatic of older cities: extensive infrastructure and insufficient resources to maintain what is already built.

Given this reality, the City’s Bicycle Facilities Program coordinates closely with the City’s Pavement Management Program to spend available resources as efficiently and effectively as possible. In the Rockridge area, bikeways with poor pavement were recently repaired on Telegraph Ave (at Highway 24) and on Colby St. In 2013, Alcatraz Ave, Shattuck Ave (59^th St to the Berkeley border), and Broadway (38^th St to Broadway Ter) will be paved with new bike lanes. Grizzly Peak Blvd will also receive a much-needed rehabilitation. And in 2014, Chabot Rd will be paved to improve an important bikeway into the Oakland Hills. The overall pattern is that neighborhood streets will continue to deteriorate in order to direct the majority of available resources to major streets and bikeways. New funding sources are absolutely necessary to reverse this trend. Extensive information from the City’s Pavement Management Program is available at www2.oaklandnet.com/Government/o/PWA/o/EC/s/STS/OAK030328.

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