February 06, 2024

OakDOT Director Fred Kelly, 1 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, Oakland, CA 94612
AC Transit General Manager Hursh, 1600 Franklin St, Oakland, CA 94612

CC: AC Transit Board of Directors and Oakland City Council

Director Kelly and General Manager Hursh,

We are writing to request you take immediate action to address dangerous conditions on the International Boulevard bus-only lane for the TEMPO line in Oakland. International Boulevard is far and above the most dangerous major street in Oakland. Drivers are now freely using the bus-only lane to speed and pass slower traffic causing unsafe situations for pedestrians and other vulnerable road users.

Access to low- or zero- emission transportation solutions such as walking, biking, and taking the bus align with Sierra Club’s mission; we will not be able to meet our climate goals without them. Low income, disabled, and elderly people as well as communities of color are especially isolated and impacted by a lack of reliable public transit and safe walking and cycling conditions.

Just yesterday another pedestrian was killed while crossing at the 9500 block of International Boulevard.

With urgency, please study and implement traffic improvements which physically discourage high speeds in Bus Only lanes, such as but not necessarily limited to speed cushions and lane separations. Additional signage and markings are not sufficient.

Under the “quick-build” safety project agreed to last year by OakDOT and AC Transit along the length of International Boulevard where the TEMPO travels in a bus-only lane, flex posts will be installed to separate the bus lane and to deter illegal left turns, along with paint and signage. However, these measures do not address the issue of speeding, as noted in NACTO guidelines for bus lanes. We urge you to take an important first step in ensuring that speeds are reduced by studying and pilot installing speed cushions on all lanes on the section of International. This installation can serve as a pilot project to address concerns expressed by AC Transit over slowing bus travel times and is not limited to speed cushions but should also encompass other physical changes to the road’s built environment.
 
We also ask for measures to create greater lane separation, and pavement treatments to discourage maneuvering between lanes at high speed.

We urge that concerns about speed cushions slowing bus travel times do not take priority over concern for the safety of the road users who rely on this extraordinarily dangerous portion of the city transportation network.
We also urge that these speed reduction/safety measures be included wherever bus-only and BRT lanes are planned. Paint and signage alone are not enough to discourage unsafe speeds.

Respectfully,
Maxwell Davis, Chair; Melinda Howard-Herrarte, Vice Chair, Sierra Club Northern Alameda County Group

Sierra Club Transportation Policy
NACTO speed cushion information