June 11th, 2024

Alameda CTC Director Tess Lengyel

1111 Broadway, Suite 800

Oakland, CA 94607

Dear Director Lengyel,

The Sierra Club is committed to mitigating the impact of climate change, and improved transit and active travel are critical to reducing vehicle miles traveled. The Sierra Club supports the initiative to add bus lanes and bike lanes to San Pablo Avenue and requests amendments to the specific plan undergoing public input for the San Pablo Bus Lanes and Bike Lanes Project.

The bus lanes and bike lanes project must prioritize safety and contiguity so that the bus and bike lane improvements have the maximum impact. The current plan has some excellent features that make transit and bike travel more accessible to diverse road users, but it notably has discontinuous sections that endanger cyclists, create tension between pedestrians and cyclists, and promote speeding in the bus lane.

The Sierra Club supports the following features:

• Concrete-protected cycle path
• BRT lane that will make buses faster and more reliable
• New crosswalks and pedestrian signals that make it safer for pedestrians and will encourage more pedestrian activity
• Better bus stops that will encourage transit ridership

We request that the plan be amended with the following changes to meet its Vision Zero goal:

The bus lane as currently designed will attract speeding cars, like on International Blvd, where at least 10 pedestrians died as a result of speeding in 2023. The bus lane must either be protected using concrete barriers to prevent cars from entering or have physical speed-controlling features such as speed cushions or pillows. These can be designed to be wide enough to force cars to slow down but narrow enough so buses can pass over without reducing speed.

There should be no sections where the bike lane disappears and cyclists are forced into vehicle traffic. Current drawings depict cyclists entering the bus lane or having the option to dismount and walk around loading zones or parking spots between 23rd and 24th, 27th and 28th, 31st and Myrtle, Filbert and 33rd, Adeline and 40th, 43rd and 45th, Allen and 57th, 59th, 63rd and Alcatraz, and Folger and Murray,. This design will put cyclists in extreme danger and subject to being hit by speeding drivers in the bus lane as they enter the lane. This design will also reduce pedestrian safety on the sidewalk if there is not a painted bike route along the sidewalk. Few cyclists will dismount on what will become a busy bike corridor with the excellent protected bike lanes around these loading zones. If the loading zones are absolutely necessary, make the bike path continue on the sidewalk, not in the bus lane. It is unacceptable to force cyclists into the unprotected bus lane to preserve parking.

Between Thomas L Berkley Way and 17th St, the bike lane is reduced from a fully concrete protected bike lane to a buffered bike lane. This makes the route woefully incomplete for connections to Downtown Oakland, a critical piece of this route. Many vulnerable road users will not feel comfortable riding in an unprotected bike lane. It’s critical that the bike network is safe and contiguous, especially on a route that connects easily to major transit stops like 19th St BART station that otherwise have no safe route to them from underserved communities in West Oakland.

The intersection with Alcatraz Ave currently features a right-turn lane where cyclists have to move into vehicle traffic and vehicles have to cross them into the right turn lane. This design will create fatally hazardous conditions for cyclists and discourage use of the otherwise very safe concrete-protected cycle path. Instead, keep the concrete-protected bike lane and add a bike signal and right turn signal at Alcatraz Ave so cars don’t make right turns that could collide with cyclists going straight.

Regarding the sections in Berkeley, none of these suggestions should be taken as a recommendation to interfere with any planned parallel bike lane routes.

Thank you for your effort to improve safety and encourage transit and active travel along this key corridor in our community. We share your goals to reduce VMT and increase safety along San Pablo, and we urge Alameda CTC to take this input to prioritize safety and contiguity for all road users.

Sincerely,

Maxwell Davis, Chair Sierra Club Northern Alameda County Group