March 4, 2024

Charlie Ream, Acting Lead
Planning & Project Development Team, City of Oakland Department of Transportation

RE: Upper Telegraph Avenue Complete Streets Project – Support Concept 2

Mr. Ream:
Sierra Club strongly supports the Upper Telegraph Complete Streets project to address Transit First and bicycle safety priorities for the Telegraph Avenue Corridor. We also urge the City of Oakland to refine and implement Concept 2 (Bus-Only Lanes + Separated Bike Lanes).

Without dedicated bus lanes, transit performance will degrade over time due to congestion in mixed flow lanes. AC Transit projected during the environmental review process for the Bus Rapid Transit on this corridor that a Bus-Only lane would improve transit travel times by about 33%, which is a meaningful incentive for increased bus ridership and supporting adequate infrastructure for additional housing density along Telegraph Avenue. This is also consistent with Oakland General Plan and Climate Action Plan objectives. This segment is also part of a larger corridor, and the City of Berkeley has affirmed a position in support of Bus-Only lanes for its portion of the corridor. This project can and should be a part of enhanced transit service from the Tempo line along International and East 14th Street through Downtown Oakland, Uptown, KONO, and to the UC Berkeley campus and Downtown Berkeley.

We urge careful attention to appropriate treatments of street segments to ensure pedestrian safety. While the existing street width, block crossing density, and proposed treatments are distinguished from the safety problems affecting International Blvd, we look forward to a refinement process that successfully integrates Vision Zero principles for bicyclist and pedestrian safety with the Transit First objectives of a Bus-Only lane for final roadway design.

This process should also consider how to maintain traffic safety to manage traffic responses to the project. Specifically, we also suggest study of new traffic diverters, road narrowing, chicanes or other treatments on Colby (near 61st or 62nd) and Shafter (near Clifton or Hudson) to prevent or dissuade through-traffic from using the neighborhood bikeways as alternate routes to Telegraph Avenue.

Finally, we appreciate the commitment to improved safety for both options, which are each improvements over the status quo. The complete streets features of pedestrian safety enhancements and separated or buffered bike lanes will help prevent injuries and deaths and encourage increased cycling along the corridor and in and around Oakland.

Sincerely,

Maxwell Davis, Chair
Sierra Club Northern Alameda County Group