Dear San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission Members:

 We, the undersigned organizations, urge you to reject the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and Caltrans staff’s BCDC permit amendment request to close the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge Trail all day every Monday through Thursday, for conversion to a car breakdown shoulder. Please join us in supporting permanent, 24/7 access for all between the East Bay and the North Bay by keeping this pathway open.

The opening of this multi-use trail in November 2019 was a joyous occasion, marking the culmination of decades of advocacy, and completing a critical 6-mile link in the Bay Trail between Contra Costa and Marin counties. Since then more than 377,000 biking, walking, and rolling trips have been made on the pathway for exercise, recreation, commuting, socializing, and more.

Report data on the four year pathway pilot project, shared by the Bay Area Toll Authority to the Contra Contra Transportation Authority at their December 2023 meeting, showed that as of Fall 2022 there was no increase in westbound car congestion compared to prior conditions in 2019. The report stated that the duration of the morning commute congestion was on average 30 minutes shorter in 2022 than 2019, with car traffic at 90% of pre-pandemic levels.

With regard to traffic safety the draft report showed that the number of crashes decreased slightly after the pathway was installed compared to before. Incident response times increased by 1.3 minutes on average, while the duration of incident impacts on bridge traffic went down by 2.5 minutes on average.

The draft report also showed that the pathway did not negatively affect air quality, which is primarily impacted by vehicle miles traveled, not by traffic congestion. Road dust, tire wear, and brake wear make up 83% of PM2.5 emissions from vehicles, compared to running exhaust which makes up 17%.

We recognize the hardships imposed on individuals from bridge congestion, many of whom are forced to drive great distances to access employment in the North Bay due to a lack of workforce housing options and robust public transit. Some mitigations to the congestion issues are already in the works at the main pinch-points including the toll plaza, the Richmond Parkway interchange, and the 580/101 interchange.

We also recognize hardships imposed on those who rely on public transit, but are currently only provided with a single bus line across the bridge with headways between buses of up to an hour, and no service after 10pm. And we recognize hardships on those who rely on bicycles, ebikes, and other devices who will have no crossing option at all if the pathway is closed.

Equitable and sustainable solutions to the bridge congestion issues involve addressing land use and housing affordability imbalances so as to not force people into arduously long commutes in the first place, and to significantly increase public transit service on the corridor to move more people without harmful increases in vehicle miles traveled. Closing the pathway for a breakdown shoulder as currently proposed, or for a third westbound car lane, will not contribute toward progress on these underlying causes.
Keeping the pathway open is in alignment with numerous adopted plans and policies on the regional and state level including the San Francisco Bay Trail Plan, the Plan Bay Area regional transportation plan and sustainable communities strategy, the Plan Bay Area 2050 transportation strategy, BCDC’s Bay Plan Transportation Policy No. 4, the Caltrans Complete Streets Directors Policy DP-37, and Executive Order N-19-19 signed by Governor Newsom.

We appreciate and share BCDC’s goals of increased equity, climate resilience, and access to the Bay shoreline, and we look forward to continuing to work together on real solutions to these issues.

 Sincerely,

Robert Prinz Advocacy Director Bike East Bay
Warren Wells Policy & Planning Director Marin County Bicycle Coalition
Najari Smith Executive Director Rich City Rides
Bruce Beyart Chair Trails for Richmond Action Committee
David Lewis Executive Director Save The Bay
Sarah Ranney Director Sierra Club San Francisco Bay Chapter
Zoe Siegel Senior Director of Climate Resilience Greenbelt Alliance
Carrie Harvilla Deputy Director Transform
Jesse Voremberg Trail Development Manager Rails to Trails Conservancy
Sarka Volejnikova Parks for People Program Director Trust for Public Land
Kendra Ramsey Executive Director California Bicycle Coalition
Joshua F President National Youth Bike Council
Ken McLeod Policy Director The League of American Bicyclists
Dave Snyder Senior Director of Infrastructure PeopleForBikes
Doria Robinson Executive Director Urban Tilth
Toody Maher Executive Director Pogo Park
Dani Lanis Chair Richmond BPAC
Princess Robinson Coalition Organizer Richmond Our Power Coalition
Pam Stello Co-Chair, Point Molate Alliance Point Molate Alliance
Eric Aaholm Executive Director YES Nature to Neighborhoods
Emily Seelenfreund Executive Director BORP Adaptive Sports and Recreation
Abigail Montejo Friends of the Richmond Greenway (FORG)
Eris Weaver Executive Director Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition
Kara Vernor Executive Director Napa County Bicycle Coalition
Christopher White Interim Executive Director San Francisco Bicycle Coalition
Clarrissa Cabansagan Executive Director Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition
Coordinating Committee El Cerrito / Richmond Annex Walk & Roll
Coordinating Committee Walk Bike Berkeley
 Preston Jordan & Nick Pilch Co-Founders Albany Strollers & Rollers
Chris Hwang Board President Walk Oakland Bike Oakland
Cyndy Johnsen Board Member Bike Walk Alameda
Andreas Kadavanich Co-Organizer Bike Fremont
Michael C. Williams Trails Program Manager Hayward Area Recreation and Park District
Alejandro Ramirez Jasso President Bike Hayward
Jeff Lyon Bike Orinda
Kristin Tennessen Bike Walnut Creek
JoAnne Lauer, Bruce Dughi Co-Founders Bike Walk Castro Valley
Kristi Marleau Bike Dublin
Colleen Barclay & Pete Gang Safe Streets Petaluma
Walter Niederberger Move! Healdsburg
Dave Rhoads Co-Chair Walk/Bike San Rafael
Alexa Forrester Co-Lead  Santa Rosa
Nick Hoeper-Tomich & Elise Fortin Head Coach & Team Director Berkeley High Mountain Bike Team
Joe Grondahl Head Coach El Cerrito High School Mountain Bike Team
Liz Kroboth President Grizzly Peak Cyclists
Scott Bartlebaugh Advocacy Director Bicycle Trails Council of the East Bay
Maya Wolf President Berkeley Bicycle Club
Dan Leaverton & Alec Flett Knackered Tyres bicycle club
Angela Navarro Board Vice President San Francisco Randonneurs
Sean Brandt President Dolce Vita Cycling
Glenn Kirby President Fremont Freewheelers Bicycle Club
Nora Vargas-Dye Collaborator California Field School
Michael Gustafson Valley Spokesmen
Laura Lent El Cerrito Trail Trekkers
Bryan Culbertson Traffic Violence Rapid Response
Carter Lavin Transbay Coalition Tim Oey ZeroW.org
Neil Flock Bimotal Inc
Cyane Dandridge Founder and Executive Director SEI - Strategic Energy Innovations
Taylor Peliska Co-Founder & Head of Design Movemint
Nick Peterson Founding Member Albany Climate Action Coalition
Ryan Branciforte CEO OuterSpatial
Lauren Weston Executive Director Acterra: Action for a Healthy Planet
Lendri Purcell President Families Advocating for Chemical and Toxics Safety
Carleen Culled Executive Director Cool the Earth Sonoma County Climate Activist Network (SoSoCAN)
Juliana Gonzalez Executive Director The Watershed Project
Dan Cohen President Full Court Press Communications
Anna Thiel Bad Business Model Bikes
Jon Spangler Chair BART Bicycle Advisory Task Force
Jed Lee Wellness & Environmental Justice Community Engagement Manager UC Berkeley Student Environmental Resource Center
Michael Anzalone Executive Director California Mountain Biking Coalition