Upcoming Events

Jul
24
Thu
7:00 pm Transportation Commission Meeting @ Council Chambers, City Hall
Transportation Commission Meeting @ Council Chambers, City Hall
Jul 24 @ 7:00 pm – 10:30 pm
The monthly Transportation Commission Meeting, the Fourth Thursday of every month, is a great place to make your ideas known, find out about the transportation issues and projects in Albany, and help improve things for[...]
Aug
7
Thu
5:00 pm AS&R Happy Hour Meeting – Eat, d... @ Everest Kitchen
AS&R Happy Hour Meeting – Eat, d... @ Everest Kitchen
Aug 7 @ 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm
AS&R Happy Hour Meeting - Eat, drink & problem-solve!! @ Everest Kitchen | Albany | California | United States
Come and talk about walking and cycling in Albany while eating delicious Nepali & Indian food in Everest Kitchen’s Parklet! Our Happy Hours are an informal way for us to talk about issues in and[...]
Sep
4
Thu
7:00 pm AS&R Meeting – You’re Invited to...
AS&R Meeting – You’re Invited to...
Sep 4 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
AS&R Meeting - You're Invited to Join Virtually!
Have a gripe, an idea or some input about anything that would further cycling and pedestrian conditions here in Albany? Then join us at our next meeting (every other month – odd-numbered months) where we[...]
Sep
25
Thu
7:00 pm Transportation Commission Meeting @ Council Chambers, City Hall
Transportation Commission Meeting @ Council Chambers, City Hall
Sep 25 @ 7:00 pm – 10:30 pm
The monthly Transportation Commission Meeting, the Fourth Thursday of every month, is a great place to make your ideas known, find out about the transportation issues and projects in Albany, and help improve things for[...]
Oct
2
Thu
5:00 pm AS&R Happy Hour Meeting – Eat, d... @ Everest Kitchen
AS&R Happy Hour Meeting – Eat, d... @ Everest Kitchen
Oct 2 @ 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm
AS&R Happy Hour Meeting - Eat, drink & problem-solve!! @ Everest Kitchen | Albany | California | United States
Come and talk about walking and cycling in Albany while eating delicious Nepali & Indian food in Everest Kitchen’s Parklet! Our Happy Hours are an informal way for us to talk about issues in and[...]
Oct
23
Thu
7:00 pm Transportation Commission Meeting @ Council Chambers, City Hall
Transportation Commission Meeting @ Council Chambers, City Hall
Oct 23 @ 7:00 pm – 10:30 pm
The monthly Transportation Commission Meeting, the Fourth Thursday of every month, is a great place to make your ideas known, find out about the transportation issues and projects in Albany, and help improve things for[...]
Nov
6
Thu
7:00 pm AS&R Meeting – You’re Invited to...
AS&R Meeting – You’re Invited to...
Nov 6 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
AS&R Meeting - You're Invited to Join Virtually!
Have a gripe, an idea or some input about anything that would further cycling and pedestrian conditions here in Albany? Then join us at our next meeting (every other month – odd-numbered months) where we[...]
Nov
27
Thu
7:00 pm Transportation Commission Meeting @ Council Chambers, City Hall
Transportation Commission Meeting @ Council Chambers, City Hall
Nov 27 @ 7:00 pm – 10:30 pm
The monthly Transportation Commission Meeting, the Fourth Thursday of every month, is a great place to make your ideas known, find out about the transportation issues and projects in Albany, and help improve things for[...]
Dec
4
Thu
5:00 pm AS&R Happy Hour Meeting – Eat, d... @ Everest Kitchen
AS&R Happy Hour Meeting – Eat, d... @ Everest Kitchen
Dec 4 @ 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm
AS&R Happy Hour Meeting - Eat, drink & problem-solve!! @ Everest Kitchen | Albany | California | United States
Come and talk about walking and cycling in Albany while eating delicious Nepali & Indian food in Everest Kitchen’s Parklet! Our Happy Hours are an informal way for us to talk about issues in and[...]
Dec
25
Thu
7:00 pm Transportation Commission Meeting @ Council Chambers, City Hall
Transportation Commission Meeting @ Council Chambers, City Hall
Dec 25 @ 7:00 pm – 10:30 pm
The monthly Transportation Commission Meeting, the Fourth Thursday of every month, is a great place to make your ideas known, find out about the transportation issues and projects in Albany, and help improve things for[...]

Discounts

Become an AS&R member and get discounts at local bike shops and businesses!

Blue Heron Bikes: 10% off parts and accessories.

Bikes on Solano: 10% off labor, parts and accessories.

Offers are valid to members of Albany Strollers & Rollers and their households. Tell your friends!
Contact us with questions.

Kains/Adams Bike Boulevard Update

At the Council’s May 20th meeting, staff recommended planning to convert Adams and Kains back to one-way for motorists in the prior direction but with the addition of contraflow cycling lanes the other direction so these streets continue to be cycling routes along the San Pablo Avenue corridor. In addition staff recommended planning improvements at intersections along each street to increase at these for sidewalk users and people biking and features to reduce motorist traffic on the 800 block of Kains and 900 block of Adams. This planning and subsequent implementation of the design to be funded by a grant application whose preparation and submittal staff asked Council to authorize. The Council approved of each of these recommendations.

In response to a question, the City Manager stated the current pilot configuration will remain until the new configuration is implemented. If the grant is received, this would likely not occur for more than a year at the minimum. If the grant is not received, many years.

Kains Contraflow Bike Lane - cropped

Meanwhile, counts of people cycling on the streets show the pilot reconfiguration to allow people to bike both directions is working. At least with regard to Kains. The number of trips along the street by bike increased from before the reconfiguration to the first count during the pilot and then again to the second count. For an increase of 60%, which may have continued to rise.

***************************************************
City Staff has made two recommendations in its report and Council passed the changes unanimously. In response to a question by a commenter raised with the City Manager during deliberation she stated the both streets would remain in their current configuration until installation of the contraflow lanes if the grant is awarded.
The following graph shows the current configuration is working to increase the number of people biking on Kains. To our knowledge data has not been collected to indicate whether this means more people are biking because of the facility or people that were already biking have switched to Kains. Either indicates the installation of the facility has improved cycling conditions. In the event of the second because it means people that were already biking have switched their routing habits to Kains. Perhaps because it is lower stress than other routes they were riding. Perhaps because it is the shorter route for their trips now.
image.png

************************************************************

City staff has reported that renewed discussion regarding the Kains/Adams improvements is anticipated to go to the Transportation Commission in April, and ideally to the Council in May.map Kains/Adams Bikeways

At its October 26, 2023 meeting, the Albany Transportation Commission considered the ongoing Kains and Adams Pilot Project. After considering alternatives, Commissioners voted 6-1 in favor of recommending to the City Council that the Pilot be continued through May of next year and that the commission consider changes with staff to evaluate and modify the program. There was a consensus among six of the 7 commissioners for keeping the routes on Kains and Adams Streets with additional signage, additional pavement markings, and the possibility of full two-way traffic with diverters, to be determined. The matter has now passed to the City Council.

KainsAdamsBikeway photo, green arrowAlbany Strollers & Rollers members met online via Zoom on Tuesday, February 6th to discuss the options and formulate a strategy in preparation for a future City of Albany meeting on the subject. This AS&R meeting explored and discussed changes to the Kains and Adams Pilot Bikeways.

A fruitful discussion emerged resulting in the following strategy going forward:

  • Lobby Council Members to direct Police to de-prioritize enforcement of contra-flow parking on Kains/Adams
  • If APD indicates it will commence enforcing State law against motorists parking on the left side of a two-way street, intervene to have the City return the streets to one way for motorists with a contraflow lane for people cycling. This configuration was designed and approved by the transportation engineering firm in its study of how to make Kains and Adams cycling routes. The contraflow cycling lane width approved by the firm was quick-marked with chalk, as shown in the photo, and found to be comfortable.
  • Pursue median barriers in the cross streets other than Marin and Solano in the future to limit the number of motorists driving along these bike routes.
  • Pursue stops on the cross streets other than Marin and Solano in the future to provide safer crossing of them by people biking.

Note that Alameda CTC will be installing a HAWK signal on Marin at Kains and a rectangular rapid flashing beacon on Solano at Kains in ~2025 to improve those crossings for active transportation

Leave a Reply

You can use these HTML tags

<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>