Do you or your family ride, walk, roll, scoot or skate on the Ohlone Greenway? I’m sure you do, as the multi-use path on the Greenway is Albany’s Active Transportation Highway – over 1,000 trips per day on regular days when last counted several years ago!
The Parks & Rec Department is overseeing Greenway improvements so now’s the time to give input in order to have a better experience to stroll, roll or just hang out!
Do you or your family ride on the Ohlone Greenway? Now’s the time to give input to improve it!
The information with the Project Plans and what was discussed at previous meetings is at this link. However, the proposal will be updated based on feedback that they received at February 1, so people should come to see how it evolved!
At this meeting the consultants will have 35% designs for you to see and provide input. This is a crucial time in the planning process!
Preferred Concept plan that was presented to Council on February 1 included:
- Plaza area as presented in the 250K Focused amenities (Adventure play with climbing wall, fitness pod with 3 stations, both diagonal ramps, social path short cut to Solano
- Redwood Grove informal play area
- San Gabriel sculpture play
- Social paths
- 3 Creek paintings
- 3 fitness stations along Greenway with 2 pieces of equipment at each
- Dartmouth Circle improvements
- Orchards
- Public Art locations
A parcourse, wayfinding, art – all can have a positive effect on the experience, safety and atmosphere of strolling and rolling.
An orchard is proposed for the eastern edge of the Greenway. What a great idea… BUT if those trees are planted too close to the multi-use path, as was already done south of Dartmouth, they will drop debris on the path, encroach on the path itself and also invite more conflicts between people biking northbound & walking on the east dg path and people who are picking fruit.
Another point someone brought up was that some of the existing trees west of the path cast are planted directly between the overhead light and the path, casting shadows on the path and making the nighttime path experience more dangerous.
In short, as Albany’s Active Transportation Highway, the City must take care not to degrade this important function. If amenities to either side are to be added, it should be done with great care.
Please attend this meeting to give your input and improve the Ohlone Greenway for everyone – strollers, rollers, sitters, dog-walkers, and fruit-pickers!
**THE AGENDA AND 35% PLANS ARE HERE** (NOTE: 4.3 MB FILE)
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 cyclists and pedestrians in and around our town.
Register and get Zoom link on the City website here.
The agenda will be posted on the City website here.
Come on down!
Learn to bike safely and confidently with this FREE class!
Want to ride more but don’t feel confident enough?
Here’s a FREE bicycle skills class, courtesy of Bike East Bay (with support from the UC Berkeley Police Department.)
Learn basic rules of the road, how to share the road with cars on busy streets, how to equip your bicycle, lock your bike, fit your helmet, and avoid crashes by riding predictably, visibly, and communicating with other road users by your actions and signals. Every workshop has the same content so you only need to attend once. For adults and teens, no bike needed.
(Please note: All of Bike East Bay’s UC Berkeley classes are open to the public, but are also part of the BEST (Bicycle Education & Safety Training) program allowing ticketed cyclists to have their fines reduced.)
Class is FREE but please register here.
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 cyclists and pedestrians in and around our town.
Register and get Zoom link on the City website here.
The agenda will be posted on the City website here.
Come on down!
Learn to bike safely and confidently with this FREE class!
Want to ride more but don’t feel confident enough?
Here’s a FREE bicycle skills class, courtesy of Bike East Bay (with support from the UC Berkeley Police Department.)
Learn basic rules of the road, how to share the road with cars on busy streets, how to equip your bicycle, lock your bike, fit your helmet, and avoid crashes by riding predictably, visibly, and communicating with other road users by your actions and signals. Every workshop has the same content so you only need to attend once. For adults and teens, no bike needed.
(Please note: All of Bike East Bay’s UC Berkeley classes are open to the public, but are also part of the BEST (Bicycle Education & Safety Training) program allowing ticketed cyclists to have their fines reduced.)
Class is FREE but please register here.
Do you or your family ride to the Tom Bates ball fields, the Bay Trail, César Chávez Park, Emeryville or anywhere else passing along Gilman and the I-80 interchange? Would you rather have a safer, more pleasant ride? Here’s an opportunity to give input so that happens.
In 2014, Caltrans gave the City of Berkeley permission to move ahead with plans for double-roundabouts at the I-80 and Gilman Street interchange, located in West Berkeley near the boundary with the City of Albany. 
Such roundabouts are not friendly to active transportation. Consequently an active transportation overpass of I-80 and the West Frontage Road is proposed as part of the project. This project element is not shown on the schematic to the right because it was a late addition.
Unfortunately the overpass is to the south rather than north of Gilman. In this position it will require users to go more than a thousand feet out of their way after navigating the congestion on Gilman and crossing through motorist traffic on that street to reach the overpass.
As if that is not bad enough, the Alameda County Transportation Expenditure Plan also includes building a railroad underpass on Gilman. This information has not been included in or mentioned as part of the context for the current project in the publicity so far. This underpass will make the active transportation overpass even less desirable to reach by those it would otherwise best serve.
There is another option that should be studied – placing the overpass north of Gilman. This could connect to the Codornices Creek path upon construction, or be built to facilitate such connection in the future. This would provide a motorist-separated approach that matches the overpass. It would allow people to ride from Hearst and Milvia in Berkeley all the way to the Bay Trail entirely on cycling paths except for the few low motorist-volume blocks of Dartmouth between the Ohlone Greenway and San Pablo. It would also directly connect the two sports complexes at either end. For these reasons, Albany’s Active Transportation Plan is the only one that shows an overpass in this area, and it shows it at Codornices Creek not Gilman.
The project engineering consultant has said the northern crossing was not studied because it would require some right-of-way from Golden Gate Fields. However there is precedent for garnering land from Golden Gate Fields for active transportation facilities. The East Bay Regional Park District successfully used eminent domain to secure property from Golden Gate Fields along the shoreline for the Bay Trail.
The Alameda County Transportation Commission, City of Berkeley, Caltrans, and the Consultant Team will prepare traffic studies, community outreach, preliminary engineering studies, and CEQA/NEPA environmental review studies. AS&R invites you to attend the first community meeting to share your thoughts on the Gilman Street interchange project! And if your thoughts include studying a northern alignment for the active transportation overpass, please let them know.
Want to ride to the meeting from Albany? Leave a comment here with a suggestion and make it happen!
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 cyclists and pedestrians in and around our town.
Register and get Zoom link on the City website here.
The agenda will be posted on the City website here.
Come on down!
Learn to bike safely and confidently with this FREE class!
Want to ride more but don’t feel confident enough?
Here’s a FREE bicycle skills class, courtesy of Bike East Bay (with support from the UC Berkeley Police Department.)
Learn basic rules of the road, how to share the road with cars on busy streets, how to equip your bicycle, lock your bike, fit your helmet, and avoid crashes by riding predictably, visibly, and communicating with other road users by your actions and signals. Every workshop has the same content so you only need to attend once. For adults and teens, no bike needed.
(Please note: All of Bike East Bay’s UC Berkeley classes are open to the public, but are also part of the BEST (Bicycle Education & Safety Training) program allowing ticketed cyclists to have their fines reduced.)
Class is FREE but please register here.
School kids learn how to cycle safely and have fun doing it, while following the rules of the road.
Photo courtesy Peggy McQuaid
Bring your kids to Albany Police Activity League’s Annual Bike Rodeo!
Free bicycle helmets will be given to the first 100 youth participants.
Ken McCroskey, AS&R’s master helmet adjuster and children’s brain guardian, tirelessly applies his craft
courtesy: Francesco Papalia
Rodeo activities will include bike inspections, safety information, and a bicycle safety course.
The goal of the bicycle rodeo is to encourage riders to wear helmets on every ride, to give young cyclists basic skills for on-road riding, and to teach them the rules of the road to help keep them safe. This event focuses on young riders in elementary and middle school.
Cycles of Change and some AS&R members will again be working with kids, showing them how to ride their bikes safely and responsibly.
Bicycle + fruit + blender = delicious fun!! Want to help like Tenisha is doing here? Email Ken!
Photo courtesy Amy Smolens
We’ll also have our ”Check for Bikes” clings on hand for parents…and the famous Bicycle Blender so everyone can pedal-power a delicious smoothie!
PLEASE VOLUNTEER: We could definitely use some help running the bike blender station, fitting helmets, and talking to parents & kids. Any takers, please? Volunteers get a cash-value coupon from one of our favorite local supporting businesses, Tay Tah! Want to help out? Please contact Ken McCroskey.
Kids, don’t try this at home…just yet!
Entertainment will be provided by world-famous flatland BMX rider Pete Brandt!
Want to ride to work but aren’t sure how to start? Learn how to get ready for the road with in this FREE class given by AS&R’s partner, Bike East Bay!
Learn how to outfit your bike, fit a helmet, avoid common crashes, get a green light at traffic signals, and more. For adults and teens, no bike required.
This indoor, 1-hour class is made possible via a partnership with the Berkeley Public Library with funding from Alameda CTC.
The class is FREE but registration is required – please register here to take advantage of this great opportunity – thanks!
