Want to have input into El Cerrito’s future bikeability? Here’s another chance!!
Join City Staff and officials on this bike tour, and bring your ideas for how to make El Cerrito a more bikeable, walkable, greener city!
Participants will provide input on the proposed priority projects for the City’s update to the 2007 Circulation Plan for Bicyclists and Pedestrians, as well as Urban Greening Strategies to make El Cerrito’s corridors more comfortable for cyclists. Please note that the route for this tour has not yet been set, but will be designed to accommodate a range of riders. If you are interested in participating, but have any restrictions, please contact green@ci.el-cerrito.ca.us.
Meet at El Cerrito City Hall, and don’t forget your bike!
I went to the first public meeting on the same topic and it was a great opportunity to give input about El Cerrito’s roads, paths and connections. Please go and make your thoughts known!
As usual, if you want to ride together from Albany, propose a time and a place to meet in “comments” below.
Hope to see you there!
Give your input to improve the Greenway by El Cerrito BART stations!
Come help our neighbor to the North, El Cerrito, shape its (and your) bicycle and pedestrian future!
The primary goals of this project are to:
*Improve bicycle and pedestrian routes to transit, commercial nodes and housing
*Bring new vibrancy to the areas around the BART stations
*Increase safety and accessibility for BART riders and Greenway users
*Improve the integration of the El Cerrito Plaza and El Cerrito del Norte BART Stations with the surrounding community.
Here are some of the 96 BikeLink lockers at nearby El Cerrito Plaza BART
On Tuesday November 10 the City of El Cerrito will host a community meeting to review the preferred plan for the Ohlone Greenway at the El Cerrito del Norte and El Cerrito Plaza BART station areas. This is the last of several outreach efforts to engage the public in the process of re-designing the Ohlone Greenway at two key areas in the City. At the meeting, community members will have a chance to voice their opinion on the preferred plan to create gateway elements and outdoor gathering spaces around the Greenway and BART stations, improve the mixed-use bicycle and pedestrian path and intersection crossings, and other enhancements.For more info, go 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!
Bike Share’s coming to Berkeley soon!
Bike Share in the Bay Area will be bigger and better soon. With 7,000 bikes at full build-out, the system will have stations every few blocks in San Francisco; connect Oakland, Berkeley, and Emeryville; and extend the San Jose service area from the downtown core. It will link people to MUNI and BART, to jobs and schools, and all that the Bay Area has to offer.
The City of Berkeley has partnered with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Bay Area Motivate to launch bike share in Berkeley in 2017. Berkeley will have 400 bikes and 37 bike share stations. Bike share will create a 24-hour, regional transportation network for short, one-way trips. Bike share provides an easy way of making trips from your home to BART, from your office to lunch, to dinner and a friend’s house. The Bay Area Bike Share system expansion will also include Emeryville (100 bikes), Oakland (850), San Francisco (4,500) and San Jose (1,000.)
No, not in Albany yet, but hopefully the next expansion will include Albany, El Cerrito and Richmond.
The next step is public workshops, where neighbors sit around maps and discuss which station locations work best for their community. You are invited to review possible site locations and give input, which will be considered, along withcrowd-sourced suggestions and technical analysis.
There are two more opportunities to give input so take advantage of them!
West Berkeley: September 28, 2016 West Berkeley Public Workshop, 6 & 6:45pm at the Sierra Club
North Berkeley: September 29, 2016 North Berkeley Public Workshop, 6 & 6:45pm at the North Berkeley Senior Center
Bike Share’s coming to Berkeley soon!
Bike Share in the Bay Area will be bigger and better soon. With 7,000 bikes at full build-out, the system will have stations every few blocks in San Francisco; connect Oakland, Berkeley, and Emeryville; and extend the San Jose service area from the downtown core. It will link people to MUNI and BART, to jobs and schools, and all that the Bay Area has to offer.
The City of Berkeley has partnered with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Bay Area Motivate to launch bike share in Berkeley in 2017. Berkeley will have 400 bikes and 37 bike share stations. Bike share will create a 24-hour, regional transportation network for short, one-way trips. Bike share provides an easy way of making trips from your home to BART, from your office to lunch, to dinner and a friend’s house. The Bay Area Bike Share system expansion will also include Emeryville (100 bikes), Oakland (850), San Francisco (4,500) and San Jose (1,000.)
No, not in Albany yet, but hopefully the next expansion will include Albany, El Cerrito and Richmond.
The next step is public workshops, where neighbors sit around maps and discuss which station locations work best for their community. You are invited to review possible site locations and give input, which will be considered, along withcrowd-sourced suggestions and technical analysis.
There are two more opportunities to give input so take advantage of them!
West Berkeley: September 28, 2016 West Berkeley Public Workshop, 6 & 6:45pm at the Sierra Club
North Berkeley: September 29, 2016 North Berkeley Public Workshop, 6 & 6:45pm at the North Berkeley Senior Center
THIS RIDE HAS BEEN CANCELLED BY RICH CITY RIDES
Come on out and join your Richmond brothers and sisters for a beautiful night ride!
Bring your lights and good cheer for the 5th Annual Winter Night Lights Solstice RIDE. It looks like the weather just might be warming up already… hmm. Still dress warm and did we mention to bring some lights? Dance away Autumn and celebrate the longest night of the year as we usher in Winter season. Seasons Greetings!
Be seen while you pedal at night and keep your pants legs out of the chain with our new leg bands!
If you need to be more visible for the ride contact Amy Smolens to pick up some awesome reflective leg and arm bands!
If anyone wants to coordinate a bike or BART ride to the starting point, write something in “comments” here or post on AS&R’s Facebook page.
Fallen Cyclist Joe Hurlimann was taken from us last week near North Berkeley BART just after sunrise. “He was a Berkeley native who still lived in his childhood home, an avid gardener and stamp collector who had a PhD from Cal in plant pathology. He worked at UCB for 31 years, and at Truitt & White in West Berkeley for 61 years,” Emilie Raguso. Full Berkeleyside article here.
SPOKES would like to put a Ghost Bike at the scene and invites community to bring flowers and honor his life while we make public our concerns about the safety of cyclists and pedestrians in Berkeley, the East Bay, Bay Area California, and in the US. If anyone has time to give an hour or two to help organize we’d like to set the Ghost bike and then gather Hearst Street Park @ Sacramento with a brief respite. If you have access to Bagels, Cheeseboard / Arizmendi/ Peet’s coffee, Trader Joes / Berkeley Bowl (juices) , Spokes will Bring bike racks and tables. Public officials Berkeley Police , California Bike Coalition, Bike East Bay are invited to speak and Bike East Bay . Media Welcome!
Go to the Facebook page for any updates.
If anyone wants to propose a ride from Albany, please write in “comments” to this event – thanks.
The crucial Kains/Adams Bicycle Blvd project will be on the agenda of October’s Traffic & Safety Commission Meeting.
WOULD YOU RATHER BIKE ON THIS…..
OR THIS?? SPEAK UP TO MAKE THIS A REALITY IN ALBANY!
Considerable local opposition has arisen, and we are in danger of missing out on these facilities. If you and your family would use either of these Bicycle Boulevards because you want to AVOID bicycling on San Pablo Avenue, live on Kains or Adams, go to the YMCA, please act!
How? 1) Send a letter of support to Aleida Andrino-Chavez , requesting that she forwards it to the Traffic & Safety Commission, and cc or bcc me, Amy Smolens , so I can track support, which is important.
2) Attend this meeting and tell the Traffic & Safety Commission that you and your family need these Bicycle Boulevards as they decide from among the various traffic calming and Bicycle Boulevard options for our neighborhoods.
Engage with City staff, consultants, and your neighbors in community planning for improving pedestrian and bicyclist.
I’m sure many of you have ridden the Bicycle Boulevards in Berkeley and seen how more comfortable it is to ride Milvia instead of MLK or Shattuck, Russell instead of Ashby, and 9th instead of San Pablo.
If not, here is info on Berkeley’s Bicycle Boulevard system.
Now imagine if people could avoid San Pablo until a half-block from their destination by riding Kains and Adams!
This is the FINAL COMMUNITY MEETING before Traffic & Safety Commission makes its recommendations to City Council so your attendance is important!!
This was the consultants’ presentation at the meeting on October 4th.
The monthly Traffic & Safety 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.
This is a map and chart of the regional bicycle route from Oakland to Richmond – Albany is the only gap in a 12+ mile North-South bike route.
Here is the meeting agenda. Kains/Adams is the second item on the agenda, and the first item is related – North Albany traffic calming, which included Kains Ave near El Cerrito Plaza.
Come on down – thanks!
The crucial Kains/Adams Bicycle Blvd project is on the agenda of December 4th’s City Council Meeting so we need your support!
OR THIS?? SPEAK UP TO MAKE THIS A REALITY IN ALBANY!
WOULD YOU RATHER BIKE ON THIS…..
In October, Albany’s Traffic & Safety Commission passed a plan that included two-way bicycle boulevards with semi-closures, so there will be no additional motor vehicle traffic at all – just safe two-way passage by bicyclists wanting to avoid San Pablo Avenue.
This is Option 3, which the Traffic & Safety Commission chose, without moving any stop signs nor utilizing traffic circles.
There was some local opposition by residents who didn’t see any need for bicycle facilities in Albany but YOU and your neighbors showed up and wrote letters. Let’s make sure that happens at this meeting, too, so bicyclists can ride safely in our town! If you and your family would use either of these Bicycle Boulevards because you want to AVOID bicycling on San Pablo Avenue, live on Kains or Adams, go to the YMCA, please act!
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
1) Send a letter of support to citycouncil@albanyca.org , requesting that your email is forwarded to all City Council members, and cc or bcc me, Amy Smolens , so I can track support, which is important. Even a brief “I support the Kains and Adams Bicycle Boulevards and my family and I would ride on them…”
“My family and I don’t feel safe riding on San Pablo so please approve the Kains and Adams Bicycle Boulevards.” Any additional detail about your support is beneficial, but just do what you can do!
2) Attend this meeting and tell City Council that you and your family need these Bicycle Boulevards that the Traffic & Safety Commission has recommended.
If you are going to go to one meeting this year, this should be it, because Kains/Adams is a central project for our bike network and it’s at risk due to local opposition. I will tell you that I have lived on Kains for 25 years and I and other neighbors support it.
You know what the Warriors say – “Strength in Numbers” so we need you to made your voice heard – thanks!
I’m sure many of you have ridden the Bicycle Boulevards in Berkeley and seen how more comfortable it is to ride Milvia instead of MLK or Shattuck, Russell instead of Ashby, and 9th instead of San Pablo.
If not, here is info on Berkeley’s Bicycle Boulevard system.
Now imagine if people could avoid San Pablo until a half-block from their destination by riding safely & comfortably on Kains and Adams!
Yes, we mind the gap!
Here are a map and chart of the REGIONAL BICYCLE ROUTE from Oakland to Richmond – Albany is the only gap in a 12+ mile North-South bike route. Yes, we “mind the gap!!”
This is the FINAL COMMUNITY MEETING before it becomes a reality, so your attendance is crucial!
Bike East Bay is working for continuous bike lanes on San Pablo Avenue, as part of a safer street for everyone who bikes, walks, drives, or takes transit.
(photo credit – BikeEastBay)
Join Bike East Bay supporters in your neighborhood to learn about options for bikeways and transit on San Pablo Avenue.
Share your vision for the corridor and get organized for kicking off advocacy.
WHERE:
1313 Ninth Street
Farm Burger
Berkeley, 94710
WHEN: March 14th, 2018 6:00 PM through 7:00 PM
(This event is organized and hosted by BikeEastBay, who request you RSVP to participate)
