With the input of Albany residents, the “Complete Streets process” of this past week has been identifying ways that the streets could be changed to better accommodate alternative modes of travel, including walking, bicycling, and public transit, while still effectively serving drivers. Its result will be a set of plans that the City can use for future project ideas and grant applications.
This Wednesday evening the consultants will present their plan concepts, the results of the work by members of the community. Come on down and have a peek at the future!
More information
There are lots of items on the agenda that affect cyclists and pedestrians here in Albany.
Those include the following:
*7-1, City Council Strategic Planning Follow Up
Part of what City Council Members recommended in its recent planning session was an emphasis on parks, including the long-awaited Pierce Street Park, and a more bikeable and walkable Albany.
Please speak in support of these plans and concepts!
*7-2, Update on “Complete Streets” planning for Buchanan Street and San Pablo Avenue to improve safety for walking, biking, and other modes of travel. The Staff recommendation is for Council to provide direction to staff and the Traffic and Safety Commission.
Show up and speak to let Council hear that a more bike and pedestrian friendly San Pablo Avenue should be a priority and a reality!
It may also be a good time to speak about your vision for Bike Boulevards on Kains and Adams, making up for the fact that many people will not feel safe riding on San Pablo in the sections without bike lanes.
*8-1, Albany Wayfinding Plan for Bicyclists and Pedestrians
Whenever I ride around Berkeley I marvel at the signage that directs me to the best and safest roads to cycle. I am also fully convinced that motorists on or crossing roads with signage for bicyclists are more courteous to their two-wheeled friends sharing the road.
Show up and tell Council that we all need wayfinding signage for our convenience and safety!
If you can’t attend, please consider writing a brief letter in support of any of these items to cityhall@albanyca.org requesting specifically that your letter be sent to all the City Council Members.
Thanks! Feel free to email the Discussion List or any of the Core Group with any questions or thoughts.
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.
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.
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)
