Good Information for Berkeley Cyclists Utilizing Bancroft, Dana, and Fulton – Streetsblog San Francisco

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The Berkeley Metropolis Council unanimously accepted extra funding for the Southside Full Streets venture at its assembly on Tuesday, enabling the town to begin soliciting bids for the development of extra protected bike lanes, bus-boarding islands, and devoted transit lanes across the College of California. “We’re excited and grateful that Metropolis Council closed the funding hole,” stated Rebecca Mirvish, President of Telegraph for Individuals, in an announcement. “Hopefully this implies we are able to get a begin on development asap as a result of we are able to’t afford to let anybody else get injured or die on these streets.”

The preliminary federal grant was for $8,335,000 however the price of constructing the venture has elevated to $14,500,000. “Building is on observe to be underway this 12 months,” wrote District 7 Councilmember Rigel Robinson, in an announcement celebrating the vote.

As defined on the town’s web site, the Southside Full Streets venture contains Telegraph Avenue, Bancroft Method, Fulton Road, and Dana Road (see map under). Additionally from the venture web site:

The Berkeley Bicycle Plan recommends steady Cycle Tracks on Bancroft Method, Dana Road, and Fulton Road to shut gaps within the proposed citywide Low Stress Bikeway Imaginative and prescient Zero Community. To deal with persistent transit delays by means of the Southside, the AC Transit Main Corridors research recommends a steady Bus Speedy Transit facility on Telegraph Avenue and Bancroft Method, connecting to Oakland to the south and to Shattuck Avenue/College Avenue to the north.

Whereas the vote was an enormous step, there stays robust political work for advocates, who additionally desire a part of Telegraph absolutely pedestrianized–the one element of the plan that isn’t but absolutely funded.

“We’re thrilled that this crucial avenue security venture is transferring ahead,” wrote Stroll Bike Berkeley’s Ben Gerhardstein in an e-mail to Streetsblog. “The conceptual designs the Metropolis Council accepted in February, together with a pedestrian plaza on Telegraph, are way more bold than initially deliberate for this venture,” wrote his group and Bike East Bay in a joint letter to the town council.

“The sidewalk-level shared avenue design would require an in depth redesign of the road. Proper now, our objective and employees’s objective has been to ensure we maintain onto the grant funding and ship as a lot of the venture as attainable on this spherical,” defined Sam Greenberg, Robinson’s legislative aide, in an e-mail to Streetsblog in regards to the approved-but-not-funded pedestrian plaza.

“College students organizing with Telegraph for Individuals and different passionate advocacy teams have lengthy been pushing Metropolis Council to construct these enhancements on Bancroft, Dana, and Fulton, in addition to to embrace a car-free design for Telegraph Avenue,” wrote Robinson’s workplace in its assertion.

“Whereas quickly rising development prices have made this unimaginable throughout the Southside Full Streets Mission,” he added, “pedestrianizing Telegraph is a imaginative and prescient I’ll proceed to champion.”