Streetsblog San Francisco

Though it may seem esoteric, one of the biggest impediments to designing streets for people is the over-reliance on design standards that have long privileged movement of vehicles over any other consideration on the streets. That’s why advocates cheered when U.S. DOT Secretary Ray LaHood published a policy paper recently that, at least in word, placed bicycles and pedestrians on equal footing with motorists.

“Every transportation agency, including DOT, has the responsibility to improve conditions and opportunities for walking and bicycling and to integrate walking and bicycling into their transportation systems,” read one line of the statement.

Yet, an advisory policy paper won’t change the streets overnight and that’s where reforming the design manuals and guidelines at state departments of transportation is imperative, work that groups like Congress for New Urbanism have made a priority at the national level.

Various cities in California that have tried to rebuild their streets to be safer for pedestrians and bicycle riders have often been met with resistance from traffic engineers and city attorneys who rely on Caltrans manuals and standards that are good for moving traffic, not always for protecting vulnerable users.

“The Caltrans Highway Design Manual [HDM] has been the bible for highway engineers for the past half century and has guided the development of California’s freeway system,” said Hans Larsen, Acting Director of San Jose’s Department of Transportation. “Unfortunately, the HDM has also become the default gospel for designing local streets by many city engineers.”

Larsen said the standards that make freeways good for carrying large quantities of vehicles at high speeds are not context appropriate on most streets in urban areas. “Even today, the Caltrans HDM continues to promote such commandments as ‘a design speed as high as feasible should be used’ and ‘the basic lane width shall be 12 feet,’” he said.

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As the Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA) continues its regional public hearings, including one tonight in San Francisco, the various options the agency is proposing for increasing bridge tolls are generating a number of debates and proposals, including the funding of the long-discussed pedestrian/bicycle/maintenance paths over the west span of the Bay Bridge.

The toll increases and changes would take effect on the seven state-owned Bay Area bridges, (Antioch, Benicia-Martinez, Carquinez, Dumbarton, Richmond-San Rafael, San Francisco-Oakland Bay and San Mateo-Hayward bridges), and the additional revenue would go primarily to finance the $750 million that BATA estimates is needed for seismic retrofits to the Antioch and Dumbarton bridges. The new tolls could be voted on as soon as the January BATA meeting.

The three toll increase scenarios are:

• Option 1: $5 toll for autos and motorcycles, $3 for carpools and $6 per each additional axle for trucks
• Option 2: $5 toll for autos and motorcycles, $0 for carpools and $10 per each additional axle for trucks
  
• Option 3: Same as Option 1 for six bridges except for San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, which would charge $6 for autos and motorcycles in peak hours and $4 for autos in non-peak hours (M-F), and $5 for autos on weekends

Of all the options, number 3, which essentially works out to congestion pricing on the Bay Bridge, is generating a good deal of debate. TransForm, which advocates for smart growth and alternative transportation funding, would like to see the increased congestion fee during peak hours, but would like the fee during non-peak hours on the Bay Bridge to be $5, like the baseline that would be adopted at all the other bridges.

"If BATA's proposal is to increase the base toll to $5, then they should use the base to be the non-peak toll at the Bay Bridge, not a number that's lower than any other bridge," said Transform's Carli Paine. Paine also said her organization opposes Option 1 because it would discourage carpooling. "Simply put, let's not try to raise the revenue on carpoolers, who are doing what people should be doing."

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California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced bids for the fourth bore of the Caldecott Tunnel earlier this week, claiming that the new $420 million tunnel on State Route 24 through the Oakland hills will reduce congestion for the 160,000 motorists who use it daily and that it will create 6,000 new jobs.

"This project will reduce local traffic congestion while creating nearly 6,000 jobs for California – and is a solid investment in the future of the Bay Area’s transportation infrastructure," Schwarzenegger said in a statement.

Of the estimated $420 million needed to complete the job, $11 million would come from the Proposition 1B transportation bond passed in 2006, as well as $197.7 million the state secured through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The balance for the project would be made up of local and regional funding.

The governor adopted the fourth bore project as part of his push to pass Prop 1B and at the time threatened to exempt the project from environmental review after a coalition of bicycle, pedestrian, and public transit advocates sued Caltrans for preparing an inadequate EIS. The exemption would have effectively nullified the lawsuit, so advocates settled with Caltrans last January, in the process securing nearly $6 million for bicycle and pedestrian improvements throughout the East Bay.

The settlement also added protections for construction impacts by requiring low
-sulfur fuels to reduce emissions from construction vehicles, reduced light 
pollution from construction activities, and reduced noise impacts on nearby
 residents, according to East Bay Bicycle Coalition Executive Director Robert Raburn, one of the coalition of litigants that sued Caltrans.

Raburn claimed the project benefits motorists over transit riders and argued that the money spent on this project should have gone to increasing transit capacity or adding another tube for BART under the bay.

"The only benefit of this project is for the reverse commute," said Raburn. "The Contra Costa resident that wants to get to the San Francisco Opera in a hurry will be able to blast right through."

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When the BART strike begins on Monday morning, the best way to commute will likely be via the Internet. If that's not an option, then bicycling will be a good alternative for lots of people.

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition will have commuter convoys at all of the city's BART stations Monday, acccording to the SFBC's Neal Patel. They will also have an energizer station from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. at Market and Battery.

While auto traffic will be heavier, Patel said that might not be a bad thing for bicyclists. "Really slow moving traffic and not moving traffic is in some ways safer than fast moving traffic."

If you're commuting across the Bay, however, be prepared for crowded buses, ferries, and bike parking stations.

Robert Raburn, director of the East Bay Bicycle Coalition, said the organization might offer emergency valet bike parking at BART parking lots, but nothing is certain yet. "Fruitvale Village bike station will be open on Monday, it's outside of BART property," said Raburn, as will "the Embarcadero bike station, because it serves Muni."

Taking bikes on AC Transit buses is another option, said Raburn. On the big, green (MCI) AC Transit buses that cross the bay, Raburn said he's seen as many as ten bikes stored in a single cargo bay. "There's a lot of capacity, it takes some delicate maneuvering to extract the bus, and you can't have people that are squeamish about scratching their paint. Nevertheless, there are solutions out there." Other transbay AC Transit buses, which are smaller and white, only carry two bikes per vehicle, so riders could be stranded if they don't have a backup option. Both buses operate on the same transbay routes.

Ferries from Bay Farm Island and Alemeda/Oakland may be a safer alternative. If you do take the ferry, said Raburn, "Always carry a bungee cord. Be self-sufficient, because rack capacity on ferries is probably going to be jammed."

Caltrans also runs a bike shuttle over the Bay Bridge, but it is generally full to capacity even under normal conditions, so Raburn advised against counting on it.

Whether the BART strike will draw in hoards of new bike commuters remains to be seen, but transit access, parking, and bike route information will be crucial for new riders and for cyclists who normally bike to BART. "Where there's capacity on transit, it could be a good moment," said the EBBC's Raburn. "But it can also be a turnoff for some people if they're in a jam packed bus or ferry."

Berkeley and East Bay bicycle commuters will have many more bicycle parking options with the opening of a new storefront bicycle station near Downtown Berkeley BART later this year. East Bay Bike Coalition Executive Director Robert Raburn and a spokesperson for BART confirmed that a lease was signed last week at the site of the former Shoe Pavilion store on Shattuck Avenue, just steps from the Allston Way entrance to the BART station. The new bike station will be operated by Alameda Bicycle, which runs the current station.

"BART and the City of Berkeley look forward to opening a world-class bike station by the end of the year," BART Public Information Officer Luna Salaver wrote in an email to Streetsblog San Francisco. "The new Berkeley Bike Station is a triple win for BART and Berkeley. It will support cycling to BART, help protect the environment, and increase access to jobs, to other transit systems, and to shopping, arts, and education. The new Bike Station will include over 200 secure bicycle spaces and commuter support services such as bicycle repair and retail, bicycle rentals, showers and lockers, and community bike education classes."

The new bike station is at least partially the result of successful lobbying from the East Bay bicycle community, including the EBBC and Bicycle Friendly Berkeley, which saved the proposal after it neared the brink of losing funding late last year.

The new station will be paid for by a mixture of a Safe Routes to Transit (SR2T) grant, a program funded by Regional Measure 2, and contributions from BART ($53,000 per year) and the city of Berkeley ($60,000 per year). BART is also paying the utilities, estimated at $24,000 per year.

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