The finishing touches, including adding plants to traffic circles, were completed in August on a safety project to deter speeding drivers on 8th Street in West Oakland, from Pine to Market.
Streetsblog readers may recall that back in February this safety project was well underway. While the concrete traffic circles, speed humps, and "hardened centerlines" were already noticeably slowing traffic, at the time there were no plants and little of the aesthetic finishing work was done. Streetsblog promised advocates a follow-up with pictures of the finished product.
"The successful implementation of the traffic circles on 8th Street demonstrates how partnership between city staff and residents can work towards sustainable solutions," wrote District 3 Councilperson Carroll Fife, in an email to Streetsblog. "Thanks to 8th Street resident organizers and OakDOT for working together to keep West Oakland safe."
Not only is a street that once felt like a speedway now significantly calmed and safer, but it looks great too. A local on the street who works with plants recommended local flowers and brush that require little maintenance.
Traffic safety should include flowers, after all.
Meanwhile, the concrete installations already show evidence of their effectiveness, in the form of tire marks on the curbs from drivers who had to learn to drive safely.
Advocates even bolstered the islands and bulbouts a bit more with chunks of concrete, just in case a driver attempted to park on them.
Tim Courtney, a key advocate who pushed for the project, played down his own role, even though he helped gather speed data that helped convince the city the street was in urgent need of traffic calming. "It's the OakDOT team that worked on the 8th Street project," he wrote.
Indeed, the project, and the interactions between Fife, the Department of Transportation, and all interested parties show what's possible. "I look forward to seeing more collaborative traffic calming projects pop up throughout the district," Fife added in her email to Streetsblog.
These results stand in contrast to what's going on over in the San Antonio neighborhood a few miles to the east, where drivers continue to crash and speed through a neighborhood while the city does nothing despite the residents' desperate pleas for help. For whatever reason, District 2 Councilperson Nikki Fortunato Bas can't seem to emulate such collaboration in her district. Streetsblog has a request for comment out to Bas and her staff.
"Despite our long meeting with the city, OakDOT refuses to do anything about East 21st," wrote San Antonio neighbor and advocate Michael Tandemeskel in an email to Streetsblog. "Since the removal of the [guerrilla traffic calming] tires on East 21st, there have been multiple sideshows and driftings." He added that drivers roar up and down the excessively wide street.
Tandemeskel argues that Oakland should stop repaving streets, which he says further encourages speeding, until they figure out how to incorporate traffic calming and safety measures everywhere while doing it.
A few more pictures of West 8th below:
