"This was a freeway," said District 8 Councilmember Mark Humbert, at a ribbon-cutting event held at the intersection of Bancroft Way and Dana Street in Berkeley. "Now this is a better quality of life."
Humbert was one of some 50 advocates, city officials, workers, and students who joined the official opening celebration of the Southside Complete Streets project, which added protected bike lanes near the UC Berkeley campus on Bancroft Way, Dana Street, and Fulton Street.
From a City of Berkeley statement:
In building infrastructure to make it safer and easier to get around, the Southside Complete Streets project helps advance existing City policies, such as the Vision Zero Action Plan, the Climate Action Plan, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Self-Evaluation and Transition Plan, the Pedestrian Plan, the Bicycle Plan, and the Transit First Policy. The project was funded through various local, state, and federal sources, including a one-time federal aid grant which covered half the total cost.
The new streets, now significantly narrowed by the addition of dedicated bus lanes and bike lanes, are also far calmer for pedestrians and all who use the street. "The street is now 25 percent for bikes, 25 percent for transit, 25 percent for loading, and 25 percent for cars," said District 7 Councilmember Cecilia Lunaparra, adding that she was able to ride her bike from her home to the event entirely on protected infrastructure. "This is the most significant street intervention I've seen in the last decade," said Walk Bike Berkeley’s Ben Gerhardstein, who started advocating for the improvements years ago. He hopes restructuring streets to accommodate all users will become more of the norm in Berkeley. "We want to see the city streamline this process moving forward."
Gerhardstein and several of the lawmakers also expressed their gratitude to former District 7 Councilperson Rigel Robinson, who is currently living in Paris, France. Robinson, said the advocates, was instrumental in getting this and other safety projects started. "Thank you, Rigel, for kicking it off," said Berkeley City Manager Paul Buddenhagen.
Disability advocates, meanwhile, came to the event to celebrate, but also to make sure the city does better at addressing their needs. "I applaud the effort," said Helen Walsh, an advocate who has low vision and rides a three-wheel adaptive bike. "But people are having trouble with the two-way bike lane," she said, given the width of adaptive bikes. Michaela Tsztoo, who is visually impaired, stressed the importance of maintaining sidewalks and streets so cracks don't cause people to fall. "Our canes get stuck in broken streets," she said, adding that the general condition of Berkeley's pavement is problematic. "The city of Berkeley needs to improve accessibility."
That said, Tsztoo swept her cane over the sidewalk where the event was held and praised the good, level conditions there. After the speeches, Berkeley handed out cookies and advocates celebrated the completion of a project that, it is hoped, will start moving Berkeley further in the right direction.
Overall, the new bike lanes seem heavily used by cyclists and scooterists. Indeed, the overall area seems far calmer, quieter, and more inviting, regardless of mode of transport. "Random people come up to me to say how great this is," said Buddenhagen.
Note: UC Berkeley's Ruben Lizardo also spoke at the event to praise the city and the speed at which these installations were completed. He said it was as if Captain Kirk said "make it so" and Berkeley just did it. Streetsblog pointed out that "make it so" was Captain Picard's tagline, not Kirk's. Lizardo nevertheless insisted it was Kirk. Streetsblog will continue to pursue this important matter.
