Work is finally underway to remove telephone poles from the center of the sidewalk-level bike lane on Fruitvale Avenue, which runs from the Fruitvale BART station to Jingletown and the estuary. "The work should be done on Monday," said a uniformed AT&T worker at the intersection of Fruitvale and San Leandro. That means cutting down the old pole and filling the hole it leaves behind. As seen in the lead image, the new pole is already installed and the wires have been moved over.
As previously reported, Fruitvale Alive was a long-anticipated project to build Oakland's first substantial sidewalk-level bike lanes. It's also part of a decade-long push to try and make it easier to walk and bike between the BART station, the residential area of Jingletown, and the shopping districts just across the bridge in Alameda. Oakland "finished" the project, but for about a year PG&E failed to relocate a couple of utility poles that were blocking the new bike lane path, as seen in the pictures.
“The pole removal is scheduled to take place today," wrote Bike East Bay's Robert Prinz in an email to Streetsblog. "AT&T and PG&E will still need to return at a later date to complete final restoration of the temp patch installed at the work area."
They also need to return to remove the pole at Fruitvale and 7th, which will happen sometime next week, according to the workers at the scene.
Fortunately, the other pole has space to navigate around it and is somewhat less of a hazard.
On a related note, the crews from PG&E and AT&T put down traffic cones and closed the slip lane from San Leandro to Fruitvale while they were working. Advocates lobbied, but failed, to have this lane permanently closed as part of the overall project.
It's interesting to note, once again, that people generally recognize this lane is unnecessary and presents a deadly hazard to anyone in the area not in a car (in this case, the utility workers). This lane should be closed permanently as it's a deathtrap in the middle of an otherwise excellent project.
