Oakland Celebrates New 20th Street Bikeway
Oakland officials cut the ribbon Wednesday afternoon on new protected bike lanes connecting the 19th Street BART station to Lake Merritt.
“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve almost been hit in unprotected bike lanes,” said Victor Flores, District 7 BART Board Director, at an event held a block from the station. He pointed to the new infrastructure on 20th. “This is much safer.”
“Streets are more than a way to get from one place to another. They connect people to transit, local businesses, public spaces and other people. This project makes those connections safer and more comfortable by giving people more space to walk, adding protected bike lanes, and improving access to transit,” said Josh Rowan, Director of OakDOT, in a statement. “This is how we build a transportation network that works for everyone, no matter how they get around.”
The project, which ties into the Harrison Street two-way protected bikeway along the west side of Lake Merritt, was a complicated, multi-tiered endeavor. “It’s short, but it connects BART and the AC Transit hub to the lake,” said Bike East Bay’s Robert Prinz, who also spoke at the event. “Bike East Bay first wrote a letter in 2016 to get funding for this project.”
But, as Prinz and Rowan explained, everything turned out to be more complicated than anticipated. Under the streets, they found old trolley tracks with creosote-soaked railway ties. They also found old basements. “And we found utilities nobody knew existed,” said Rowan. “This was no easy project.”
Fortunately, now that it’s done, the street feels safer, with wider sidewalks, fewer car lanes, concrete curb-protected bike lanes, and plantings in the median. From an Oakland DOT release:
The project introduces a range of improvements including:
- Better access to BART: An enhanced passenger drop-off area and an accessible loading zone
- Wider sidewalks and landscaping: Expanded pedestrian space at key bottlenecks makes walking along the corridor more comfortable
- Safer pedestrian crossings: High-visibility crosswalks, accessible curb ramps, concrete sidewalk extensions, pedestrian refuge islands and improved signage help people cross streets more safely
- Protected bike lanes: Bicycle lanes separated from vehicle traffic by raised concrete islands and parking lanes provide a more comfortable route for people biking
- Improved lighting and signals: LED street lighting and traffic signal upgrades, including audible pedestrian push buttons, improve visibility and help people navigate the corridor, including at night
- Better wayfinding: New signs provide clearer direction and help pedestrians navigate the area better
Unfortunately, the project also underscores the need for more robust concrete installations that physically stop cars. Right next to where the presser was held, a “soft hit” post was already blasted off by an errant driver.
The concrete curbs also still need parking enforcement, as this driver demonstrated when he parked in an exposed section of the bike lane for “just a minute” and walked over to a mailbox during the event:
That said, protected bike lanes with concrete curbs, lane reductions—this is what can start to make a real improvement on safety.
“I saw two children who lost their father not far from here to a reckless driver,” said District 3 Councilperson Carroll Fife, interrupted by a nearby driver blasting a horn and screaming expletives out the window at another motorist. “When you have concrete, that’s what makes the difference.”
A few more photos below:
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