5 21-0454 Subject: Improvements To Telegraph Avenue From 20th Street To 29th Street
From: Transportation Department
Recommendation: Adopt A Resolution To Modify Telegraph Avenue From 20th Street To 29th Street With Enhanced Buffered Bike Lanes With Curb Management And To Adopt California Environmental Quality Act Findings
How much money did calbike.org pour into the city officials campaigns in order for them to waste money into this disastrous bike lanes? I am a business owner in Telegraph and I will be moving my business to another state.
The Protected bike lanes on Telegraph Ave are not safe. Telegraph Avenue allows cars to parallel park on the east and west side of the street reducing visibility by drivers looking to make a right or left turn. Pedestrians that cross the street or exit their parallel parked vehicle may not know there is a protected bike land and walk right into it. The current design promotes the potential for more accidents. The current design is not safe and I support the buffered bike lane as long as there are parallel parked cars.
Many if not all buffered bike lanes suffer from being used as parking for cars. Flashing emergency lights or not, these cars in the bike lanes push bikers onto lanes with moving cars and/or buses endangering the rider when this happens. No amount of additional enforcement will equal having physical barriers to protect the bike lanes from idling/parked cars. Please keep the current configuration to ensure biker safety.
I use these bike lanes regularly because they are safe and I would be relegated to using a car if riding becomes unsafe due to eliminating protected bike lanes. With the need for reductions in GHG emissions to fight the current climate emergency, we need to do everything possible to get people out of cars and into other forms of transportation like bikes. Even electric cars get their "fuel" from some source, and even with a high percentage of clean energy in CA, they are not fully zero emission. At least a portion of the electricity used to fuel the car emits GHGs during production.
I see the issue as feeling safe vs being safe. the current configuration feels safe because it is protected from a vehicle that was trying to hit you. what makes them unsafe is that cars aren't trying to hit bikes, but with the reduced sightlines on turns they are more likely to do so accidentally. the current configuration also prevents cars from seeing pedestrians. It has also caused hazards in the bike lane as people use it as an extension of the sidewalk, there are pedestrians not paying attention going to and from their cars, cars park in the bike lane, and street sweeping cannot service the bike lane. it is unsafe to ride a bike in the current configuration going faster than 8 mph, any cyclist going faster than that opts to use the car lane as it is safer to ride with cars. If the lanes are meant to help slower cyclists feel safe then i think they work, but if the point is to improve the safety and bike-ability of the city then the 6+ years of evidence has proven them to be a failure.
My wife s an avid bike rider. We have a condo residence at 24th and Telegraph for 10+ years. When it turned out how dangerous these protected lanes really are - she gave the bike away. I walk a lot - has caused problems for pedestrians because some bicyclists now ride on sidewalk.
Further enhancement of protected lanes will further add to the street and neighborhood uglyfication.
AND perhaps force cancellation of the popular, monthly First Friday events.
These bike lanes are a disaster and need to be removed not enhanced. Listen to the community that it is impacting. The cyclists, businesses, visitors, and long-time residents all are beside themselves over this bad design. Everyone hates them and they are unsafe. Put the street back to the way it used to be. Stop pouring money into this bad plan.
The areas along Telegraph that don't have a protected bike lane are unbikable because they're dangerous. Why is this awful dangerous suggestion to remove a protected bike lane being made? I never dared ride a bicycle on Telegraph before the protected bike lane. It's the only way to ride a bicycle into Macarthur Bart. Painted buffered bike lanes are obstructed by vehicles on every street they're installed at every hour of every day, which is why most people don't feel safe riding on them. This is why we need more protected bike lanes. The protected bike lane on Telegraph needs to be expanded, not eliminated. Removing these protected bike lanes will cost someone their life because that's what happens when cars and bicycles are forced to ride in each others' blind spots. Why is this dangerous proposal even being considered?
Please keep the current street configuration. I feel much safer walking and riding on Telegraph with the bike lane placed between the curb and car parking. It makes it much more convenient when I am going to Northgate to shop for groceries, go for a dinner and a drink, or go to the movies.
The current configuration keeps bikes out of the way of AC transit and prevents double parking, which I see all the time on current buffered bike lanes (i.e. on Madison and on Telegraph in front of the Fox). The current setup makes it easier for wheelchair users to cross from the bus boarding islands to the sidewalk. There is still plenty of parking on Telegraph, and it is easy enough to allow loading in the median or on side streets.
Please, use the grant funding that the council has already secured to pour concrete and protect the current lane configuration rather than implementing a failed and unfunded solution.
Hello my name is Andrea, and my concerns regarding this are neutral, but I also want to add that there are streets in Oakland that are much more important than Downtown streets, I live in Oakland on E 28th street and the streets around me are in need of repair, residents are making repairs of their own and this is not fair, it seems that these repairs to streets with less damage are more important than residential streets.
I understand that these modifications are a done deal. I had to laugh at my daughter who turned onto Telegraph and spent almost a minute at a standstill as she tried to figure out how she could complete her left turn onto Telegraph from 29th. We may have outBerkeleyed Berkeley. For Temescal you might have a look at Next Door to see community reaction on the modifications. There seems to be as many against as for, and many who feel they were left out of the process (what survey??). I live some blocks away and find the decreased parking, prohibited left turns and lack of handicap parking are negative features. I do like the outdoor dining areas.
How much money did calbike.org pour into the city officials campaigns in order for them to waste money into this disastrous bike lanes? I am a business owner in Telegraph and I will be moving my business to another state.
The Protected bike lanes on Telegraph Ave are not safe. Telegraph Avenue allows cars to parallel park on the east and west side of the street reducing visibility by drivers looking to make a right or left turn. Pedestrians that cross the street or exit their parallel parked vehicle may not know there is a protected bike land and walk right into it. The current design promotes the potential for more accidents. The current design is not safe and I support the buffered bike lane as long as there are parallel parked cars.
Many if not all buffered bike lanes suffer from being used as parking for cars. Flashing emergency lights or not, these cars in the bike lanes push bikers onto lanes with moving cars and/or buses endangering the rider when this happens. No amount of additional enforcement will equal having physical barriers to protect the bike lanes from idling/parked cars. Please keep the current configuration to ensure biker safety.
I use these bike lanes regularly because they are safe and I would be relegated to using a car if riding becomes unsafe due to eliminating protected bike lanes. With the need for reductions in GHG emissions to fight the current climate emergency, we need to do everything possible to get people out of cars and into other forms of transportation like bikes. Even electric cars get their "fuel" from some source, and even with a high percentage of clean energy in CA, they are not fully zero emission. At least a portion of the electricity used to fuel the car emits GHGs during production.
Please keep the protected bike lanes. Thank you.
I see the issue as feeling safe vs being safe. the current configuration feels safe because it is protected from a vehicle that was trying to hit you. what makes them unsafe is that cars aren't trying to hit bikes, but with the reduced sightlines on turns they are more likely to do so accidentally. the current configuration also prevents cars from seeing pedestrians. It has also caused hazards in the bike lane as people use it as an extension of the sidewalk, there are pedestrians not paying attention going to and from their cars, cars park in the bike lane, and street sweeping cannot service the bike lane. it is unsafe to ride a bike in the current configuration going faster than 8 mph, any cyclist going faster than that opts to use the car lane as it is safer to ride with cars. If the lanes are meant to help slower cyclists feel safe then i think they work, but if the point is to improve the safety and bike-ability of the city then the 6+ years of evidence has proven them to be a failure.
My wife s an avid bike rider. We have a condo residence at 24th and Telegraph for 10+ years. When it turned out how dangerous these protected lanes really are - she gave the bike away. I walk a lot - has caused problems for pedestrians because some bicyclists now ride on sidewalk.
Further enhancement of protected lanes will further add to the street and neighborhood uglyfication.
AND perhaps force cancellation of the popular, monthly First Friday events.
These bike lanes are a disaster and need to be removed not enhanced. Listen to the community that it is impacting. The cyclists, businesses, visitors, and long-time residents all are beside themselves over this bad design. Everyone hates them and they are unsafe. Put the street back to the way it used to be. Stop pouring money into this bad plan.
The areas along Telegraph that don't have a protected bike lane are unbikable because they're dangerous. Why is this awful dangerous suggestion to remove a protected bike lane being made? I never dared ride a bicycle on Telegraph before the protected bike lane. It's the only way to ride a bicycle into Macarthur Bart. Painted buffered bike lanes are obstructed by vehicles on every street they're installed at every hour of every day, which is why most people don't feel safe riding on them. This is why we need more protected bike lanes. The protected bike lane on Telegraph needs to be expanded, not eliminated. Removing these protected bike lanes will cost someone their life because that's what happens when cars and bicycles are forced to ride in each others' blind spots. Why is this dangerous proposal even being considered?
Please keep the current street configuration. I feel much safer walking and riding on Telegraph with the bike lane placed between the curb and car parking. It makes it much more convenient when I am going to Northgate to shop for groceries, go for a dinner and a drink, or go to the movies.
The current configuration keeps bikes out of the way of AC transit and prevents double parking, which I see all the time on current buffered bike lanes (i.e. on Madison and on Telegraph in front of the Fox). The current setup makes it easier for wheelchair users to cross from the bus boarding islands to the sidewalk. There is still plenty of parking on Telegraph, and it is easy enough to allow loading in the median or on side streets.
Please, use the grant funding that the council has already secured to pour concrete and protect the current lane configuration rather than implementing a failed and unfunded solution.
Hello my name is Andrea, and my concerns regarding this are neutral, but I also want to add that there are streets in Oakland that are much more important than Downtown streets, I live in Oakland on E 28th street and the streets around me are in need of repair, residents are making repairs of their own and this is not fair, it seems that these repairs to streets with less damage are more important than residential streets.
I understand that these modifications are a done deal. I had to laugh at my daughter who turned onto Telegraph and spent almost a minute at a standstill as she tried to figure out how she could complete her left turn onto Telegraph from 29th. We may have outBerkeleyed Berkeley. For Temescal you might have a look at Next Door to see community reaction on the modifications. There seems to be as many against as for, and many who feel they were left out of the process (what survey??). I live some blocks away and find the decreased parking, prohibited left turns and lack of handicap parking are negative features. I do like the outdoor dining areas.