A Win for Bike and Ped Safety

Last Tuesday night, after a years-long process, the Oakland City Council unanimously passed the Downtown Oakland Specific Plan (DOSP). Big win!

Tl;dr - Advocates can now focus on renewal of the Bike and Ped Plans, as well as the Land Use and Transportation Element of the General Plan, (+ easy calls-to-action at the end of this email!)

We fought for and won the MLK, Jr. Way two-way bike route to 2nd Street. The last-minute lobbying push by O-MAST (Oakland Maritime, Access, Sustainability, and Trade coalition) to curtail the MLK, Jr. Way project failed. We held the line with over 40 emails (and possibly many more) from you and your fellow constituents, insisting that the City Council must support safe streets for everyone. Based on comments during the meeting, council members noticed! Great work, everyone!

The Road Ahead

Planning Director William Gilchrist made it clear during the meeting that the DOSP does not override the previously established Bicycle Plan (2019) and Pedestrian Plan (2017). So, this means that OakDOT can push forward on the full scope of both the Embarcadero West and MLK, Jr Way plans, so that they connect directly, but they may choose to follow the compromise amendment added Tuesday.

However, Director Gilchrist also pointed out that the Land Use and Transportation Element (LUTE) of the General Plan would be the guiding document for transportation decisions, and will rely in part on the bike and ped plans. The process to establish a new LUTE is just getting underway and will stretch over the next couple of years. Clearly, this is a process that street safety advocates need to be very engaged with! More on that in future communications…

Also, OakDOT soon needs to update both the Pedestrian Plan (7 years old) and the Bike Plan (5 years old), and of course the world has changed since then! One major change is that TVRR and other advocates worked with Council allies in 2022 to insert language in Measure U mandating that whenever any street overlaying the Bicycle Plan or Pedestrian Plan is repaved, then those plans must be installed whenever feasible. This ups the stakes for what’s in these pans, and we need to make sure that they go as far as possible in protecting our safety and establishing a true continuous bicycle network, and provide generous protection for transit users, children, elders, and other people walking.

A recent review of Bike Plan progress offered by OakDOT shows that a variety of factors caused them to not implement planned upgrades on streets being repaved prior to Measure U: lack of engineering capacity at the time, objections from OFD, or poorly chosen routes in the bike plan itself, among others. Clearly, the update to the Bike Plan should try to optimize an achievable bike network, and your input will be needed to make sure that happens. Stay tuned!

This week’s actions

Jack London Square/MLK, Jr. Way: Write your Council Member, and thank them for their vote to preserve the MLK, Jr. Way project to 2nd St. And urge them to publicly support pending safety upgrades on Market between 7th and 3rd, and along the length of Third. Third Street is really the Main Street of the JLS area and is the most common bike route into, out of, and through the neighborhood. It’s also where the Port wants to expand its trucking route. There is no conflict between the health of the Port and the health of people using the street, but only if the proper safety measures are taken. And remind them that the Bike Plan includes protected bike lanes for all of Third St.

Grand Ave: The choice on what to do about Grand Avenue is finally arriving. West Grand was recently paved, and improved somewhat, but we missed the opportunity to advocate for a seriously changed safety profile, especially including protected bike lanes. But Grand Avenue from Broadway past the lake into the Grandlake district is on the table. Fifteen hundred Oaklanders, so far, have called for providing strong safety measures for people walking and riding, especially our kids, our elders, and folks with limited mobility. Grand is on the High Injury Network, and needs to be made safe. Here are three things you can do to help:

1. Sign the petition, if you haven’t already
2. Ask Council Member Bas and Council Member Fife to publicly support the 4 to 2 lane reduction with protected bike lanes and enhanced pedestrian protection, per the petition.
3. Every time you go into shop or restaurant on this part of Grand (especially the veterinarian!), tell them you support a safer Grand Avenue. Shop owners typically assume that parking is the most important thing to their customers, but creating a safe and welcoming environment around the shop is what attracts people.

Thanks for everything you do, and look out for further actions to take in coming weeks and months. Onward!