Immediate Action: save bike and ped safety for JLS and West Oakland
The Port and its allies want to roll back progress to run trucks through our surface streets
Please write your Council Member (chart below) to urge them to keep bike and pedestrian safety a top priority in the Downtown Oakland Specific Plan (DOSP), especially to reconnect West Oakland and our Waterfront.
Why all the rush?
O-MAST, consisting of members like Schnitzer Steel, has been lobbying to remove street safety projects from the long established Oakland Bike Plan in conflict with the mobility goals of the Downtown Oakland Specific Plan, and we need you to show your support to ensure the safety and comfort of Oaklanders as we travel throughout our city.
The 2019 Oakland Bike Plan established 3rd Street as the backbone of a safe bike network from Mandela Parkway all the way through Jack London Square over Lake Merritt Channel to connect to Laney College. 3rd St is to be the connecting path for West Oaklanders to bike or walk to the Waterfront via Mandela Pkwy, Adeline St or Market St. This safe network as planned here is required to be implemented when repaving with Measure U funds.
West Oaklanders have suffered from highways disconnecting our neighborhoods, and we deserve for the roads we use to be safe for us to bike and walk, especially to be safe from the truck traffic on the streets we use to visit our families, friends, and local businesses.
Tl;dr: scroll to the bottom for our call to action
In the Downtown Oakland Specific Plan, 3rd St is listed as a Short-Term Priority Project to create a Low-stress Network. Which means it can be built quickly and provide an all-ages and all abilities path for the 2/3rds of Oaklanders who only feel comfortable biking on routes protected from the dangers of cars and trucks.
A Low-Stress network in Jack London Square that connects to surrounding neighborhoods is important to achieving our stated mobility goals as defined in the DOSP:
M-1: Active Connectivity:
Downtown is well-connected internally and to surrounding neighborhoods with bicycle and pedestrian networks that are accessible and safe for all Oaklanders.
M-2: Transit Connectivity:
Oaklanders, particularly communities that are more transit-dependent, are well-served with frequent, reliable, and safe transit access.
M-3: Street Infrastructure:
Oakland’s streets serve a wide variety of uses, providing Oaklanders of all ages and abilities with safe transportation and recreation choices, serving businesses, connecting neighborhoods, and meeting goals for emergency services and sustainability.
East Oakland Stadium Alliance's O-MAST coalition is lobbying to remove these well established bike safety projects by replacing bike lanes to expand the use of 3rd St as a Truck Route through Jack London Square's thriving retail and residential corridor, removing bike lanes on Market St completely, and removing a crucial portion of bike lanes on Martin Luther King Jr. Way.
This proposal would be detrimental to the safety of Oaklanders who bike and walk between West Oakland, Jack London Square and Downtown Oakland, is a huge step backwards from the carefully planned Oakland Bike Plan, and is a significant departure from Downtown Oakland Specific Plan's goal of improving access to surrounding neighborhoods by enhancing safety and providing comfortable walking and biking conditions.
If a truck route is added to 3rd, then that makes it all the more urgent to immediately add traffic safety infrastructure like the traffic calming installed on the Lowell Street light industrial corridor in North Oakland, and to follow up with concrete-protected bike lanes and steel bollard-protected sidewalks.
3rd St is and will always be a very popular pedestrian, bike, retail and residential corridor with Montse's Cafe, Ministerios Maranatha Church, Line 51, Ace Hardware, Minimo, Oakland Grill, Cellarmaker, Peerless Coffee, and so many more places. And the Jack London Square area is the fastest-growing neighborhood in the city in terms of residents. People are going to bike and walk on 3rd St because that is where the activity is, and we should make it safe for everyone to do so.
Call and Write your Council Members!
Traffic Violence Rapid Response supports these three actions:
- Direct truck traffic to the freeway frontage roads on 5th St and 6th St, which are more appropriate for truck traffic than a local neighborhood street.
- Support 3rd St as the backbone of a Low-Stress Bike Network to support the thriving retail and residential corridor, and maintain safety of neighbors who travel on it.
- Reconnect West Oakland to the Waterfront with protected bike lanes and protected intersections, especially on Market St where two cyclists have been killed by turning vehicles.
We should not create a new mobility plan at the last minute that conflicts with our stated goals and conflicts with the Oakland Bike Plan. Let them know that this is important to you, and how you move around the city!
You can use this email template: https://bit.ly/safe-streets-in-jls
