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General Information
Since 1999, the City of Oakland has installed over 87 miles of bicycle lanes and routes, including facilities on Grand Avenue, MacArthur Boulevard, Market Street, Mandela Parkway, 73rd Avenue, Bancroft Avenue, and the Embarcadero. (View a map of the existing bikeway network, October 2007.) The Oakland Bicycle Master Plan, approved in December 2007, calls for a completed bikeway network with 218 total miles of bikeways. This plan, part of Oakland's General Plan, encourages safety and accessibility for bicyclists throughout the City.
The City is working to improve bicycle access around Lake Merritt and along the waterfront and along Oakland's portion of the San Francisco Bay Trail. (As of February 2008, approximately 19 miles of the 33 miles of the planned Bay Trail in Oakland have been completed, and, regionwide, approximately 290 miles of a 500-mile system have been completed. Bay Trail staff estimate that it will take 15 years to complete the system.) The Port of Oakland and the East Bay Regional Parks District also install bicycle lanes and paths within their jurisdictions.
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News/Current Projects
Lakeshore Avenue Bike Lanes
Funded by Measure DD, bike lanes will be installed on Lakeshore Avenue between E 18th Street and El Embarcadero. The bike lanes are one part of a larger Lake Merritt Park reconstruction project that includes improved pedestrian facilities and landscaping. Construction is anticipated to last approximately one year and begin in August 2008. For more information, see Lake Merritt Lakeshore Avenue / El Embarcadero Projects and Information. (Note that this project is not coordinated by the Bicycle and Pedestrian Facilities Program.)
27th Street Bikeway
The City of Oakland will install a bikeway on 27th Street and Bay Place, from San Pablo Avenue to Grand Avenue. The project was approved by City Council in May 2008 and is being installed in three sections:
- San Pablo Ave to Martin Luther King Jr Way was installed in June 2008 in conjunction with a street resurfacing project.
- Broadway to Grand Avenue will be installed in Spring/Summer 2009 with funding from the TDA Article 3 bike/ped program.
- Martin Luther King Jr Way and Broadway will be installed in 2009 or 2010.
For more information about this project, please see 27th Street Bikeway project overview (.pdf, 511k)
MacArthur Blvd. Bike Lanes
With funding from a grant from the state Bicycle Transportation Account, the City is currently designing a new bikeway on MacArthur Blvd. from Park Blvd. to Lincoln Ave. The Public Works Agency will be getting input on project design at upcoming community meetings in the project area. The project is expected to be constructed prior to Fall 2009. For more information about this project, please see:
Telegraph Avenue
The City is conducting an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) to study the impacts of constructing bicycle lanes on Telegraph Avenue from Aileen to 20th Street. This project has experienced delays in order to take into consideration potential impacts of AC Transit's Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and Kaiser Hospital's redevelopment plans. When the necessary data has been collected and analyzed, the community will have ample opportunity for input before finalizing the report. Click to view the Existing Conditions Report (pdf).
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Completed Projects
Market Street Bikeway, Phases I-III
With grant funds from the Alameda County Transportation Improvement Authority (ACTIA), the Transportation Fund for Clean Air and Transportation Development Act Article 3, the City has completed all phases of the Market Street Bikeway, striping bike lanes from 18th Street to West MacArthur Blvd (December 2008), 3rd to 18th Streets (June 2007), and West MacArthur Blvd and 57th Street (January 2005), and sharrows from 57th Street to the Berkeley border (December 2008). New wayfinding signage was installed along the entire bikeway in December 2008.
See before, after and in-construction photos of the 3rd to West MacArthur segment here (.pdf, 3.9mb).
The completed bikeway is 3.3 miles long, stretching from 3rd Street and Market to 61st Street and Occidental, and features video detection for cyclists at the intersection of San Pablo and Market Street, enhanced crosswalk striping to improve pedestrian safety and a slurry seal from 18th Street to West MacArthur to provide a smooth cycling surface. For project photos and more details, see the City's ACTIA projects page.
Bancroft Avenue Bikeway
The Bancroft Avenue Bikeway is now complete, stretching from 49th Avenue to the San Leandro border. The most recent segment was completed in December 2008, filling a gap between 67th and 82nd Avenues. Funded by the TDA Article 3 bike/ped funding program, the bikeway is mostly Class II bike lanes with some connecting sharrow segments and included a slurry seal of the street to provide a smooth cycling surface. The resulting continuous bikeway is 4.6 miles in length, the longest continuous bikeway in Oakland.
MacArthur BART Bike Access Study
Funded through the regional Safe Routes to Transit funding program, the City studied improvements to bicycle access to the MacArthur BART Station while maintaining optimal bus service at this important transit hub. The completed study has prepared the City to implement the recommended improvements. For more information, read this flyer (.pdf)
West Street Bikeway, 52nd Street to West MacArthur Blvd.
Bike lanes on West Street between West MacArthur Blvd. and 52nd Street, were installed in January 2008. The project extended the existing bike lanes on West Street between West Grand Ave. and West MacArthur Blvd. as recommended in the City’s Bicycle Master Plan, and responds to neighborhood requests to calm traffic along West Street. To make room for bike lanes, one lane of traffic, but no parking spaces, were removed. The street was also be resurfaced. For more information about this project, please see:
West Grand Avenue Bike Lane Restored
To respond to the recent MacArthur Maze deck collapse, the City of Oakland and Caltrans created a temporary, emergency detour for motor vehicle traffic accessing eastbound Highway 24 and Interstate 580. This detour routed vehicles along West Grand Avenue to the Northgate Avenue Hwy 24/I-580 on-ramp and required the temporary removal of 0.25 miles of bike lane in the eastbound direction between Market Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way to make room for an additional motor vehicle travel lane. All work associated with the detour was funded through Caltrans.
The maze was repaired a month earlier than expected. For information on the construction project, please see the Caltrans District 4 website at http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/mazedamage/.
12th Street Dam, Interim Bikeway
Bright orange barriers have transformed the road across the 12th Street Dam across the south end of Lake Merritt into a visible, safe route for Oakland 's cyclists. The new facility, referenced in the Lake Merritt Master Plan, extends from Lakeshore Avenue to the East to 14th Street to the West. and sets the stage for the larger changes in store as part of Measure DD. The project was funded by Transportation Development Act Article 3 Bike/Ped funds and sets the stage for the larger changes in store as part of Measure DD. Within the next three years most of the streets on the circumference of Lake Merritt will be striped with bike lanes, with a mixed use multi-use path within the park.
3rd Street Extension, Bay Trail Segment Complete
On Thursday, April 21, 2006, the City of Oakland celebrated the opening of the 3rd Street Extension (click to enlarge photos). The project constructed a new road that extends from Union to 7th Street, and provides a direct connection to the West Oakland BART Station for cyclists by linking a recently constructed bikeway along the 2nd/3rd Street corridor to Jack London Square, and on Mandela Parkway to Emeryville. The project completes a segment of the West Oakland Bay Trail (see below), and took three years to construct but was many years in the making. When complete, the West Oakland Bay Trail will connect Emeryville to Jack London Square with bike lanes and enhanced pedestrian facilities.
The San Francisco Bay Trail project and the West Oakland Commerce Association helped the City build consensus for the project, and with Councilmember Nadel and the East Bay Bicycle Coalition, advocated tirelessly for making the connection from 3rd onto Mandela.
Most of the project was financed with $1 million in federal funds. The City of Oakland provided local Measure B funds as a match. Amtrak provided $250,000 in matching grant funds and oversaw construction of the last link, a 500-foot section on the Union end of the project.
Read press release (.pdf format).
West Oakland Bay Trail Bike/Ped Facility
The West Oakland Bay Trail bicycle and pedestrian facility now extends from Broadway in Jack London Square to 
the Emeryville city limits with new sidewalk, bike lanes and bike route facilities, trees, historic markers, and Bay Trail signage. This project was made possible due to funding from to the San Francisco Bay Trail Project, Transportation Development Act Article 3, and Measure B sales tax revenues.
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What's the difference between a bicycle lane, route, and path?
A bicycle path ("Class 1 facility") is completely segregated from vehicle traffic and tends to be a recreational facility. Class I paths may be found in Oakland's parks and along portions of the Oakland Bay Trail.
A bicycle lane is an on-street facility ("Class 2 facility") established on roadways with high bicycle demand. Bicycle lanes must be a minimum of 1.5 meters (approximately five feet) in width, and are delineated by a six inch stripe on the left-hand side of the lane, an optional four inch stripe on the right side of the lane, and in-pavement markings such as the symbol of a cyclist with a helmet. Bicycle lanes are also denoted by bike lane "BEGIN" and "END" signs.
A bicycle route ("Class 3 facility") is a denoted by route signs and is installed on streets that are recommended for cycling but do not require bike lane striping due to the low-volume of vehicle traffic flow. The numbered signs (pictured) are guides that can be used in conjunction with bicycle route or lane signs. The Oakland Bicycle Master Plan includes two variations on the traditional sign-only bike route: arterial bike routes (Class 3A) and bicycle boulevards (Class 3B). Both will feature sharrow markings and signage to further enhance the cycling environment. For more information on Oakland bikeway types, see the Bicycle Master Plan, page 65.
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What's a "sharrow"?
In September 2005, Caltrans approved a new pavement marking to indicate shared use lanes. The new "sharrow" (pictured right) has been used on Foothill Blvd. from 36th to 41st Avenues, on Lakeshore Avenue at Harvard/Winsor Roads, and on 27th Street, just west of Martin Luther King Jr Way. An earlier version of the sharrow connects bike lanes on either side of Telegraph Ave and Webster Street along the Grand Avenue Bikeway. The City will install sharrows where bike lanes are not feasible and where a Class III route is not adequate as defined by the Bicycle Master Plan (see page 65). For more information about sharrows, read the Sharrow FAQ flyer (.pdf). For detailed information on how the City of Oakland designs sharrow projects, click here (.pdf).
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Oakland's Route Numbering System
The purpose of a numbering system is to create a network that can be followed locally and regionally, connecting bicycle lanes and routes across the entire length of the City and into neighboring jurisdictions. Oakland's bicycle route numbers are based on those designated in the Alameda Countywide Bicycle Plan.
In Oakland, routes that parallel north-south traffic corridors are designated by numbers that end in "5." Thus, routes 45 and 55 make use of several streets to form cross-county hill corridors, and Route 5 is the Bay Trail and continues into and around San Francisco. Routes that end in "0" extend from the bay to the hills. For example, Route 10 stretches from Alameda, along Fruitvale, and up to Skyline Blvd.
To the extent feasible, Oakland routes that parallel north-south corridors end in odd numbers, and those that go from the bay to the hills end in even numbers. Because Oakland is "V" shaped-north on state highways is actually west in Oakland, and "East" Oakland is actually south-City staff determines route numbers by their orientation to Lake Merritt. Spur routes leading to specific destinations are designated by three-digit numbers. Examples of local routes include Route 29, which spans Broadway from Jack London Square to Lake Temescal, and Route 229, which connects Route 29 to Route 45 via Broadway Terrace.
As of July 2005, the City does not have an available map of the routes, but hopes to have one under development soon. A map will help cyclists see how all the routes connect and guide us in filling in the network. Click for more information about Oakland's Bike Route Signage System (.pdf format).
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Proposed Bikeway Network
Map of the draft proposed bikeway network (2007 Bicycle Master Plan)
Map of the recommended bikeway network from Oakland's 1999 Bicycle Master Plan
Map of the recommended downtown bikeway network from Oakland's 1999 Bicycle Master Plan
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San Francisco Bay Trail in Oakland
As of February 2008, approximately 19 miles of the 33 miles of the planned Bay Trail in Oakland have been completed. Completed Bay Trail facilities are reflected on the Existing Bikeway Network map above, as well as on the Walk Oakland! Map and Guide and maps produced by the SF Bay Trail Project. Region-wide, approximately 290 miles of a 500-mile system have been completed. Bay Trail staff estimate that it will take 15 years to complete the system.
City staff regularly seeks and receives grant funding to complete the Bay Trail in Oakland. For more information about the Bay Trail system, go to http://baytrail.abag.ca.gov/.
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