Tuesday Topics: Shared Spaces–the Ultimate Public Realm
The videos below tell the story of "shared spaces." After watching them, you may agree that they give us hope of one day bringing back the public realm and a sense of place to our roadways. At the end of the 3rd video is the following quote from a famous Dutch traffic engineer:
"A safe street is one that tells a rich story about it's past, its context, and the future hopes of its residents."
Shared spaces are a European concept that started in the Netherlands and spread to England, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium and Germany. We hope to bring these wonderful concepts to Berkeley as part of Berkeley's Downtown Streets and Open Space Improvement Plan.
Super Sharrows: What do you think?
Long Beach, California is taking the lead on a new style bikeway-Super Sharrows!
It's a 'Sharrow' treatment with a wide green lane striped for emphasis. Long Beach is experimenting with this concept, but the early results are popular and successful.
- "Wow, for the first time I have a space to feel safe riding my bike on 2nd Street. The super sharrows create an invitation for people to come out and ride to their favorite restaurants and businesses."
There are concerns about the colored paint wearing away, and it has been suggested that "green" is not the best color for this idea, as green can denote a "bike-only" space, whereas the super sharrow is intended for shared space for bikes and cars.
What do you think? Should the East Bay start experimentations like this. The City of Richmond is considering adding super sharrows to their upcoming Bicycle Plan.
Berkeley Pedestrian Master Plan Nears Completion
City of Berkeley is finalizing environmental clearance of its comprehensive Pedestrian Master Plan. The Transportation Commission is recommending that a dedicated pedestrian fund (similar to the dedicated bike fund) be used to speed implementation. Many of the proposed projects would benefit cyclists too -- through traffic calming and intersection improvements. The City will accept comments on the CEQA Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND) document until 5 p.m. on February 11, 2010. After that, it will go to Council.
The Plan has some interesting map data, including survey of pedestrian counts, and SWITRS accident data:
Berkeley City Council - Speed Table / Raised Crosswalks
Location: Council Chambers - 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way
Staff proposal for experimental vertical deflection devices (i.e. speed humps, speed tables, and raised crosswalks) will be on the City Council agenda. This is a very important issue for cyclists, pedestrians, and neighborhoods because if the experimental installations are successful, traffic engineers will get a very powerful tool for the city's Traffic Calming 'toolkit'.
Background:
Current City Berkeley Projects
Here is a list of current projects that BFBC is monitoring
BFBC's statement on the LPA
BFBC prepared a statement on the Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA), prior to the public workshop planned for October 17. You can read it here
Hearst Avenue Bike Lanes
Proposal
Stripe the bike lanes on Hearst Avenue prior to Bike to Work Day, May 13, 2010. To complete the bike lanes up to Arch, the University may need to remove some curb-side parking. For these reasons, I have placed this item on the agenda for their next Campus Bicycle Subcommittee Meeting, coming up in early October.
The Bicycle-Friendly Berkeley Coalition presented this request at the Bicycle Subcommittee of the Transportation Commission on September 24, 2009 and staff is considering it.
The Nickelsen Family's Big Bicycle Adventure
"Over Christmas when my four year old niece started talking about camping, her mother (my sister) didn’t seem so excited. In fact, the thought of sleeping without a pillow terrified her, not to mention all the other discomforts associated with the great outdoors. However, with a little encouragement, she agreed to fly her family out from Massachusetts to go camping with us at Point Reyes National Seashore. This left us with an interesting challenge. How were we to get supplies for 4 adults and 5 young kids out to a campsite?
Pavement Marking Maintenance
Your help is needed for the annual City maintenance of Bicycle Pavement Markings
Bike in Berkeley? Your observation skills are needed to report any pavement markings that are worn, damaged or otherwise appear to need an update. Please email Eric Anderson, City of Berkeley's Bike Ped Planner at eanderson AT ci DOT berkeley DOT ca DOT us, if bike lane markings, Bike Boulevard pavement legends, bike stencils, etc.... could use refreshing. Your clear description of exact location and specific marking will be very much appreciated.