Public Works & Transportation Committee
April 25, 2023
AGENDA REPORT
TO: Steven Falk, FROM: Fred Kelley, Director
Interim City Administrator Oakland Department of
Transportation
SUBJECT: East Bay Greenway Multimodal
(Phase 1) Project
DATE: March 28, 2023
City Administrator Approval Date:
RECOMMENDATION
Staff Recommends That The City Council Adopt A Resolution Approving The Updated Concept Plan Within City Of Oakland Right Of Way For The East Bay Greenway Multimodal Project Led By The Alameda County Transportation Commission (ACTC) To Begin The Full Plans, Specifications And Cost Estimate Phase.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The proposed resolution approves the Concept Plan (Attachment A) for the City of Oakland (City) portion of the East Bay Greenway Multimodal (Phase 1) Project (Project) led by the Alameda County Transportation Commission (ACTC). Approval of the Concept Plan provides needed direction for continued development of the Project, including public engagement, environmental documentation, completing the plans, specification, and estimate, obtaining Caltrans approvals, and seeking Project funding. The Project seeks to implement an active transportation corridor along the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Corridor connecting East Oakland, San Leandro, Alameda County, and Hayward between the Lake Merritt BART Station and South Hayward BART Station.
The Project concept in Oakland, San Leandro, Alameda County, and Hayward envisions a combination of Class I shared use paths, Class IV protected bike lanes, traffic calmed Class III neighborhood bikeways along residential streets, new and modified traffic signals, new, enhanced pedestrian crossings (with flashing beacons and Pedestrian Hybrid Beacons), intersection design modifications (including protected intersections), new and upgraded lighting, transit loading islands, and greening/urban design features. Attachment A provides the Project Concept Plan for the City. Within Oakland, the Project would predominantly run along East 10 th
Street, East 8th Street, East 12th Street, and San Leandro Street. In order to add the new active transportation/complete streets features and improve overall traffic safety, the Project would require some parking removals (generally limited to fewer than half of spaces along a particular block), travel lane removals, and minor changes in access (e.g., turn restrictions). During the Apr 13, 2023
Steven Falk, Interim City Administrator
Subject: East Bay Greenway Multimodal (Phase 1) Project Date: March 28, 2023 Page 2
Public Works & Transportation Committee
April 25, 2023
detailed design process, the team will seek to maximize safety for all roadway users, while ensuring local curbside access needs are met within the design constraints of this corridor.
The ACTC has approved the funding and contracts to complete all phases of the Project within Oakland through final design and will pursue construction funding in 2023. The San Leandro City Council adopted a resolution of support for the concept within its jurisdiction on 6/20/2022, the AC Transit Board provided supportive input, and ACTC is now seeking support of this concept from the Oakland City Council.
BACKGROUND / LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
The East Bay Greenway was originally a concept proposed by the non-profit organization, Urban Ecology, to create a trail in the BART corridor between Oakland and Hayward, modeled on the Ohlone Greenway. The proposal was adopted by ACTC and included in the Measure BB Transportation Expenditure Plan which was approved by Alameda County voters in 2014 as one of three major trails eligible for funding through the measure. ACTC completed construction of an initial segment of the East Bay Greenway between 75th Avenue and 85th Avenue (south of the Coliseum BART Station) in 2015, funded in part by a federal grant. ACTC also certified state and federal environmental documents in 2018 for a 16-mile East Bay Greenway rail-trail project connecting between the Lake Merritt BART and South Hayward BART stations. ACTC pursued discussions with Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) to obtain necessary right-of-way to implement the rail-trail project but encountered a number of challenges. In December 2021, ACTC provided new strategic direction to separate the East Bay Greenway into a near-term (phase 1) and long-term project (phase 2).
The new East Bay Greenway Multimodal (Phase 1) Project seeks to implement a continuous active transportation facility along the BART corridor while avoiding UPRR ROW so that it can be delivered within 3-5 years. The previous East Bay Greenway project – now referred to as the East Bay Greenway Urban Trail (Phase 2) project remains an environmentally cleared project with potential linear park type benefits above and beyond the Phase 1 Project but has a longer-term (10+ year) implementation timeframe. The City has also received state and federal grants to implement an additional segment of the East Bay Greenway between Seminary Avenue and 69th Avenue (north of the Coliseum BART Station).
ANALYSIS AND POLICY ALTERNATIVES
The Project will address a number of needs and priorities identified in past transportation and community planning efforts. Portions of the East Bay Greenway in Oakland run along streets (East 10th Street, East 12th Street) that are on the City and Alameda County High-injury Networks, which are focused portions of the roadway network within the City and County that account for an outsized share of traffic crashes (6 percent of high injury roadways in Oakland account for 63 percent of severe and fatal crashes). The Project also provides an alternate route for cyclists and pedestrians to portions of San Leandro Street and International Boulevard that are High Injury Network routes. There is an urgent need to improve safety for all users.
The Project also runs along a corridor that connects to numerous destinations of community importance and that represents a major north-south “spine” in the local and regional active Steven Falk, Interim City Administrator
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transportation network. Within Oakland, the East Bay Greenway spans 7 miles and connects to three BART station areas (Lake Merritt, Fruitvale, Coliseum), Laney College, six hospitals and clinics, two senior and youth/daycare centers, three libraries, the Fruitvale commercial district, regional entertainment/ recreation venues at the Coliseum area, three community parks, and thirty K-12 schools that are within one half-mile of the Project. The Project corridor also represents one of the main planned north-south, all ages and abilities bike routes (i.e., a bike route capable of serving cyclists of any skill or confidence level) and most significant gaps in the local and countywide bike network, due to the general lack of continuous north-south streets in the roadway network and major transportation infrastructure (e.g., Tempo Bus Rapid Transit) already present along parallel streets.
The Project will also serve census tracts and neighborhoods that are regionally identified Equity Priority Communities,
1 which are communities with high concentrations of low- income communities of color and other populations with special transportation needs or equity factors.
The entire Project corridor within Oakland is within an Equity Priority Community. The Project will provide enhanced transportation access and investment within neighborhoods that continue to be negatively impacted by the legacy of past racist policies such as redlining and environmental factors caused by major transportation infrastructure, such as pollution emissions from the Interstate 880 freeway and freight rail lines. Indeed, the Project corridor traverses census tracts that collectively are in the 10th percentile statewide for level of exposure (High) to Diesel Particulate Matter. The Project offers significant benefits to advance race and equity goals, which are further discussed below.
Implementation of the Project is consistent with multiple City plans and policies, as well as regional efforts. The East Bay Greenway was first included in the City’s Bicycle Master Plan in 2007, and the City’s Let’s Bike Oakland Bike Plan Update, adopted on July 9, 2019 via Resolution No. 87808 C.M.S, reaffirms this inclusion by calling for bike paths, separated bike lanes, and neighborhood bike routes that conform to the East Bay Greenway Multimodal Concept Plan along East 10
th, East 8th, East 12th, and San Leandro Streets. A key pillar of the Equitable Climate Action Plan, adopted by the City Council on July 28, 2020 via Resolution No. 88267 C.M.S, is to implement the City’s Let’s Bike Oakland Bike Plan and to “allocate curb space for mobility needs for public transit and active transportation, such as walking and biking.” The Plan states that the City recognizes “the importance of significantly shifting people away from private auto trips – one of the top five strategies needed for Oakland to meet its climate targets,” and that “active transportation (walking and biking) and public transportation are the top priorities.” The City of Oakland East Oakland Mobility Action Plan (2021), developed based on equitable and inclusive engagement garnered by the East Oakland Collective, specifically calls out the East Bay Greenway as a priority project. The East Oakland Neighborhoods Initiative identifies Safe and Accessible Transportation as a key action area and calls for safer routes to walk and bike, intentional urban greening, and greater connectivity among residents as key concerns, and specifically calls out the East Bay Greenway as a priority project at the neighborhood level.
Consistent with City and regional priorities, the goals of the Project are to:
• Improve cyclist and pedestrian network connectivity in communities along the BART line • Improve access to regional transit, schools, downtown areas, and other destinations
1 https://mtc.ca.gov/planning/transportation/access-equity-mobility/equity-priority-communities Steven Falk, Interim City Administrator
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• Create a facility that is accessible and comfortable for bicyclists and pedestrians of all ages and abilities
• Improve safety for bicyclists and pedestrians
• Support promotion of a multimodal transportation system and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions
ACTC initiated development of the East Bay Greenway Multimodal Project in 2021 and has partnered with staff from the Project local jurisdictions, transit operators, and Caltrans to develop conceptual plans and conduct community engagement to introduce the new concept plan to the public and seek input. The Concept Plan within Oakland includes improvements along East 10th Street, East 8th Street, East 12th Street, and San Leandro Street as well as short sections of improvements along Fallon Street and 54th Avenue. Project improvements would include Class I shared use paths, Class IV protected bike lanes, traffic calmed Class III neighborhood bikeways along residential streets, new and modified traffic signals, new, enhanced pedestrian crossings (with flashing beacons and Pedestrian Hybrid Beacons), intersection design modifications (including protected intersections), new and upgraded lighting, transit loading islands, and greening/urban design features. In order to add the new active transportation/complete streets features and improve overall traffic safety, the project would require some parking removals (generally limited to fewer than half of spaces along a particular block), travel lane removals, and minor changes in access (e.g., turn restrictions).
Community engagement efforts have been conducted on a city-by-city basis in order to be locally tailored. Within Oakland, outreach efforts have been guided by a project Race and Equity Impact Analysis and have been multilingual to reach English, Spanish, and Chinese speakers. Project outreach activities have included a project website and mailing list, a survey available online and in print form, pop-up events at an Oakland Roots Game and the Dia De Los Muertos Festival, a focus group with participation from local Community Based Organizations and cycling groups, a postcard mailer with survey link sent to residents and businesses along the project corridor, and a presentation to the City’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee. Key themes from community input are summarized below and the project outreach summary is included as Attachment B. The Project outreach revealed community support for the new strategic vision to implement the East Bay Greenway as an on-street, complete streets project which can be realized in the near-term as well as for the proposed long-term concept plan. To make sure the Project meets the goals identified above, without unintended consequences, the team also analyzed the benefits and impacts of the Project, as discussed in the Analysis and Policy Alternatives section below.
Accepting the staff recommendation and approving the Concept Plan for the Project reinforces Oakland’s commitment to a safer, more equitable transportation system that is articulated in the Let’s Bike Oakland Bike Plan Update (2019), Equitable Climate Action Plan (2020), East Oakland Mobility Action Plan (2021), and East Oakland Neighborhoods Initiative (2021).
Alignment with City Goals and Priorities
The following sections will illustrate how this Project meets the goals articulated in the Oakland Department of Transportation (OakDOT) Strategic Plan 1) holistic community safety, 2) housing, economic and cultural security, 3) vibrant and sustainable infrastructure, and 4) responsive, trustworthy government.
Steven Falk, Interim City Administrator
Subject: East Bay Greenway Multimodal (Phase 1) Project Date: March 28, 2023 Page 5
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1. Holistic Community Safety: The Project corridor runs along East 10th Street, East 8th Street, East 12th Street, and San Leandro Street. Portions of these streets are part of the City and Alameda County High Injury Networks, which are focused sets of the roadway network that have a significantly disproportionate share of major traffic crashes.
The Project streets will also provide a safe and comfortable cycling route that is an alternative to International Boulevard which is a high injury route. The Project design includes safety countermeasures that directly address the main types of bicycle and pedestrian crashes along the corridor including new flashing beacons, pedestrian hybrid beacons, protected bike facilities, and safer intersection geometries. The Project design will also promote speed management on arterial roadways by narrowing the street design, removing excess automobile capacity which can enable unsafe speeding/passing maneuvers, and installing new traffic signals which “break up” long, uninterrupted stretches of roadway. Safer speeds reduce severe traffic crashes for all roadway users. In Oakland, severe and fatal traffic crash victims are predominantly Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC). This Project responds to an immediate and pressing safety need.
2. Housing, Economic, and Cultural Security: Many Oaklanders cannot afford access to an automobile. The East Oakland Mobility Action Plan identifies that within Deep East Oakland, only two automobiles are available for every three drivers, meaning residents must rely on other transportation modes or share vehicles to meet mobility needs.
Walking, bicycling, riding a scooter, and taking transit are often cost-effective means of travel. In addition to the existing need for affordable mobility, substantial infill affordable housing development is planned in BART station areas and elsewhere along the Project corridor. However, a lack of safe, attractive, and comfortable facilities may dissuade Oaklanders from walking, biking, riding a scooter or accessing transit. After Project completion, people wishing to use bicycles, scooters, and other mobility devices will be able to ride in separated/protected facilities and along low volume, traffic calmed neighborhood streets. People walking will experience easier and safer crossings along busy streets, lighting upgrades, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)-compliant ramp upgrades, and gap closures in areas of missing sidewalk. Improvements in bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure will benefit people walking and biking to destinations along the corridor and to transit. The Project will, however, make parking and loading less convenient as it will remove on-street parking. Parking removals are generally limited to only a portion of parking along a particular block (i.e., some parking will remain along the block). In some limited stretches (approximately 8 percent of the Project length within Oakland) the Project would remove all parking along a block. Parking analysis conducted by the Project team demonstrates that with proposed parking removals, all parking demand throughout the day can be satisfied within the immediate vicinity. ACTC and the City have notified affected residents and storefronts during outreach, and will work closely with them during the detailed design process to identify loading solutions for businesses and residents that may have special curbside access considerations and may lose parking immediately in front of their property.
3. Vibrant and Sustainable Infrastructure: The proposed Project concept will provide safe, comfortable walking and biking facilities that connect to high demand destinations and are accessible and meet the needs of users of all ages and abilities. The Project also presents opportunities for greening, public art, and amenities, which can help to address Steven Falk, Interim City Administrator
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a community identified priority and meet sustainability goals. Public art and amenities (e.g., benches, plaza areas, interpretive signage) offer opportunities to highlight the history and identity of the various neighborhoods that the project connects and to create new spaces for residents to connect. Opportunities for greening, public art, and amenities will be further explored as part of detailed design to ensure that these are aligned with the preferences of local neighborhoods and can be well-maintained over time.
4. Responsive, Trustworthy Government: The vision for the East Bay Greenway originated with a grassroots planning effort more than a decade ago. The East Bay Greenway Multimodal Project provides an avenue by which active transportation and safety improvements in the project corridor can be implemented as quickly as possible. ACTC and OakDOT staff will continue working with stakeholders through the detailed design process to address issues and concerns.
FISCAL IMPACT
Approval of this resolution would have no fiscal impact to the City. ACTC has funding to advance the Project through design, approvals, and environmental. After receiving support for the recommended design concept, ACTC will work to identify funding sources for construction.
PUBLIC OUTREACH / INTEREST
ACTC has partnered with OakDOT to implement a multi-faceted public outreach program to get input on the East Bay Greenway Multimodal Project concept. Within Oakland, outreach efforts have been guided by a Project Race and Equity Impact Analysis and have been multilingual to reach English, Spanish, and Chinese speakers. Project outreach activities to date have included creation of a project website and mailing list, a survey available online and in print form, pop-up events at an Oakland Roots Game (10/1/2022), the three BART stations along the corridor (Lake Merritt, 10/25, Coliseum 10/26, and Fruitvale 10/27/2022) and the Dia De Los Muertos Festival (10/30), a focus group with participation from local community-based organizations and cycling groups, a postcard mailer sent to residents and businesses along the Project corridor, and a presentation to the City’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (9/15/2022). Key themes from community input included:
• Strong support for the safety and active recreation benefits that the Project offers • Desire that the facility be designed and managed to deter parking or encampments within bikeway facilities
• Desire that the facility include greening, lighting upgrades, public art, clear wayfinding and/or other programming to active the space
• Desire that the facility be designed to minimize maintenance needs • Suggestions for organizations to partner with to implement greening and public art as part of the final design
A full project outreach summary is included as Attachment B.
Steven Falk, Interim City Administrator
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ACTC will incorporate this feedback into its development of detailed design plans. Outreach will also continue during detailed design, potentially including:
• Community organization presentations and partnerships • Other targeted outreach around specific design issues/locations • Additional Project mailers and surveys to help shape the “look and feel”
Additional rounds of outreach will be conducted in conjunction with the preparation of final design plans and in advance of construction.
COORDINATION
ACTC has led the Project in close coordination with the City of Oakland, the cities of San Leandro and Hayward, Alameda County, AC Transit and BART, and Caltrans. Within the City, OakDOT staff has coordinated with the Office of the City Attorney and the Budget Bureau in the preparation of this report and legislation. ACTC and OakDOT staff have also coordinated with the Oakland Fire Department and the Project is subject to further review by the Fire Marshall during final design. Pending City Council support to move forward with the Project design, ACTC staff will continue to work closely with City staff to develop the detailed design, prepare documentation and request environmental approvals, and seek construction funding. As part of detailed design, OakDOT and ACTC staff will coordinate with other City departments with an interest in street design and operations.
PAST PERFORMANCE, EVALUATION AND FOLLOW-UP
Once the Project is implemented, ACTC can partner with OakDOT staff to conduct an evaluation of the facility, such as collecting user counts, analyzing trends in crash data, and analyzing changes in mode share (the percentage of people using different means of transportation).
SUSTAINABLE OPPORTUNITIES
Economic: Evaluations of active transportation/complete streets projects find that people arriving on bike and on foot shop more frequently and spend more money overall at local businesses after investments in pedestrian and bicycle safety are made.2 Many Project segments will implement high-quality active transportation facilities by repurposing existing shoulder areas or removing excess vehicle capacity. Some segments will require removal of parking; in most cases this removal will be partial removal of parking along a block (e.g., at driveways for improved sight distance) but in some limited locations full parking removal will be required along a block. Although the loss of parking and loading space along the Project streets is likely to be challenging for some businesses, ACTC and City staff will evaluate the needs of individual blocks and storefronts during design to address parking and loading concerns with measures that could include:
• Relocating or adding new loading zones,
• Better management of side street curb space,
2 https://bikeleague.org/sites/default/files/Bicycling_and_the_Economy-Econ_Impact_Studies_web.pdf Steven Falk, Interim City Administrator
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• Abandoned vehicle removal, and
• Improving crossings so that parking on both sides of the street can be easily accessed
ACTC and OakDOT will also seek opportunities to incorporate greening, public art, and amenities into the Project design to enhance the corridor and highlight neighborhood/community identities. Providing safer, low-cost transportation options can also increase access to jobs and economic opportunity. The East Bay Greenway will provide high-quality walking and biking options to connect to both the Tempo Bus Rapid Transit and BART, linking residents to job opportunities throughout the region.
Environmental: Safer streets for walking and bicycling can help reduce environmental impacts associated with transportation by helping shift people’s trip choices away from single occupancy vehicles and towards walking, bicycling, and transit.
Race & Equity: The entire Project corridor within Oakland traverses regionally identified Equity Priority Communities. ACTC conducted a Racial Equity Impact Analysis of the Project, included as Attachment C, to ensure that the Project would serve to benefit these communities. The analysis found that the communities living within a half mile of the Project are disproportionately low-income communities of color compared to Oakland overall. These communities have been subject to generations of disinvestment resulting from a legacy of racist policies and practices like redlining and occurrences such as white flight. This disinvestment in the built environment appears in the data across several factors, including:
• Over 30 percent of the City’s High Injury Network is located in the Project area, despite being representative of only 10.2 percent of the City’s total area. • On average, the people living near the Project drive alone more and bike less than the average Oaklander (indicating a potential disparity in quality of cycling facilities). • The Project area accounts for 26 percent of all bicycle and pedestrian fatalities in Oakland overall.
• On average, residents living near the Project have a higher rate of zero-car households compared to Oakland overall.
• A low percentage of residents along the corridor live within ¼ mile of a low-stress bikeway.
New investments in historically disinvested communities such as the ones where the Project is located often raise concerns among existing residents around displacement. The Racial Equity Impact Analysis includes an assessment on citywide anti-displacement policies, which were determined to be robust. Furthermore, a literature review conducted as part of the Racial Equity Impact Analysis on the displacement impacts of new bike facilities showed that there is no significant research to suggest that a project such as this would cause displacement.
The Project presents significant benefits for the residents along the corridor, including low- income people of color, in the forms of improved active transportation infrastructure, transportation safety benefits, affordable mobility options, and improved access to community centers and opportunities (jobs, shopping, entertainment, etc.). The Project does have a tradeoff that on-street parking removal will be required along some segments; however, the scale of parking removal is relatively small (very few blocks with complete parking removal) and parking analysis shows that parking demand can be accommodated along immediate Project streets or side streets. As such, the Project benefits are expected to greatly outweigh the disbenefit of parking removal. Given the disproportionate representation of intersectional disadvantaged Steven Falk, Interim City Administrator
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communities in the Project area, the disproportionate representation of the Project area and its residents in the City’s High Injury Network and high occurrences of bicycle and pedestrian fatalities, and the presence of robust anti-displacement policies and community engagement more broadly, the Racial Equity Impact Analysis concludes the Project will contribute to advancing racial equity outcomes in Oakland by improving safety and access for the communities adjacent to the Project.
CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT (CEQA)
Once the Project concept is confirmed and design is underway, ACTC will conduct CEQA analysis of the Project. A Categorical Exemption is anticipated. Approval of the concept plans does not constitute a project under CEQA and is not subject to CEQA.
Steven Falk, Interim City Administrator
Subject: East Bay Greenway Multimodal (Phase 1) Project Date: March 28, 2023 Page 10
Public Works & Transportation Committee
April 25, 2023
ACTION REQUESTED OF THE CITY COUNCIL
Staff Recommends That The City Council Adopt A Resolution Approving The Updated Concept Plan Within City Of Oakland Right Of Way For The East Bay Greenway Multimodal Project Led By The Alameda County Transportation Commission (ACTC).
For questions regarding this report, please contact Charlie Ream, Transportation Planner, at [email protected].
Respectfully submitted,
Fred Kelley
Fred Kelley (Apr 11, 2023 14:15 PDT)
FRED KELLEY
Director, Department of Transportation
Reviewed by:
Megan Wier,
Assistant Director,
Department of Transportation
Amit Salwan
Great Streets Division Manager
Department of Transportation
Prepared by:
Manuel Corona and
Charlie Ream
Transportation Planners
Department of Transportation
Attachments (5):
A: ACTC East Bay Greenway Multimodal Project Concept Plans B: ACTC East Bay Greenway Multimodal Project Outreach Summary C: ACTC Racial Equity Impact Analysis of East Bay Greenway Multimodal Project D: ACTC East Bay Greenway Multimodal Project Conceptual Typical Sections