// Congestion on the 40th Street Bridge
Posted on Tuesday, December 1st, 2009
From the East Bay Bicycle Coalition:
Traffic lanes on the 40th St/Shellmound Bridge were reduced from 2 to 1 in each direction in Sept 2008 to provide a buffer for cyclists. Due to complaints from Emery Go Round and Bay Street shopping center management about traffic congestion the City of Emeryville is studying whether to return lane striping to the way it was. Even though staff is recommending to keep the lane configuration the same it is extremely important the the public speaks out against this challenge to cyclist safety. The city council will consider this at their meeting Tuesday night. The item will be at the end of the evening’s agenda.
I live pretty close to this bridge, and I’ve definitely ridden my bicycle over it many times. The wide bike lanes are great, especially since the bridge is a little bit of a hill, and some people are a little bit slow getting over it. It’s nice for them to not have to worry about traffic while they’re pushing it up and over the hill. It’s also nice for going down the hill quickly–they don’t have to worry about how tightly they’ll have to take the corner. I’m definitely opposed to narrowing or eliminating bike lanes. It’s not that I’m afraid of riding in traffic; I don’t think narrowing the bike lanes would stop me from riding the bridge. But I do think that it will cause more congestion–not alleviate it.
Think about it. If the bike lanes are narrowed (or eliminated–it’s hard to tell exactly what the plan is from the EBBC blurb), then cars may have to move over to go around cyclists. Then they’ll be entering the left lane, causing traffic to slow. It’s going to be a traffic jam, instead of an organized reduction to one lane. And whatever the Bay Street management people say, that 200 yard stretch of one-lane road is not keeping people out of their shopping center. It’s only 200 yards. Let’s let the cyclists have a little more room on the bridge, and save the city a little money and paint. Leave the lines the way they are!