The Bay Area Air Quality Management District Board of Directors hasapproved a total of $2.8 million in grants for 17 bicycle projectsin the San Francisco Bay Area. The grants are provided through theAir District's Transportation Fund for Clean Air(TFCA) Regional Fund, which is funded by a $4 per vehiclesurcharge on all motor vehicles registered in the Bay Area.The purpose of the TFCA is to reduce motor vehicle travel and vehicleemissions. These TFCA funds are awarded to public agencies ona competitive basis. The $2.8 million awarded for bicycle projectsreprsents 17% of the total of $16.2 million in TFCA RegionalFunds awarded in the 1996 funding cycle.
The TFCA bicycle projects approved in the 1996 funding cycle willconstruct 34 miles of bicycle lanes on key local arterials,14 miles of bicycle routes, and 6.5 miles of bicyclepaths and trails in the region. In addition, the TFCA bike projectsinclude a bicycle parking demonstration project at the threeBART stations in Berkeley and at the MacArthur station in Oakland;and bicycle racks in the City of Albany.
The Air District will solicit applications for the next round of TFCA Regional Funds in Spring 1997. For further information, contact David Burch,TFCA bicycle project coorindator, at (415) 749-4641 or via e-mailat DBurch@BAAQMD.gov.
Bay Trail Severed at DB Toll Gate CalTrans is engaging indeceitful practices once again in the closure of the Bay Trailsegment that crosses HWY 84 over theDumbarton Bridge Toll Plaza. Forcing cyclists to detour miles out oftheir way in reaching home, work, and transit node destinations isa blatant violation of Bay Area Region Air Quality TCMs, the RTP, and Civil Code. The closure actions and delaying tactics by CalTrans is really a setback to implementation of Regional Transportation Plans and transportationpractices that cyclists are party to.
There is mentioned to be a quarterly meeting in January by CalTrans withMTC regarding CalTrans project considerations affecting bicycles. Pleaseprovide details of the upcoming meeting and see that the abovementioned matter is dealt with. In the meantime, please see that thepathway is kept open.
Thank you.
Jim Stallman, 408/867-9797
In early November of last year, EBBC was contacted by theContra Costa County Public Works Department by telephoneto see if we would support the removal of traffic lanes onfour-lane San Pablo Avenue between Rodeo and Crockett forthe purpose of benefitting cyclists. The county has performedenough traffic studies to have assured themselves that theroad capacity will not be unduly degraded for motor vehicletraffic with fewer lanes.
After we collected our composure, having practically fallenout of our chair upon hearing about this unexpectedly novelproject being proposed by the county, we learned that theywere applying for a Transportation Fund for Clean Air grant.The grant would fund restriping this section of San Pablo Avenuefor wide bike lanes on both sides of the existing highway. On uphill gradesthere will still remain a separate truck lane with plenty of room tospare for bicycles.
Active members of the Contra Costa Countywide Bicycle AdvisoryCommittee from EBBC, the Sierra Club, Grizzly Peak Cyclists and theValley Spokesmen who use the road as it is currentlyconfigured, have long argued in the past that cyclistsexpose themselves to a great amount of risk without a widecurb lane or any other shoulder improvements as the roadis now built. This section of San Pablo Avenue must carrythe recreational riders who start out on the Bay Trail as well as thosewho are doing a more "utilitarian" type trip.
-John Ruzek
By the time you read this article, BART should have installed allof its new bike lockers. They are a definiteimprovement over the old lockers. I advise everyone whois thinking about renting a bike locker at a BARTstation to do so now, before they are all snatched up. I predictthat when the rains are over and daylight hours increase, more and more cyclistswill rent these lockers.
It remains to be seen just how resistant these new lockers willbe to bruglars, vandals, and vagrants. My understanding is thatBART specified that the new lockers should equal or excel thereinforced fiberglass "Cycle-Safe" locker made by RichardHartger of Michigan. S.F. Bicycle Coordinator Peter Tannen boughtsuch lockers for his city. I rented one of them. The Cycle-Safelockers look very secure to me. Most thieves would not know how to attacksuch a locker.
But BART purchased what appears to be a cheap imitation ofHartger's Cycle-Safe lockers. Several of my oldBART bike lockers were broken into. The same thief or vandalwhoe broke into my old BART lockers would have littledifficulty breaking into the new lockers at BART.
Incidentally, the new lockers are rather tricky to lock. The handle has to be lockedand pushed into a recessed opening at the same time. It'seasy to lose your grip on the handle as you push it into therecessed opening. If you do, the handle flops back into its originalposition. The trick is to push the handle intot ehrecessed opening in that split second before gravity turns the handlein the opposite direction.
-Yehuda Sherma
SB 515, co-authored by Senator Pat Johnston (D-Stockton) andSenator Lucy Killea (I-San Diego), passed the Legislature in thefinal days of the session and has been signed by the governor.It goes into effect on January 1. SB 515 adds a new exception to the slow-moving bicycle "keep-to-the-right" rule -"when approaching a place where a right turn is authorized."It also expressly requires vehicle operators to overtakebicycles, as well as vehicles, at a safe distance, and removes theexisting power of local authorities to impound anunregistered bicycle. Another provision that would have created a new felony - maliciously throwing an object at a bicycle orrider with intent to do great bodily injury - had to beremoved at the last minute to avoid partisan warfare overwhether it should count toward "three strikes and you're out."
Senator Killea, who has authored many bills benefitting bicyclists overthe years, is now forced by term limits to retire. She deservesa warm round of thanks from all California bicyclists.
- Alan Wachtel, California Association of Bicycle Organizations (CABO)