Oakland has released a comprehensive and encouraging set of options for improving safety on Telegraph Ave.

Our goal should be an 8-80 bike facility on Telegraph, i.e. one that you would let your child or your grandparent ride on. Standard bike lanes will increase riding a bit, but not much. Cars just go too fast for anyone other than confident cyclists to ride there. I’m pretty confident, but I just don’t think it’s safe to ride there day in and day out, so I take a parallel route, even though Telegraph would be more direct… Public survey response.

This respondant may get her wish. Oakland has released it’s Roadway Design Option Report [20MB pdf] for Telegraph Ave, which includes detailed safety improvement options such as parking-protected bikeways from 20th St to 48th St, bike lanes behind bus bulbs and calmer traffic thru lane reductions and crosswalk upgrades. It’s a comprehensive and encouraging set of options for improving safety on Telegraph Ave and should lead to a robust public discussion in the coming months.

Bike East Bay is pushing for parking-protected bikeways the entire length of Telegraph but we recognize the challenges of balancing the needs of everyone in the busier section of the Temescal District. Regardless, Telegraph Ave should be safe for bicycling, as it should be for walking across and driving too. In addition, we want to preserve parking to the extent feasible for those who need to drive and good loading and unloading options for local businesses.

Read Streetsblog’s most excellent report on the Telegraph Ave campaign.

Summary of the Design Options

20th St to 48th St

A5 to 3 reconfiguration, with one thru lane in each direction, a center turn lane, parking on both sides of the streets, and parking-protected bike lanes. This is our preferred option for the entire length of Telegraph Ave because it provides the greatest benefit to pedestrians, bicyclists and transit users and is by far the safest configuration for Telegraph.

• A5 to 3 reconfiguration, with buffered bike lanes and parking preserved on both sides of the street
  

48th St to 52nd St

• A 5 to 4 reconfiguration, with two thru lanes, and either a center turn lane plus parking on one side of the street, or no center turn lane and parking on both sides of the street, plus 5? bike lanes
  
• Another proposed options is no bicycle facilities and only painted sharrows to indicate bicycle line of travel [Bike East Bay and Walk Oakland Bike Oakland do not support this option because it does not make the necessary safety improvements for bicycling and for pedestrians crossing the street
• NOT PROPOSED, BUT AN OPTION: A 5 to 3 reconfiguration as above with parking-protected bike lanes.

52nd St to 57th St

• A 5 to 4 reconfiguration with protected bike lanes and 4 thru lanes and parking on one side of the street, or
  
• A 5 to 4 reconfiguration, with no center turn lane, two thru lanes in each direction, and 6? bike lanes; or as an alternative, parking on one side of the street and protected bike lanes
  

• Special Features

• A two-way cycle track protected bikeway is also an option, with parking on one side of the street and two thru lanes in each direction
• Options include fixing the underpass of State Route 24
  
• In many locations along Telegraph Ave, the proposed bike lanes can go behind bus bulbs, which significantly improves safety