Dick Spotswood: Richmond Bridge bike-lane compromise does not go far enough
Making decisions regarding the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge’s upper-deck bikeway shouldn’t be difficult once two key numbers are understood.
The Bay Conservation and Development Commission reports that motorists, trucks and buses make 80,000 crossings on the span each weekday. Each crossing represents a one-way trip. Almost all motorists make a round trip. That indicates that about 40,000 drivers make the daily trek.
The second figure from BCDC is that on each weekday, cyclists make 140 trips across the bay span along with 20 hardy pedestrians. That totals 160. As with motorists, most make a round trip. Thus, each weekday, 80 people cross on bikes or on foot.
The 5.5-mile-long bridge was opened in 1956 with three traffic lanes on each of its two decks. In 1977, one upper deck lane was closed to locate the water pipeline linking drought-suffering Marin to East Bay water. When the drought ended, the pipeline was removed. One lane on each deck was then converted to a pull-off lane for disabled vehicles and bridge maintenance.
Since the 1970s, bridge traffic has surged. In 2019, under popular pressure, Caltrans returned the eastbound lower deck to three lanes of vehicular traffic during the evening commute. It’s a pull-off and bridge maintenance lane in other hours. It saves peak-hour commuters 14 to 17 minutes in travel time. Over a 250-day Monday through Friday work year, that prevented each commuter from spending 62 hours in pollution-belching traffic.
In 2019, the upper deck’s westbound third lane was converted to a 24/7 bike and pedestrian path guarded by a traffic barrier. A five-year BCDC “pilot project” was conducted to determine the utility of the bikeway. It didn’t take five years to learn that the bikeway is virtually unused.
Now that the initial pilot project has concluded, BCDC proposes a new two-year “pilot project.” The idea is to study utilizing the movable barrier to close the bikeway from Monday through midday Thursday. It’ll reopen from noon Thursdays through Sundays. When closed, a free transbay shuttle will move the 80 daily cyclists between Marin and Contra Costa County.
Those who’ll make decisions include the Bay Conservation and Development Commission, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s subsidiary Bay Toll Bridge Authority, and Caltrans. Marin’s Board of Supervisors has just added their voice to the conversation.
Here’s the real foolishness. During the 2024-2026 “pilot project,” the upper deck third lane will not at any time be open to vehicle traffic. It will be exclusively a breakdown lane.
If a breakdown lane was essential, why don’t BCDC and Caltrans require a 24/7 breakdown lane on the eastbound lower deck? The pilot project’s assistance to the 40,000 daily motorists is minimal.
Marin’s Board of Supervisors voted to approve the new pilot project. Instead, they should have exhibited leadership to recommend stopping the endless pilot projects which simply demonstrate that the bikeway is an idealistic dud.
Marin’s five supervisors should have advocated a true compromise. Immediately open the upper deck’s westbound lane to three-person carpools and buses Monday through Friday. The 40,000 motorists who cross the span each weekday deserve nothing less.
Move the traffic barrier so that the few hundred recreational cyclists and hikers can use the bikeway on Saturdays and Sundays. Even then the upper deck third lane will be underutilized. If it takes such a compromise to achieve a better quality of life for hardworking commuters who have no practical alternative to driving to their employment, then this is the fair way forward.
When BCDC soon debates how to proceed, Marin’s BCDC representative, Supervisor Stephanie Moulton-Peters, should advocate this compromise. It will not be popular with BCDC’s cycling-oriented staff. If she does push it, win or lose, she’ll be a hero to 40,000 transbay commuters.
Columnist Dick Spotswood of Mill Valley writes on local issues Sundays and Wednesdays. Email him at spotswood@comcast.net.