Working for Bike Access On the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge
In January of 2004, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) hosted the first meeting for a new $414,000 study that will develop feasible and safe alternatives for bicycle and pedestrian access in the I-580 corridor between Marin and Contra Costa counties, including the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge (RSRB).
The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) for this process was to have regular meetings, and the study was supposed to be completed by now. However, as this publication goes to press, only one meeting has been held. Currently the process is hung up on the forecasting element that will assess traffic projections for the region up to 2025; this is proving a difficult but critical phase of the project. The MCBC will continue to work with the agencies and the public to help ensure that the process remains objective.
This RSRB study (which is actually the third study since 1998) grew out of the "findings" for a permit for the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge seismic upgrade. When the permit was issued in 1998, the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) required Caltrans to conduct a RSRB bicycle/pedestrian access feasibility study, which was completed in December, 1998. While bicycle advocates continue to state that direct access to the bridge is safe, feasible and affordable ($3.7 million), the only option Caltrans endorsed from this 1998 study was a new separated bicycle and pedestrian facility, which was ruled out because of high costs ($93 million).
In the year 2000, Caltrans commissioned the Mineta Transportation Institute to evaluate bicycle/pedestrian use of freeways, expressways, toll bridges, and tunnels. The data from this second study determined that "bicycle collisions on bridges and tunnels are rare events" (thus seeming to support direct access); however, Caltrans declared the data "inconclusive."
In the fall of 2002, representatives from the Bay Area Bicycle Coalition took the case again to the Bay Conservation and Development Commission. This time bicycle advocates received additional support for bicycle access through letters from Assemblyman Joe Nation, Senator John Burton, Senator Tom Torlakson and former Assemblywoman Carole Migden, and a resolution of support from the County of Marin. On October 17, 2002, BCDC issued a statement supporting bicycle access on the RSR Bridge and requesting that Caltrans work with the MTC to provide funding for a study that would result in a Project Initiation Document (PID) for such access. A PID is necessary for Caltrans to gain funding to implement the project.
We hope that this third and final study will provide for the public access bicyclists have long advocated. (There was even a plan in 1975 to provide direct bicycle access on the RSRB. Unfortunately, that project was abandoned when the drought required that the space be used for a water pipeline.)
Further complicating matters is the fact that Caltrans has accelerated their schedule to re-deck the RSRB. While this is good for public safety, we are still working to discover what it means in terms of opportunities (or obstacles) to bike access. MCBC is currently looking into the BCDC permit requirements for the Caltrans re-decking process. It is our hope to appeal to BCDC to require that Caltrans provide direct bicycle access as a condition for the permit to re-deck the bridge. In Assemblyman Nation's 2002 letter to BCDC, he indicated that he would like BCDC to require bicycle access at the time that Caltrans sought a permit for re-decking the bridge.
The current access study on the RSRB is being managed by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, which provided the funding for the study. The Technical Advisory Committee includes representatives from the Marin County Bicycle Coalition (Deb Hubsmith), East Bay Bicycle Coalition (Robert Raburn), Caltrans, MTC, BCDC, Bay Trails Project, Contra Costa CMA, Marin County CMA, GGBHTD, East Bay Regional Parks District, and the California Highway Patrol.
MCBC letter to BCDC of September 1, 2004 regarding public access
BABC letter to BCDC of September 1, 2004 regarding public access
For more information about the history of advocating for bicycle access on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge use the following links:
Study Begins for Bike/Ped Access (January 2004)
Seeking Bicycle Access on the Richmond San Rafael Bridge (October 2002)
Other links about the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge:
Read about the History of working for bicycle access on the RSR Bridge.
Read the MCBC's September 2002 letter to BCDC
Read the MCBC's September 2002 press release
Read the Contra Costa Times article on the September 2002 BCDC meeting
Read the Contra Costa Times October 2 2002 article on the BCDC bike lane approval
Read the MCBC's October 4 2002 letter to BCDC
