By Celina Chan and Charlie Ream, Oakland Department of Transportation
In case you missed it last month, the Splash Pad News shared a background article about the Grand Avenue Complete Streets Repaving Project led by the Oakland Department of Transportation (OakDOT). This project focuses on Grand Avenue between Broadway and Elwood Avenue, a vibrant commercial corridor and gateway to Lake Merritt. This section of Grand Avenue is set to be repaved by 2024. OakDOT is designing safety improvements with input from community members. Staff have been working on preliminary designs for protected bicycle lanes, transit improvements, and traffic calming improvements. To view the complete set of preliminary designs, please visit the project website.
We’ve also developed an online survey, which provides an overview of the improvements and has links to the PDF of the designs. We invite you to provide feedback by answering a few short questions in the this online survey.
OakDOT staff used a block-by-block approach to design improvements, since there are different destinations and street widths along the corridor. Staff are proposing to implement protected bicycle lanes on both sides of Grand Avenue. The bike lanes are physically separated from cars by a concrete raised median. Using existing street space for protected bicycle lanes will shorten the distance for people crossing the street. For those who ride the bus, there will be new bus boarding islands for AC Transit stops. Most of the parking spaces will be retained along the commercial parts of Grand Avenue. This includes Grand Avenue between Park View Terrace/Bellevue Avenue (near Fairyland) and Bellevue Avenue (near Ahn’s Burger, as well as between Santa Clara Avenue and Elwood Avenue.
Outreach Updates
- In October, OakDOT staff joined the Adams Point Neighbors virtual meeting and the Grand Lake Neighbors virtual meeting to discuss the preliminary designs and share project information.
- OakDOT staff will have a table at the Grand Lake Farmers’ Market on Saturday, November 5, 2022. We’ll have exhibits showing the proposed designs and boards for you to provide feedback and share thoughts on how to improve Grand Avenue. We hope to see you there!
- Staff are putting together an FAQs document based on questions and comments we receive during outreach. This document will be posted on the project website shortly.
- Postcards will be mailed the first week of November to people who live near the Grand Avenue corridor. We’re seeking feedback on the preliminary improvements, and the postcards have a link to the online survey.
If you and your neighbors would like to learn more about the project, please reach out to Celina Chan at cchan@oaklandca.gov or Charlie Ream at cream@oaklandca.gov to schedule a virtual meeting.
You can sign up for email updates here.
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