Still coming soon: Study of bike path on the Bay Bridge
Adding a bike/pedestrian path to the West span of the Bay Bridge will cost $200-$400 million, but money is no problem for the Bicycle Coalition, which is "thrilled" that the street bond was passed by city voters earlier this month. Money---taxpayers' money, that is---can never be an obstacle in the relentless pursuit of the coalition's agenda.
We're now told that the $1.3 million study of the issue will be released next year, after a public meeting and public comment. I already like the "no project" alternative.
Rob,
The plan is to have a public meeting in December to discuss where we are with alternatives. I believe it's going to be December 13 in San Francisco in the evening. The study will be completed next year after public comment and completion of any final technical studies of preferred alternatives.
Peter
Peter Lee, P.E.
Senior Transportation Engineer
Metropolitan Transportation Commission/
Bay Area Toll Authority
Tel.: 510.817.5716
Mobile: 510.384.7471
Fax: 510.817.5848
email: plee@mtc.ca.gov
Mr. Lee:
Has the study on the West Span bike/pedestrian path beem completed yet? Last time we communicated, you thought it would be released in October. Did I miss the release?
Regards,
Rob Anderson
Rob Anderson
Labels: Bay Bridge Bike Path, Bicycle Coalition
posted by Rob Anderson @ 2:14 PM
13 comments
13 Comments:
Money---taxpayers' money, that is---can never be an obstacle in the relentless pursuit of the coalition's agenda.
MORE FREE PARKING!
"Free" parking in SF? Last year the city made more than $180 million from parking meters, its parking lots, and parking tickets.
there is so much free parking in SF it is criminal. And $96/year for a residential permit is nearly free anyway.
I like this idea.
Of course you do, Murph. But the question is, How much is too much to pay for this? Is $200 million too much? $300 million? Do I hear $400 million?
$483,374,978.24 is exactly too much to pay for this.
The lack of a non-motorized way to get across the bay is criminal. This path will rectify that. It's not just a matter of pleasing the "bike people"; it's a matter of human rights.
Yeah, go ahead and mock me.
Yes, I no doubt overlooked the mention of "non-motorized" rights in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights.
Since you asked, it's article 13, section 1:
(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
Right now, you must depend upon a transit agency (such as BART, AC Transit, or the Alameda-Oakland ferry), or upon your own vehicle in order to cross the bay. This means you can not cross for free, and you are subject to someone else's restrictions. People should be able to cross the bay, unrestricted, under their own power, for free, as is already the case with the Golden Gate Bridge.
Okay, but "freedom" in this instance doesn't mean transportation must be "free" of charge. This is the kind of sophistry that rewrote the city's Transit First definition to include bicycles.
I agree that there is no obligation to provide free-of-charge transportation. But that's not the issue, is it? A walking/cycling path will allow people to transport themselves, something which is now not possible without the use of a private automobile. That makes transportation a privilege for the moneyed (indeed, even in the United States where driving is a heavily-subsidized activity, not everyone can afford a car), or something that must be done at the whim of a transit agency (and still for a fee).
The provision of a path was, unfortunately, overlooked in the original construction of the Bay Bridge, and then overlooked again when the train tracks and truck lanes were ripped out and the bridge was reconfigured for automobile-only traffic. A phenomenal mistake. Let's make it right.
It always comes back to bikes with you. You have some major issues.
I agree that, unlike the Golden Gate Bridge, a series of design errors left off a bike/pedestrian path on the Bay Bridge. The question now is only about cost. How much should taxpayers be expected to "make it right"? $400 million?
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