|
SFC\Study looks at cost of bike lanes on Bay Bridge
|
San Francisco Chronicle
|
Apr 08, 2009 10:01 PDT
|
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/07/BAK316UG43.DTL
Study looks at cost of bike lanes on Bay Bridge
Michael Cabanatuan, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, 08-Apr-2009 | San Francisco Chronicle | Page B-2
It's still little more than a vision, but the idea of bike
lanes across the Bay Bridge, between Oakland and San Francisco,
continues to move forward like a bicyclist battling a headwind.
This morning, a committee of the Bay Area Toll Authority is
expected to approve a $1.3 million engineering study and cost
analysis to determine how best to attach 5 miles of bike lanes
to the west span of the Bay Bridge between Treasure Island and
downtown San Francisco -- at a cost of $160 million to $390
million.
"This is an issue that refuses to die," said John Goodwin,
a spokesman for the toll authority and the Metropolitan
Transportation Commission.
The new east span of the bridge, set to open in 2013, will
feature a bicycle and pedestrian path, built at a cost of
$50 million, but it will end at Yerba Buena Island.
A 2001 study by Caltrans concluded that bike lanes could be
added to the three-tower suspension span without affecting
its structural integrity and identified two options. Bay Area
transportation officials want to take a closer look at those
designs and prepare more detailed engineering and cost estimates
to make the project eligible for funding.
"This is the best news I've heard about bikes on a bridge in a
long time," said Robert Raburn, executive director of the East
Bay Bicycle Coalition.
But don't start greasing the bike chain yet. There's no funding
for the bike lanes across the west span.
The 2001 study concluded that there were two feasible ways to
add bicycle and pedestrian lanes to the bridge:
-- Replace the concrete upper deck of the western span with
a lightweight steel deck that would include a 12-foot-wide
bike and pedestrian lane on each side. That option would
have cost $390 million in 2001.
-- Attach 12-foot-wide bike and pedestrian paths to both sides
of the existing bridge, at a cost of $160 million in 2001.
The paths would have lightweight steel frames and would be
supported by suspender cables.
The study, to be paid for with toll bridge rehabilitation funds,
will be performed by T.Y. Lin International. It is expected to
take 18 months.
Bicycle advocates resurrected the notion of bike lanes across
the western span after they learned of the planned $1 toll
increase to fund seismic repairs on the Antioch and Dumbarton
bridges. Figuring that increase might also pay for the west
span bike lanes, they asked the Metropolitan Transportation
Commission, which also serves as the toll authority, to make
that commitment, said Andy Thornley, of the San Francisco
Bicycle Coalition.
Officials said the bridge retrofit work would need almost all
of the money. But they agreed to fund the additional studies.
"We're not blowing horns about it," Thornley said. "But it
takes it from being a really cool idea to being a project with
a number."
Bicyclists and pedestrians have long called for access across
the Bay Area's busiest toll bridge. They'll get half of their
wish when the new east span opens. That's likely to increase
the pressure for access to the west span. So, too, are San
Francisco's plans to turn Treasure Island into a neighborhood
packed with houses, offices, shops, restaurants, hotels and
parks.
"When that neighborhood comes to be, you're basically stuck
having to get in your car or the Muni (line) 108 or someday
maybe a ferry to get to the rest of San Francisco," Thornley
said.
A bike path across the Bay Bridge, he said will attract
tourists as well as commuters to and from Treasure Island.
"It's going to have a huge amount of appeal," he said.
|
|
 |
|
