Bridge the Gap

Goal: build a bicycle and pedestrian moveable bridge connecting West Alameda and Oakland.

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September 2023 Update

Overview

The Posey Tube’s narrow sidewalk is the only infrastructure available to pedestrians and bicyclists needing to travel the short distance between West Alameda and Oakland. It’s narrow, very noisy, and the air quality is poor. It’s unacceptable that people who aren’t in vehicles, whether by choice or financial circumstance, are limited to this option when traveling the 1,000 feet that separates Oakland and West Alameda. It’s a gap in the bicycle and pedestrian network that is hurting our community and needs to be fixed. We believe that by offering people who walk or bike a better way to cross the estuary here, connectivity between the two cities will be improved dramatically, transforming the region for the better.

Many alternatives, like car bridges, new tubes, and gondolas have been considered and ruled out. A bicycle and pedestrian bridge is the best solution. It would:

Be the only solution that offers people who walk or bike an experience that’s equivalent to the experience of those who have the means or inclination to drive through this corridor:
- accessible 24×7×365
- safe and enjoyable
- equitable (free)
- independent (does not rely on another transit service)
- convenient and direct
- standards-compliant (ADA, Caltrans, NACTO); doesn’t require lifting or disassembling equipment (i.e, to get around others or to put on bike racks), and allows for all configurations of bikes (cargo bikes, bike trailers, tandems, recumbent bikes, etc.)

Shift car trips to walking and biking trips (an estimated 35,000 – 42,000 pedestrian and bicycle trips per week), and thereby:
- enable environmentally-friendly mobility in West Alameda and West Oakland, two vulnerable Equity Priority Communities: travel that’s emissions-free, GHG-free, and produces negligible tire particle pollution
- enable mobility that minimizes wear and tear on roads, and saves on expensive road maintenance costs
- by increasing the number of bicyclists and pedestrians, reduce traffic violence on both sides of the estuary
Encourage the use of transit by improving West Alameda’s access to BART stations and Amtrak
Enhance affordable access to goods and services, jobs, schools, events, and other resources currently difficult to access for those without cars (ie, grocery stores and pharmacies, Laney and College of Alameda community colleges, etc.)
Enable current and future residents to more easily live car-lite or car-free lifestyles, which could in turn help them save money (in car and housing costs), while reducing the need for land devoted to car space
Increase foot traffic for local businesses in Jack London Square, Chinatown, Alameda Landing, Marina Village, and Webster Street
Connect communities and better showcase the estuary, extend the Bay Trail, and generate new recreational opportunities for residents and visitors
Create construction and maintenance jobs for the local economy
Serve as a state-of-the-art, iconic architectural focal point for the region
Promote active, healthy lifestyles
Serve as access for emergency vehicles in the event of a disaster

Here is a printable high-level project summary created by the City of Alameda, and here is the Estuary Crossing Study: Detailed Feasibility and Travel Demand Analysis, published in 2021.

What BWA Is Doing

For the last 10+ years, BWA has been working with the City of Alameda (their page is here), Bike East Bay (BEB), Walk Oakland Bike Oakland (WOBO), the City of Oakland, Alameda County, and others to raise awareness on both sides of the estuary, pushing for support from regional organizations and representatives who are critical to this project’s success.

The Bridge is now listed in these key documents:

Alameda Countywide Transportation Plan (2020): 10-year priority list, and Countywide Bikeways Network (2022)
City of Alameda Master Plan
Draft City of Alameda Active Transportation Plan
Draft 2019 Oakland Downtown Specific Plan (see page 110)
Oakland 2019 Bike Plan
Caltrans Bike Highway Study (2022) (top scoring corridor)
Caltrans D4 Pedestrian Plan
Caltrans D4 2018 Bike Plan Bike-Pedestrian Bridge (#256) is ranked top tier project
2018 City of Alameda Transportation Choices Plan (Projects and Programs, Long-Term Completion)
Draft 2019 Alameda Transportation Choices Plan (#39)
Recommended as Project #43 in Plan Bay Area 2050
2009 Estuary Crossing Feasibility Study The bridge is the recommended long term alternative

In early 2021, the City of Alameda got approval from the Coast Guard to proceed with the proposed bridge, and with help from BWA and BEB, they secured funding from ACTC to do a Project Study Report (PSR or PID). In July of 2022, two consultants, HNTB and Arup, were awarded the contract to complete this work. This is a deep-dive study anticipated to take 18 months. It should confirm easements, look more closely at bridge design and details, and propose who will own which parts of the project. More details can be found here and on the website they created as part of this project.

Preferred Alignments

This image identifies the three preferred alignments:

Coast Guard Requirements
Getting the Coast Guard’s sign-off of a bridge design was a gigantic step forward for this project — it could not have moved ahead without that approval. Further cooperation could determine the project’s ultimate success. Because it’s largely the Coast Guard requirements that dictate the bridge design and make it complex and expensive (estimated at $200M), we’re hoping the Coast Guard will work with the City and consultants to look at ways to address Coast Guard needs while making the bridge less costly to build and maintain. We understand that the Coast Guard will need very detailed data to evaluate and make any decisions on adjusting requirements — something called a “Waterways Study” which costs about $750K or more will be needed in the PAED phase.

To accommodate the large Coast Guard cutters, the bridge has to lift to a vertical height of 175 feet, but can the bridge footer piers be placed more closely together (less than 600 feet), to reduce the horizontal distance between them? 400 feet, for example, would open up a world of design options that would impact costs dramatically, while still leaving plenty of room for the cutters (which are 54 feet wide). Would the Coast Guard be willing to finance part of the bridge, or help leverage infrastructure funding through other governmental agencies, like the Federal Highway Administration or Caltrans? How else could the Coast Guard support the effort?

Alameda is a Coast Guard City and we believe there’s a good chance the Coast Guard will cooperate, and maybe even partner, in making this important project a success.

Estuary Park

Plans for a park are underway, but preserving a bridge alignment is not in the current plans. We’re hoping that there can be coordination between the initiatives as they are mutually beneficial. BWA co-presented with the City of Alameda to the Measure DD Community Coalition to raise awareness and support.

The Port of Oakland

The Port of Oakland is a key constituent in this project, and they have expressed support.

The Port and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are currently endeavoring to widen the port’s turning basin. It’s a project that will impact both Alameda and Oakland. BWA and the City of Alameda have submitted comments on initial reports noting our need for better mobility in this area, and our specific interest in the bike/ped bridge just east of here.

Notably, the federal government built Alameda’s other bridges.

Earlier Actions and Milestones

A’s Stadium Ballpark District at Howard Terminal
While it was actively in motion, in 2021, BWA advocated with Bike East Bay and the City of Alameda for alignments to be secured. Vice Mayor Kaplan heard and responded to this request, and the City of Oakland released a Terms Sheet that addressed a plan for transportation investments.

Oakland Alameda Access Project (OAAP) / Alameda County Transportation Commission (ACTC)
OAAP is a decades-long project led by ACTC that will improve traffic flow between Alameda and Oakland, and importantly, reroute Alameda’s freeway-bound traffic off of Chinatown streets. The goal of improving multimodal connectivity across the estuary, however, fell short in that it only proposed to open up the Webster Tube walkway, which would satisfy Caltrans’ environmental mitigation needs, but will be just another substandard facility for bicyclists and pedestrians. BWA, Bike East Bay, and the City of Alameda argued that this could not in good faith be considered a multimodal enhancement, and pushed for support in advancing the bridge as part of OAAP.

While the bridge was technically out of scope for OAAP, we argued that it was a true multimodal enhancement in this corridor and that advancing it as part of OAAP made sense. We started a petition to show our city council public support, and in short order got over 500 signatures. We’ve been advocating for as much progress on the bridge as possible, shy of construction. In the fall of 2020, the City of Alameda approved OAAP (City of Alameda letter) with the clear recognition that the proposed Webster walkway was not a multimodal enhancement across the estuary, but with the understanding that ACTC would be committed to supporting and advancing the bike and pedestrian bridge.

Ultimately, two studies — a Feasibility Study and a related Demand Study —were completed, the bridge was moved to the 10-year priority project list, and funding for the Project Study Report (PSR) was approved.

Caltrans D4 (Bay Area) Bike Plan 2018 BWA helped ensure that the bicycle and pedestrian bridge connecting the West End to Oakland got listed as a *top tier* project.

Official Support from Alameda City Council In the fall of 2016, BWA won City Council support to direct staff to commit resources to this project. Council granted our request and we’ve been since coordinating with staff to move this project along.

Walking and Biking Counts (2016) BWA enlisted volunteers to help us see how biking and walking has changed since we counted last. Having done the very same audit in the fall of 2006, these counts offer interesting insights into how biking and walking patterns have changed in these locations over the last ten years. Read the full report.

Estuary Crossing Study 2009 BWA Successfully advocated for the City of Alameda to conduct this key study.

Supporters

Alameda Mayor Ashcraft, Vice Mayor Vella, Councilmember John Knox White, and former Alameda Councilmember Jim Oddie
Rebecca Kaplan, Oakland Citywide Councilmember and ACTC Commissioner
Jack London Improvement District
John Bauters, Vice-Chair of ACTC and Emeryville Councilmember
San Francisco Bay Trail
Attorney General Rob Bonta
Former Alameda County Supervisor Alice Lai Bitker
Advocacy groups: Bike Walk Alameda, Bike East Bay, Walk Oakland Bike Oakland