SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — More bike lanes could soon be coming to many Bay Area roadways.
On Tuesday, Caltrans released its updated Bay Area Bike Plan, which lays out how the organization hopes to transform many of the state highways in our region by adding more cycling infrastructure.
“Freeways are going where a lot of people want to go, they’re connecting city A to city B and C and D,” Caltrans spokesperson Jeff Weiss said. “And so having an alternate alongside a freeway is a real boost to people.”
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Twenty years from now, we could see San Francisco emerge as a bicycle-centric city with a greater emphasis on cycling as a way to get around.
Weiss says the original bike plan was rolled out in 2018, with dozens of projects already done.
“We have completed about 14%, that’s about 80 projects. But we have another 200 that are underway,” he said.
The agency used a tiered system to help prioritize certain projects.
In addition to the 200 already underway, Weiss says Caltrans also has a list of about 270 other projects they’d like to do in the future.
One of those projects is expanding the existing bike lanes on the Bay Bridge, which would enable people to go back and forth between Oakland and San Francisco.
The bike plan has gotten praise from many sustainable transportation advocates.
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The “Vision 980” study is now being done by Caltrans to explore ways Interstate 980 could be transformed.
Luke Bornheimer, the executive director of Streets Forward in San Francisco, supports the plan but thinks projects need to be done faster.
“Policymakers in general are hesitant or unengaged on building protected bike lanes,” Bornheimer said. “And so we need more policymakers including Mayor Lurie, including the Board of Supervisors really prioritizing protected bike lanes around the city.”
Caltrans says it’s committed to building accessible biking infrastructure for everyone in the Bay Area.
Weiss says the organization encourages public feedback to try and make that infrastructure as good as it can be.
“We’re not just trying to tap into the people who are cycling every day,” he said. “We’re trying to ask people who are not cycling, what would make them cycle?”
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