San Pablo Avenue continues as a focus of local desires and planning efforts


Above, a preliminary street design by Fehr & Peers for facing Manila Ave.


El Cerrito Strollers & Rollers has conducted surveys of locals about where they want to see improvements for walking and bicycling in El Cerrito and the Richmond Annex. We solicited comments to our surveys at Bike to Wherever Day, WorldOne/July 4th festival at Cerrito Vista Park, and online at the El Cerrito Strollers & Rollers website. Of 136 responses, 33% cited San Pablo Avenue as a priority for receiving multimodal improvements. No other location received nearly as much mention. This is not surprising since San Pablo Avenue is where so much retail, services, and restaurants are, yet is dominated by automobile access.

The good news is that the Avenue is receiving more and more planning and design attention. The San Pablo Avenue Specific Plan calls for separated bicycle lanes from Lincoln Avenue north, but doesn't show how that would be implemented block by block. The City of El Cerrito has taken next steps, hiring design consultants to examine the Avenue closer to make it accommodate pedestrians, bicycle riders, transit users, as well as motorists. Designs are getting more refined for separated bike lanes in the Del Norte area. The West Contra Costa Transportation Advisory Committee has taken a special interest in San Pablo Avenue as a focus area, since it passes through multiple West County cities. The momentum is building in Alameda County cities—Oakland, Emeryville, Berkeley, and Albany—to improve multimodal movement along their stretches of the San Pablo Avenue corridor.


— By Steve Price

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