El Cerrito/Richmond Annex Walk & Roll blog

By Steve Price San Pablo Avenue is presently designated as California State Route 123. It originated during the Spanish colonial era and was then called Camino de la Contra Costa. In the American era it became Contra Costa Road and then San Pablo Avenue. In 1927 it became part of the Lincoln Highway, America's first transcontinental highway. A streetcar line ran on it between Oakland and Richmond. El Cerrito was largely rural at the time, but eventually the Eastshore Freeway (I-80) assumed the role of major north/south travel and San Pablo Avenue became increasingly urbanized — less an interurban highway and more an urban avenue. The designation of State Route 123 for San Pablo Avenue does not go the full length of the Avenue, only a little over 7 miles out of a total of over 22 miles. State Route 123 goes from I-580 in Oakland to Cutting Boulevard at Del Norte, where it makes a dogleg over to the I-80 northbound on-ramp. Why so short? That’s because this stretch is close to and pa

Fatapple’s Restaurant and Bakery deserves extra credit for going the extra mile to welcome bicycling customers. They installed three attractive red bike racks — proudly displaying the Fatapple’s logo — in front of their building, with clear visibility from big shop windows. They even included a tool and pump station in case bicycle riders owners need air in their tires and a nut tightened. If only every business in our area were so forward-thinking. Fatapple’s was definitely ahead of its time. But of course best practices are evolving; standards for bike racks are not what they used to be. The Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals are promoting bike parking standards to make it easy to know what to do: what are the most usable bike rack designs, where should they be located vis- a- vis walls, curbs, and street furniture, and how should they be securely fastened to the ground. The shortcoming of the racks at Fatapple’s is that they are too close to a wall; if they were ju