El Cerrito/Richmond Annex Walk & Roll blog

By Laura Lent Since 2002 I have been part of an informal group of friends who go on an annual bike tour we call the "Spring Ride."  We've bike camped our way from the Antioch BART station to Yosemite and various Sierra foothill destinations, we've gone north and south along the coast, and we've taken AMTRAK to Bakersfield and ridden north through Carrizo Plain. We've stayed at a dozen different campgrounds in the "reservoir belt" of the Sierra foothills.   Laura Lent at this year’s Spring Ride. Photo: Joel Pomerantz We generally carry our own gear in panniers, but are often joined by and sometimes partially sagged (support provided and gear carried) by friends in vehicles. A core group rides the entire time, while others join as they can.  While we delight in searching out bucolic backroads, canalside trails, and creative shortcuts, it's always necessary to ride on some busy roads as well. The Spring Ride is not about getting there quickly, but a...

  In case you’ve been wondering (we have), the City of El Cerrito recently posted information on two projects currently underway for the very big, very bad intersection at Interstate 80 and Central Avenue. Whether this solves the perennial hope for bike access to the Bay Trail is open for debate. I-80/Central Avenue undercrossing bikeway: Caltrans is partnering with the cities of Albany, El Cerrito, and Richmond, as well as the Contra Costa Transportation Authority (CCTA) and West Contra Costa Transportation Advisory Committee (WCCTAC) on upgrades to the I-80/Central Avenue undercrossing , a barrier to east-west bicycle and pedestrian travel between the San Francisco Bay Trail and destinations to the east. To improve connectivity, Caltrans is planning and designing new, separated bicycle lanes and pedestrian pathways alongside Central Avenue beneath the I-80 overpass. Environmental design of the project is currently underway, with engineering design expected to begin this fall, co...

By Carrie Hobbs Schulman, co-founder, El Cerrito Strollers & Rollers Several times when I’ve mentioned El Cerrito Strollers & Rollers to people, they say that they're not a parent so it would not be for them. I think the word "strollers" has an immediate connection with baby strollers. While we do advocate for people with strollers, we advocate for all types of active transportation and having "strollers" as the first word after "El Cerrito" paints an inaccurate picture in people's minds. In addition, Albany is already using the name “Strollers and Rollers.” I think it is confusing to have two separate groups so closely situated with basically the same name. It's quite likely that our groups will collaborate on future projects and it will be more powerful to have two unique groups backing a project. Lastly, El Cerrito Strollers and Rollers is just a mouthful. That's a full 9 syllables! I think we can find a shorter name that is uniq...

By Owen and Carrie Schulman We had a fun, car-less adventure a few weeks ago! We took: Bike on the Bay Trail to Richmond ferry Richmond Ferry to San Francisco Ferry building Had lunch and shopped at the Ferry building (including chocolate tasting!) Took ferry to Jack London Square in Oakland Attempted to catch Amtrak train to Berkeley but just barely missed it Biked to 12th Street BART Took BART home to El Cerrito Plaza “A simpler version would be to just take the Richmond Ferry both ways,” says Carrie, Owen’s mom. “But taking the different types of transit was half the fun! We've also taken the Richmond Ferry to go to the Exploratorium.” “I had a lot of fun on my car-less adventure,” Owen says. “One of my favorite parts of the adventure was trying to catch the Amtrak train. It was very exciting but we missed the train. One of my favorite things about not having a car was not having to look for parking, not getting stuck in traffic, being able to take public transit, and being abl...

Most bicycle riders don't find San Pablo Avenue comfortable to bicycle on. Just as challenging, it is difficult to bicycle or walk across. The street grid on the El Cerrito side does not align with the street grid of the Richmond Annex. As a consequence most streets that intersect with San Pablo Avenue don't line up with streets on the other side of the Avenue. If you walk down streets approaching from the west side of San Pablo Avenue (mostly from the Richmond Annex) you'll find almost no crosswalks at San Pablo Avenue, plus you’ll find at 16 intersections a median on San Pablo Avenue that blocks your eastward travel across the Avenue. From the other direction, El Cerrito streets are only blocked at one street by an Avenue median, and the El Cerrito intersecting streets have crosswalks at San Pablo Avenue, but they are of limited worth since most of those streets don't cross the Avenue to an Annex street. As presently designed, the Avenue is a barrier between our two c...

What is an essential destination for daily living, a place that sustains basic metabolic life? A grocery store! How should you get there if you can't afford a car? You should be able to walk, take a bus, or ride a bicycle. El Cerrito Natural Grocery Company is accessible by all three modes. It is a short walk for nearby residents of El Cerrito and the Richmond Annex—from El Cerrito, crosswalks on San Pablo Avenue deliver you to its front door; it is also on one of the busiest bus routes in the Bay Area—AC Transit’s 72 bus; and it welcomes bicycle riders with visible bicycle racks right near its front entrance. Its inverted-U racks make it easy to lean and lock a bike without the bicycle tipping over. El Cerrito Natural Grocery Company is a role model for providing access to an essential destination for everyone, even if you're car-free. Good bicycle racks help make it so. Wouldn't it be great if every business was this accessible?!

In Berkeley, the owner of this Arcimoto three-wheel electric vehicle says she can easily ride up to the top of the Berkeley Hills, no problem. Parking it is a breeze; it is 86 inches shorter than a Ford Explorer. That allows more vehicles this size to be parked in parking areas on- or off-street than conventional vehicles. The bicycles-versus-cars battles in the East Bay, with each fighting for road space, would be much less contentious if a lot of these types of small electric vehicles replaced full-size cars for local errands. If you can't walk or bicycle to a store, why not take a comfortable vehicle that takes less parking? The Arcimoto has a 100-mile range for city driving. It can go up to 75 miles per hour on the highway for those with a taste for exhilarating speed. It won't go far at that speed. I would stick with using it for local errands. It can be charged overnight in a standard wall outlet — no fancy charging stations required. There's a version with cargo roo...