Upper Lakeshore Lane Reduction proposal (between Mandana and Winsor)
Please send comments in support or in opposition by Friday, February 2.

This announcement is a final effort to make sure that all residents who live, drive, walk or bicycle along the five block stretch of Lakeshore Avenue between Mandana and Winsor know about and have an opportunity to comment on the proposal to reconfigure the lanes. Please read below for more information, and send any comments by Friday, February 2, by email to pkernighan@oaklandnet.com or by mail at 1 Frank Ogawa Plaza, Oakland 94612.
Please include your name and mailing address with your comments.

Please note: this is in the residential area, NOT the commercial area of Lakeshore.

In October the City mailed a notice of the traffic-calming proposal on upper Lakeshore to 1,100 nearby residents, along with a survey inviting comment. I also advertised a community meeting on the topic that took place two weeks ago. Nevertheless, it appears that not everyone affected saw the notices, so I am holding open the comment period until next Friday, February 2.

What is the Proposal?
The proposal is to re-stripe the lanes on these five blocks to change it from the existing one lane of parking and 2 lanes in each direction to a new configuration of one lane of parking, one 5’ bike lane in each direction, l traffic lane in each direction and a center lane for left turns. See the diagram below. The purpose of the change is to discourage speeding by cars and to provide for safer pedestrian and bicycle travel.

The Public Works Agency (PWA) - Transportation Services Division has evaluated the traffic volume in the area and determined that lane reduction is feasible and will not create congestion.

Existing (top) and proposed (bottom) lane configuration:



The City’s proposal to re-stripe upper Lakeshore Avenue arose out of years of neighborhood complaints about speeding. Public Works engineers suggested a lane reduction to a neighborhood group as a possible solution. The concept was presented to the Grandlake Neighborhood Community Council (formerly called the Grandlake Neighborhood Crime Prevention Council) last August and was well received. However, the proposal was mainly wishful thinking until Public Works staff let us know that the five-block stretch of Lakeshore above Mandana was going to be re-paved and re-striped following the sewer project in April. This presented an opportunity to change the lane design at no

Re-striping also provides the opportunity for the City to create bike lanes called for in the adopted Bicycle Master Plan. It’s standard procedure for the City to stripe bike lanes called for in the master plan whenever repaving takes place. I wanted to find out if the proposal had broad community support, so the City mailed an informational notice and opinion survey in early October to 1,100 residents on blocks near Lakeshore -- the same 1,100 who had received notice from Public Works about the sewer project. The 106 responses were 69% in favor, 24% opposed, and 8% no opinion.

However, because I also heard from several residents who were strongly opposed to the lane reduction proposal, I held a community meeting on January 10, which was attended by over 100 people. Strong opinions were voiced both pro and con. Since it appeared that some neighbors had not received or seen the original notices, I am reaching out once again to bring this proposal to the attention of all affected residents, and am asking for any more comments either in favor or opposed to be sent to me by Friday, February 2. If you have questions, please call my staff member Joanne Karchmer at 238-7021. If you have not already sent in your vote or opinion, please email your comments to me at pkernighan@oaklandnet.com or mail to me at 1 Frank Ogawa Plaza, Oakland CA 94612.

Please include your name and home address, and send by Friday, February 2. Thank you! After than, I will review all the comments as well as the traffic engineers analysis and make a recommendation.

Councilmember Pat Kernighan