RICHMOND — A motorbike and pedestrian path working throughout the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge 24 hours a day, seven days per week, will shut Sunday evenings by way of Thursday mornings starting in October.
The change comes after a vote by the Bay Space Conservation and Improvement Fee, a physique charged with guaranteeing most public entry to the San Francisco Bay, throughout a gathering Thursday. The choice is probably going the primary time public entry to the San Francisco Bay has been revoked in such a significant approach within the fee’s 60-year historical past, a number of commissioners acknowledged throughout the assembly.
Opened in 2019 as a part of a pilot program, the protected path reworked a 3rd lane that acted as an emergency shoulder for the reason that Nineteen Seventies right into a 4-mile connection for cyclists and pedestrians touring between Contra Costa and Marin counties and expanded the San Francisco Bay Path.
Whereas beloved by bike and pedestrian advocates, the multi-modal path has been a supply of frustration for a lot of commuters driving westbound into Marin County who’ve argued the lane has exacerbated visitors congestion at morning peak journey hours, particularly after collisions or different visitors incidents as a result of a driver has no solution to go away a journey lane.
Opponents of the trail have argued an enormous variety of individuals are struggling to accommodate a multi-modal lane utilized by only some. About 90 to 132 cyclists commute throughout the bridge throughout the weekdays, relying on the season, in response to a 2024 examine by California Companions for Superior Transportation Know-how. About seven to fifteen pedestrians cross the bridge each day, in response to the examine.
Comparatively, between 3,250 to three,600 vehicles journey westbound throughout the bridge per hour throughout peak commute hours.
Having grappled with an inflow of advocacy on each side, the Bay Space Conservation and Improvement Fee agreed to increase the pilot program by three years and approve a requested program modification from the Metropolitan Transportation Fee.
The approval means the trail will stay open to bikes and pedestrians Friday by way of most of Sunday when use of the trail has been most common, earlier than turning into an emergency shoulder from 11 p.m. Sundays to 2 p.m. Thursdays.
The Metropolitan Transportation Fee plans to make use of the three-year program extension to review the feasibility of turning one of many three lanes on the higher westbound deck right into a carpool lane throughout weekdays.
