Thanks to the direction of City Council at last Tuesday’s meeting in response to Bike Concord and Bike East Bay’s request, senior transportation staff will now consider and respond to our proposal for buffered bike lanes on Grant St instead of the unbuffered ones currently planned in Project 2277. So there is no need to turn out to tonight’s City Council meeting. Instead, please try to make it to tomorrow evening’s public meeting on the Downtown Corridors Plan and Project 2277. Wednesday, Feb 10, 6pm at Concord Senior Center, 2727 Parkside Circle, Concord.
In addition to the Downtown Corridors Streetscape Plan (a general long-term vision), this public meeting will include the first public presentation of PJ 2277, a project for bike lanes on Grant St from BART to Todos Santos, as well as on a few blocks of Concord Blvd and Clayton Rd between Ellis Lake Park and downtown.
Unbuffered bike lanes, the bare minimum, are the Engineering Division’s current intention for the Grant St portion of PJ 2277. Bike Concord and Bike East Bay are proposing an alternative design with the following features.
– Continuity of bike lanes at all points.
– Buffers in some places, parking protection in others. The buffers will not only add safety and comfort for bicycle traffic, but will save space where physical barriers can be added later for further protection.
– Squared-off intersection corners to increase driver caution and decrease speed
– Green paint treatments at car-bicycle conflict zones.
Bike East Bay has posted a detailed description of the proposal.
What you can do: Show up to the meeting, make a comment to the effect that you want bicycle infrastructure on Grant that is safe and inviting enough to attract new and hesitant bicyclists, and that you want a detailed response by staff to Bike East Bay and Bike Concord’s proposal to make this a reality. It will be important for a strong number of residents to show up to this public meeting and convey support for making Grant St a good contemporary bikeway instead of a mediocre one.
If able to attend, please RSVP to joan.ryan@cityofconcord.org.
Bike Concord's Cycling News & More 