Caltrans (California’s Department of Transportation) presented their plans for State Route 61 along Otis and Doolittle to Alameda’s Transportation Commission on Wednesday, August 28 as Item 6-C (here). It’s a repaving project, but a rare opportunity to dramatically improve safety and access along these stretches of state highway. Despite lots of community feedback asking for additional enhancements, most notably a road diet for Otis, it’s unclear what, if anything, will change. Caltrans was clearly not interested in reconfiguring Otis, though.
The Morning Bun’s blog post ahead of the meeting, Caltans shouldn’t wait until 2037 to fix Otis Drive for kids walking to school and the park, provides context and details about the concerns related to the Otis stretch.
Bike Walk Alameda and Bike East Bay submitted a joint letter (here), supporting the City of Alameda’s suggestions around Otis, and making additional requests for Doolittle.
Not much was said about Doolittle at all, but there was quite a bit of discussion around Otis. They talked about safety, car speeds, road geometry, congestion, diversion, safety, parking, and more.
The full meeting video is here and this item starts at 2:22:25.
Commissioner Dara-Abrams not only had verbal feedback, but a presentation. To his question about why this project is not compliant with Caltrans’ ‘Complete Streets,’ initiative, which would require more robust safety enhancements, the representative said that this project preceded that. Here’s a clip of the Commissioner’s comments:
The Caltrans representative responded to these comments by describing the factors they considered in deciding to stick with the existing configuration, and suggested that the City of Alameda might take on the road diet itself:
Commissioner Dara-Abrams closed out this discussion with these thoughts:
“I just really want to convey how there’s a big disconnect here. We hear the Governor standing up there with his lieutenants saying “Complete streets!” “Traffic safety!” “We’re going to lower this record auto-on-ped crash rate…!” which is a nationwide issue. I get the constraints you’re under, and I appreciate the detail you’re sharing, but this is not addressing the key roadway configuration issue that is a safety concern here in Alameda….I honestly think the best outcome would be for Caltrans District 4 to spend that money now to repave up to Bay Farm Bridge, and figure out how to come back to the drawing board for this segment under a new configuration and a new approach to collaboration…“
The Morning Bun’s follow-up on the meeting is here: Browned butter Special K treats.
In short, it’s looking like we’ll be getting Incomplete Streets for the foreseeable future.
Update: Over the Labor Day weekend, there was another crash on this stretch of Otis. As The Morning Bun points out in its lastest post, Caltrans can say the 4 lanes of Otis Drive are safe… but drivers will continue demonstrating otherwise.