- Target:
- Oakland city council members
- Region:
- United States of America
- Website:
- www.contracostatimes.com
This is a revision to the circulating petition regarding the Redwood Road/35th Ave widening proposal.
Are you aware of the controversial changes the city of Oakland is planning for Redwood Road and 35th Avenue?
The proposal (remedy) to slow traffic in this area is to have just one lane in each direction and a dedicated bike lane. There are also other changes included in the proposal; however, the change to a single lane is the major component. Many of us in the Redwood Heights/Laurel/Upper Redwood Rd. areas are strongly opposed to major changes in this corridor.
Forty years ago Redwood Road/35th Avenue was a single lane in each direction. Oakland planned to widen the streets to four lanes by taking some of the front yard from the existing houses on the west side. There was to be no parking on either side of the street and no median. Many of us were strongly opposed so we gathered hundreds of signatures, presented the petition to the city and Redwood Road/35th Avenue was developed as it is today.
At that time traffic was increasing because of Lincoln Square Shopping Center, along with school, commercial and housing development up to Skyline.
It was nearly impossible to get out of driveways and side streets during high traffic hours. If Redwood Road/35th Avenue is put back to one lane each direction, it will be even more congested because of the increase in car and bus traffic. More importantly, it will impede immediate emergency response for fire, police and ambulances. This is a legitimate safety issue.
As long time residents of the Oakland Hills and frequent users of the above streets, we must register our concern over the plan to reconfigure these streets into essentially one lane roads. Our concern is based on the following factors:
1. Redwood Road and 35th Ave are major evacuation routes for a large part of the East Oakland Hills area. We all saw what happened in 1991 during the hills fires just to the north of us. We do not want the same situation here.
2. These streets serve as a main artery connecting two major freeways (580 and 13.)
3. There are at least six schools served by these streets with the attendant traffic congestion before and after school hours. (We have that now even though there are two lanes in each direction- you can imagine how much worse it will be if the roads are narrowed.)
4. The plentiful bus and truck traffic travels very slowly, especially uphill. School buses already create congestion even with the current four lanes – it’s impossible to imagine how bad it can be with a single lane.
5. With the City budget in a serious crisis and with so many roads needing pothole and other repairs, there has to be a better use of City money. We urge City leaders to show fiscal responsibility and we call on them to drop this plan and get on with the really necessary repairs and maintenance issues that face us.
You can further help this campaign by sponsoring it
The Stop Redwood Rd narrowing - alternate petition petition to Oakland city council members was written by Lar Bryer and is in the category City & Town Planning at GoPetition.