Addison Street Bicycle Boulevard Project 

Project Overview

The Addison Bike Boulevard project is intended to address the community need, identified in the City of Berkeley Bicycle Plan (2017), for a bike route paralleling University Avenue. 

City Council approved the final project plans and specifications on January 26, 2021, and the construction contract was awarded to Sposeto Engineering, Inc.  Construction will be performed as a component of the Central Berkeley Transportation & Infrastructure Improvements Project, which began in May 2021 and is scheduled to be substantially complete in early 2022.

As a busy commercial corridor served by multiple bus lanes, University Avenue is intimidating for most people who ride their bike. The Addison Bike Boulevard will specifically provide an east-west connection between Milvia Street and Sacramento Street to connect West Berkeley to Downtown Berkeley. The project includes new bike boulevard pavement markings and signage for a Class 3 bikeway, in which motor vehicles will share the street with bicyclists, new crosswalk markings and pedestrian-scale lighting at selected intersections, and rectangular rapid flashing beacons (RRFBs) across Martin Luther King Jr. Way at the Addison Street intersection.

A layout of the proposed work can be accessed using this link.

Bicycle Boulevards are an important facility in a City’s street design toolkit, designed to bring low stress connectivity through residential neighborhoods. The focus of this project is to create a shared street environment that is comfortable for school children and less confident cyclists.  A combination of signage, striping, and lighting treatments can increase awareness of people walking and bicycling. In addition to the striping and signing elements supporting a bicycle boulevard along Addison Street, rectangular rapid flashing beacons are planned to be installed at Addison and Martin Luther King, Jr. Way.

Project Timeline

• Preliminary Design: June 2020
• Community Engagement: July to August 2020, including public meeting on September 1, 2020
• Detailed Design: August to October 2020
• Bid, Award, and Construction Contract Execution: November 2020 to April 2021
• Construction: Summer-Fall 2021

Project Funding 

This project is funded by an Affordable Housing & Sustainable Communities grant from the California Strategic Growth Council.

Contact

For questions about the project or further information, please contact the project manager, Kenneth Jung, Project Manager, kjung@cityofberkeley.info.