Oakland, California, is taking a proactive approach to reshape its streets, prioritizing people-powered movement and community engagement through the development of a Slow Streets network. Spearheaded by the City of Oakland’s Department of Transportation (OakDOT), this initiative aims to transform neighborhood streets into vibrant community spaces that encourage walking, biking, and slower modes of transportation. Building upon Oakland’s history of bicycle boulevards and valuable insights gained from temporary street closures during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Slow Streets project represents a significant step towards creating a more livable and connected Oakland.
Understanding the Purpose of Oakland Slow Streets
Imagine city streets designed not just for rapid transit, but as integral parts of the community fabric. While urban freeways efficiently move vehicles across Oakland, they often dominate streetscapes, pushing out pedestrians and cyclists. The speed and volume of car traffic can create an environment where residents feel less safe and disconnected from their neighbors, hindering social interaction and community building within Oakland Ca Streets.
The vision of Slow Streets flips this paradigm. These streets are intentionally designed to prioritize walking, biking, jogging, and the use of low-speed electric vehicles. Oakland Slow Streets are envisioned as a complementary layer to the city’s existing transportation network, working in harmony with major thoroughfares, public transit, and freeways. By prioritizing slower speeds and human-powered movement, these streets have the potential to become invaluable public spaces and community resources throughout Oakland neighborhoods, fostering stronger community bonds and enhancing the quality of life for residents.
Lessons from Pandemic-Era Street Closures in Oakland
The COVID-19 pandemic presented a unique opportunity for Oakland to experiment with the Slow Streets concept. For two years, OakDOT implemented temporary street closures across 21 miles of Oakland CA streets, utilizing temporary materials to restrict through traffic. This pandemic response yielded numerous successes, demonstrating the positive impact of reduced traffic on neighborhood streets. Residents experienced quieter streets, safer spaces for outdoor recreation, and increased opportunities for neighborhood interaction.
However, this temporary program also revealed challenges. Issues such as equitable access, enforcement, and the long-term sustainability of temporary closures arose. These challenges ultimately led to the conclusion of the pandemic-era Slow Streets program in early 2022. Throughout the remainder of 2022, OakDOT diligently analyzed the lessons learned from this experiment. This period of reflection was crucial in determining the feasibility and approach for developing permanent Slow Streets in Oakland, aiming to retain the successes of the temporary program while mitigating the identified challenges. Further information on the pandemic-era Slow Streets program can be found in this archive.
Oakland’s Approach to Permanent Slow Streets Implementation
OakDOT has developed a comprehensive framework for the permanent implementation of Slow Streets, outlined in this presentation. This framework encompasses both strategic planning – identifying which Oakland CA streets are best suited for the Slow Streets designation – and detailed design considerations, determining the specific traffic calming treatments to be installed.
This initiative directly builds upon the planning and design principles of neighborhood bike routes, also known as bicycle boulevards, as outlined in Oakland’s 2019 Bicycle Plan. The city’s Bicycle Plan envisioned an extensive network of 75 miles of neighborhood bike routes. Significantly, 50 of these miles are also included within the City’s Five-Year Paving Plan, presenting an efficient opportunity to integrate Slow Streets improvements with planned infrastructure upgrades. For these 50 miles of Oakland CA streets, OakDOT is actively identifying optimal locations for new speed humps and traffic circles, strategies to minimize uncontrolled intersections with cross traffic, and key intersecting streets that would benefit from enhanced crossing treatments to improve pedestrian and cyclist safety.
OakDOT’s approach is primarily guided by the OakDOT’s Neighborhood Bike Route Implementation Guide. However, the framework presentation highlights important updates to signage and pavement markings that reflect the broader vision of Slow Streets, extending beyond just bicycle routes to encompass a more holistic approach to street design. OakDOT intends to update the Neighborhood Bike Route Implementation Guide to become a comprehensive Slow Streets Implementation Guide. This updated guide will incorporate valuable insights gained from ongoing implementation efforts and public feedback received on both the framework presentation and the current guide, ensuring a community-informed and effective approach to developing Oakland CA streets as Slow Streets.
Providing Your Input on Oakland’s Slow Streets Initiative
OakDOT encourages community participation and welcomes feedback on the Slow Streets initiative. Residents are invited to share their thoughts and suggestions via email using the contact information provided on the OakDOT website. At this stage of the project, feedback on the overall framework and strategic direction of the Slow Streets program is particularly valuable. While location-specific requests are less actionable at this phase, broad input on the program’s goals and implementation is highly encouraged.
It’s important to recognize that the development of a comprehensive Slow Streets network is a long-term endeavor. Supporters of the initiative may find the pace of progress to be gradual compared to the rapid implementation of pandemic-era closures. Conversely, residents who expressed concerns regarding the temporary street closures may be reassured by the incremental and deliberate approach being taken for permanent Slow Streets, focusing on thoughtful implementation of traffic calming measures and careful selection of appropriate streets.
Essential Places: A Key Concept for Oakland’s Street Prioritization
The concept of “essential services” gained prominence during the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, referring to services critical for public well-being that needed to remain operational during shelter-in-place orders. OakDOT recognized the utility of this concept as a prioritization tool, particularly for identifying locations where vulnerable populations frequently travel to meet their fundamental needs within Oakland CA streets. To formalize this approach, OakDOT adopted the term “Essential Places.”
Essential Places encompass critical community resources such as schools, health clinics, early childhood development centers, senior centers, libraries, recreation centers, public transportation hubs, and grocery stores. Oakland has approximately 380 such Essential Places distributed throughout the city. This Essential Places framework is currently being utilized to prioritize traffic safety service requests, ensuring that safety improvements are directed to areas serving vulnerable populations and essential community functions. OakDOT is actively exploring further applications of the Essential Places concept as a planning and prioritization tool for broader safety enhancements and equitable resource allocation across Oakland CA streets.
Requesting Slow Streets and Traffic Calming in Your Oakland Neighborhood
Currently, Oakland is not accepting direct requests for specific streets to be designated as Slow Streets. While there was significant resident interest in street closures during the pandemic – driven by both traffic calming desires and the wish to utilize streets for social gatherings – OakDOT’s resources are currently focused on the systematic, city-wide implementation of the Slow Streets network.
However, OakDOT is exploring the development of a “Pop-up Slow Streets” program. This initiative would aim to support residents in temporarily closing their streets for community events like block parties, fostering a culture of utilizing Oakland CA streets as neighborhood spaces for social interaction and recreation. A Pop-up Slow Streets program would contribute to the broader goal of promoting streets as valuable community resources.
For residents seeking traffic calming measures on their street, information on how to apply for speed bumps is available here. For those interested in organizing a block party, the special event permit process provides the necessary guidance and permissions. For suggestions regarding streets that could be considered for inclusion in the broader Slow Streets network, residents are encouraged to provide input via email to the contact information listed on the OakDOT website, contributing to the ongoing development of people-centric Oakland CA streets.
