Bicyclists ride toward Marin County after the opening of the bicycle and pedestrian path on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge on Nov. 15, 2019. (Douglas Zimmerman/Special to the Marin Independent Journal) Loading your audio article
Marin County supervisors are supporting a plan to remove the bike lane on the Richmond-San Rafael bridge four days a week on a trial basis.
The supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to write a letter to the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission urging that a pilot study be initiated to evaluate the effects of such a change.
The Bay Area Toll Authority’s commissioners voted to move ahead with the plan on May 8. The multiuse lane on the westbound shoulder of the bridge would be opened to motor vehicles Monday through Thursday during the morning.
The San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, known as the BCDC, must approve the proposal. It is scheduled to take the matter up at its meeting this month or next. If the commission approves it, the plan will be implemented early next year and run for about 12 months before it’s re-evaluated.
The westbound shoulder lane, which is on the upper deck of the bridge, was converted to a multiuse lane for bikes and pedestrians in 2019 as a four-year pilot project. The prior year, a part-time third traffic lane was opened on the eastbound lower deck.
“Morning congestion has not increased since the movable barrier was put into place,” Talia Smith, the county’s legislative director, told supervisors on Tuesday. “However, the incidence of […]
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