Council OKs Closure of Already Closed Street

The Albany City Council agreed Monday night to the permanent closure of a street that has already been closed by what appears to be a fairly permanent street-ending cul de sac.

The council okayed closure of short Buchanan Avenue at Pierce Street. Buchanan Avenue is a block-long street that runs from Pierce west to Cleveland Avenue, next to the railroad tracks. Buchanan had been in effect a spur of Buchanan Street, a key traffic artery going to and from the Interstate 80 freeway.

In line with plans for a new bikeway along Buchanan, the street had already been closed during the past month. Workers installed a cul de sac, and they also elevated the part of the street at Pierce into a wide, sidewalk-level space – made of concrete like a sidewalk instead of asphalt like a street – for pedestrians and bicycles.

The change also turned what's left of Buchanan Avenue into a two-way street from a one-way street.

Albany Transportation Planner Aleida Andrino-Chavez told Patch that the post hoc council vote was to affirm that the closure is permanent.

The closure is part of the ongoing construction of the Buchanan Marin Bikeway, designed to create a bicycle-friendly link between the Ohlone Greenway (the BART path) and the Bay Trail, which runs along the side of the Bay.

The new bikeway, under construction since December, will add three new lanes for bicycles on Buchanan Street between San Pablo Avenue and Pierce Street. Two will be marked with "sharrows" indicating a bike lane and be placed on the north and south sides of the existing roadway, and the third one is being constructed alongside the south edge of Buchanan for shared use by pedestrians and bikes.

The plan also calls for a stoplight and crosswalk across Buchanan at Pierce where bicyclists and pedestrians can transition from the new bike-ped path running along the southern side of Buchanan to the existing bike-ped overpass bridge on the northern side of Buchanan that runs from Pierce across Cleveland and the railroad tracks.

In other words, the new bikeway will provide not only bike lanes on the existing Buchanan Street roadway but also give bikes and pedestrians a separate, car-free path that runs along the south side of Buchanan between San Pablo and Pierce and then crosses Buchanan at a stoplight to reach the bike-ped bridge across the railroad tracks.

The city staff report on the street closure that was presented to the council for its Monday night vote is attached to this article.