City, Strollers & Rollers Give Cyclists, Peds a Voice

If you're an avid bicyclist or walker in Albany, or just someone trying to kick the carbon habit by leaving your car at home more often, then you've got friends in the Albany Strollers & Rollers.

The community group has been working diligently since 2004 to make Albany as bike and pedestrian friendly as it can be, and to urge more people to take up cycling.

You can find its members lobbying at City Hall for bike paths, passing out bike lights to school kids and offering coffee or a bike tire patch kit on the annual "Bike to Work" day. During the Solano Stroll, they checked more than 200 bikes, and two tubas, in a free bike valet service. You can even find members stirring up fruit smoothies on their bike-generated blender at community events like Albany Streets.

This afternoon, the Strollers & Rollers will join city planners in asking the community for feedback on some of their efforts at a workshop on a Pedestrian & Bicycle Master Plan for the city. To be held from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Community Center, the workshop is a chance for residents to weigh in on how to make Albany even more accessible for folks who eschew cars.

In an e-mail over the weekend to about 270 Strollers & Rollers, co-founder Preston Jordan said now is the time to speak up about desired changes.

"Do you have a pet peeve about a bit of sidewalk or a curb ramp that doesn't work well (or doesn't exist)? Would you cycle if only there was more space set aside or motorists went slower?" he wrote. "Do you imagine some way to encourage others (or yourself) to skip getting in a car for local trips? Now is the time to put it all out there."

The Pedestrian & Bicycle Master Plan is a set of roadmaps for developing pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure in Albany.

Its most significant piece, said Nick Pilch, who founded the Strollers & Rollers along with Jordan, is a plan to build a bike path along Buchanan Street, the road that links most of Albany to the waterfront.

"It's going to be a huge improvement," Pilch said, in that it will finally allow smooth biking and walking access to the beach and bulb. "It's a project we really, really care about."

Buchanan stretches from San Pablo Avenue to the I-80 and 580 interchanges, and then leads to the waterfront. A bike-friendly bridge crosses the highways, but Buchanan itself is four lanes of traffic with very little shoulder, and only cracked and bumpy sidewalks.

City transportation planner Aleida Andrino-Chavez said the Buchanan project will be a major breakthrough for Albany's transportation and greenhouse gas reduction goals.

"It will provide a link that does not exist right now between the Ohlone Greenway and the Bay Trail. It's great because it will not only serve the local purpose of connecting Albany residents to the regional trails but also, if you commute between El Cerrito, Emeryville, Berkeley or Albany, you'll be able to get to work on the Bay Trail," she said.

Funding for the bike path is already secured through a federal block grant for congestion mitigation and air quality improvement, Adrino-Chavez said. The city received $1.7 million, forwarded by Alameda County's Transportation Commission, to create bike lanes and repair sidewalks along Buchanan. It is now securing rights of way to begin the work.

The Strollers & Rollers also have been working with the city on "safe routes to schools," or calming intersections, near Marin and Ocean View elementary schools so kids feel safe to bike and walk. The Pedestrian & Bicycle Master Plan reflects that work as well.

The organization has given away 400 bike lights to school kids subsidized by sales of bike lights to adults. On Oct. 6, volunteers will go to Albany's three elementary schools and help kids install the new lights.

The reason for the effort is simple, said Stroller & Roller Ken McCroskey Wait.

"We just want kids to be excited about biking," he said.

Today's workshop will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Community Center, 1249 Marin Ave. If you can't make the workshop, you can submit your input by leaving a message here, or by e-mailing albanypedbike@gmail.com. You can also respond to a pedestrian and bicycle survey through links available here.

The group also is looking for volunteers to help with bike parking at Dinner with Albany.