By Camille Baptista
Update, July 17: The pedestrian killed was identified by the Alameda County Coroner’s office as John Patrick Miller, 46. No residence was provided. He died of “extensive blunt trauma.”
Update, 9:25 p.m. The man killed in the suspected hit-and-run incident was a 46-year-old homeless man, according to the Alameda Country Coroner’s Bureau, reported on Monday night by Patch. The man’s name was not released because next of kin have not been notified.
Original story: A fatal hit-and-run accident on the University Avenue overpass Monday, July 15 has raised concerns about safety there and the absence of signage warning pedestrians not to walk on the roadway.
There is no sidewalk on the overpass. There is currently no sign prohibiting pedestrians or bicycles from using the overpass. An image taken for Google Maps in April 2011, however, shows that there used to be a sign in the divider to the right of the overpass heading west. It read: “Pedestrians, bicycles, motor driven cycles prohibited.”
A man was discovered by a Berkeley police officer at 5:10 a.m. this morning on the first section of the westbound section overpass near the intersection with Fourth Street. He was declared dead on the scene and preliminary investigations indicated he was the victim of a a hit-and-run accident.
Many Berkeleyside readers have expressed concerns and suggested ideas regarding pedestrian safety on the overpass in comments on our story reporting the accident.
“It’s a very confusing area for people who aren’t familiar with it,” wrote The_Sharkey, who added that he recently tried to cross the bridge on foot from the east side heading west. Although the area appeared sufficiently dangerous to discourage crossing, he said there were no signs warning pedestrians not to cross.
Attempts to reach a transportion spokesperson at the City of Berkeley which has jurisdiction for this stretch of road have so far proved unsuccessful. Farid Javandel, manager of the city of Berkeley’s transportation division, is out of town, and other city officials did not return requests for comment.
There is a pedestrian and bicycle bridge that crosses I-80 two blocks south of University and about three blocks east of where the overpass begins. Some commenters suggested there should be a sign at the University overpass directing pedestrians there.
“I believe better signage is needed to direct people to the pedestrian bridge,” David D. wrote on Berkeleyside.
Abigail S. shared an anecdote from the perspective of a driver.
“I came close to hitting an older man on a bicycle on that very overpass just a couple weeks ago in daylight,” she wrote. “There was no way for me to stop safely to urge him back down off the overpass. I just prayed he made it across alive … Signs may not work 100%, but it’s the least we could do.”
The situation is not helped by the fact that walking directions for accessing the area west of the highway on Google Maps instruct pedestrians to use the University overpass (cycling directions correctly use the pedestrian and bike bridge).
In addition, when using Google Maps in the “map” mode as opposed to “satellite,” the nearby pedestrian bridge is only denoted with a thin gray line that may be difficult to notice.
Police investigations closed westbound traffic on the overpass, adjacent blocks, and the University Ave. on-ramp to I-80 for several hours this morning while conducting their investigation. The name of the victim had not been released at press time, and there were no leads on the vehicle that may have been involved in the hit-and-run. All the roadways were re-opened by 10:45 a.m.
Related:
Hit-and-run kills pedestrian on Berkeley overpass (07.15.13)
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