A $16.5 million project to repave and redesign three streets in Berkeley’s bustling Southside neighborhood began this month.
Construction crews will spend the next year building new bike and public transit infrastructure along Bancroft Way, Dana Street and Fulton Street near the UC Berkeley campus.
But the neighborhood’s main thoroughfare, Telegraph Avenue, isn’t being touched by this project. City officials spun Telegraph off from the project they call “Southside Complete Streets” last year amid rising construction costs and a push for a more ambitious — and expensive — plan to banish private cars from the avenue and turn it into a pedestrianized plaza. It’s unclear when that vision, which sparked a wave of organizing by Cal students who formed the group Telegraph for People, might move forward.
Plans for the project that got underway last week call for extending a two-way cycle track on Bancroft Way so that it runs from Piedmont Avenue to Milvia Street, and extending a bus-only lane to cover the blocks between College and Shattuck avenues.
Along Fulton Street, an existing one-way bike lane will be converted into a two-way cycle track. And a new cycle track will be built on Dana Street, along with a boarding area for bus riders.
Plans call for reducing lanes for car traffic and eliminating some parking to make way for the new road designs.
City officials say drivers can expect lane closures and detours in the neighborhood as crews work on the project, which is scheduled to wrap up next December.
Funding from city, county, state and federal transportation budgets, plus a 2021 settlement agreement with UC Berkeley, will foot the bill for the project.
