AC Transit will soon paint a bright red bus-only lane along a busy portion of Durant Avenue in an effort to speed up service on some of its most popular Berkeley lines.
The dedicated transit lane, which frees buses from congestion and makes for faster and more reliable trips, will replace one of the three general traffic lanes on Durant from Fulton Street to College Avenue. Seven AC Transit lines, including the workhorse 6 and 51B routes, use that 0.6-mile stretch of Durant a block from UC Berkeley.
Car drivers will risk a ticket if they drive or park in the transit lane, though they can use it while making turns.
AC Transit will start construction on the project later this spring, agency representatives Ryan Lau and Kathryn Vo told the Berkeley City Council in a presentation Tuesday night.
Crews will also install new traffic signals that give buses a jump on green lights, and upgrade several stops on Durant with new curbs and shelters. Construction is expected to take four to six months.
The work on Durant is part of a $2.1 million AC Transit project that also includes safety improvements along the agency’s bus rapid transit line on International Boulevard in Oakland. Agency spokesman Robert Lyles said a cost estimate for the Berkeley project alone was not available. Berkeley spokesman Matthai Chakko said the city is contributing $590,000 to the project.
Several nearby streets in Berkeley’s campus-adjacent Southside neighborhood are also undergoing changes as part of a separate $16.5 million city project. Crews are extending dedicated bus lanes on Bancroft Way and building upgraded bike lanes along Fulton and Dana streets.
One potential challenge for the transit lane is the stretch of Durant just east of Telegraph Avenue that is home to a cluster of popular restaurants, and as a result is often clogged with double-parked delivery trucks and drivers picking up food orders. While police have vowed in the past to crack down on double parking on the block, the street is still in effect reduced to a single traffic lane during busy times. Berkeley transportation staff are developing a plan to expand loading zones and shorten time limits along much of the block to cut down on the congestion.
