Alameda council hears sharp divide over McCartney Road restriping; staff to return with engagement plan

Alameda’s City Council on Tuesday confronted months of neighborhood rancor over the recent restriping of a four‑block stretch of McCartney Road, but declined to halt work already nearly complete and instead asked staff to return with a plan to improve public engagement.

The council heard technical explanations and emotional testimony in a meeting that lasted into the night. City Engineer Scott Wikstrom told council the project converted a mid‑block section from two lanes in each direction to a single lane each way, narrowed lane widths and added buffered bike lanes and pedestrian treatments to reduce conflicts. He said traffic modeling showed only modest delays — roughly four to five seconds at peak for key turning movements — and that reducing the number of lane approaches at the Island Drive intersection simplified driver decisions and should improve safety. "Reducing the number of approaches simplifies those interactions, and we believe…