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Albany City Council reviews Phase 3 of Active Transportation Plan as Solano bikeway debate continues
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Summary
City staff and consultants presented draft Phase 3 project and program priorities for Albany's Active Transportation Plan, highlighting prioritized corridors including the Ohlone Greenway, Bay Trail and Solano Avenue; public commenters urged elevating the Uptown Solano bikeway and improved transit and sidewalk access on Pierce Street. Councilmembers asked staff to refine scope and return with a draft plan for adoption when the full council is present.
Albany City Council on April 20 heard a detailed status update on the Active Transportation Plan (ATP) Phase 3, including revised network maps, a prioritized project list and a set of 12 proposed programs meant to advance walking, bicycling and rolling citywide. Staff said the outreach process included in-person and online engagement and technical review by the Transportation Commission and a technical advisory committee.
The presentation, led by city staff and consulting team Parametrics, summarized how blocks and intersections were scored for access and connectivity, safety and comfort, and community input. Consultant Pete Residi said the project list was consolidated from a large block-by-block database into corridor- and location-level projects and grouped into three buckets: already-funded/in-progress work, priority projects under development and high-scoring projects not yet initiated.
The plan highlights several corridors and projects that emerged from outreach and scoring: the Ohlone Greenway (including potential widening), Bay Trail connections, the Uptown Solano streetscape and bikeway, Cleveland–Pierce path connections, and school access improvements. Residi said community responses (about 588 pedestrian and 535 biking/rolling survey responses on the public-engagement items) emphasized major corridors and school routes as top priorities. Staff also described programmatic items — lighting, pedestrian visibility, railroad safety and speed-management efforts — which will be developed alongside capital projects.
Public commenters urged the council to accelerate several specific projects. Melissa Getz, a Pierce Street resident, asked the city to pursue reinstating a local bus stop on Pierce Street and offered routing proposals submitted to AC Transit. "My closest local bus stop is half a mile away… I travel in a power wheelchair," she said, asking the city to consider directing funds or coordinating with AC Transit so residents can reach El Cerrito Plaza BART by bus. Several speakers from climate and active-transportation advocacy groups pressed the council to make the Uptown Solano bikeway a top priority for both safety and climate goals.
Council members asked technical and scope questions. One line of questioning focused on whether pedestrian gap-closure projects (for example, Garfield to the Ohlone Greenway) should explicitly include bicycle accommodations to avoid future modal conflicts. Staff responded that some pedestrian projects could be scoped to include bicycle access where appropriate and that block-level design choices will be refined during project development. Council members also discussed e-bike regulation as a possible programmatic tool (speed management and local path rules) distinct from state-level vehicle regulations.
Solano Avenue drew the most sustained debate. Consultants described a range of facility options — from protected cycle tracks to traffic-calmed bike boulevards — and noted some corridors require tradeoffs with parking or curb-line work. Council members and residents discussed sequencing and cost: staff noted the streetscape and full rebuilding of Upper Solano would be a long-range, multimillion-dollar effort with both lower- and higher-cost scenarios depending on whether curb-lines and drainage are altered. Multiple council members and members of the public urged that accessible curb ramp work and other near-term elements proceed while the larger streetscape is refined and funded.
Staff said the countywide five-year project list could make engineering and design work eligible for grant competition and that the ATP is intended to be flexible so staff can pursue opportunistic funding. Several council members favored returning the draft plan for formal adoption when the full council can participate; staff said they would prepare the plan document, reflect commission feedback and bring the draft back for public review and council consideration.
Next steps: staff will prepare the ATP draft for public review and return to council for consideration and potential adoption. Consultants and staff said they expect to bring the adoption-ready document back within several months for the council’s final review.
