Lafayette transportation commission lays out downtown pathways, BART bike station and smart‑signal upgrades

At the March 9 Lafayette City Council meeting, Transportation & Circulation Commission Chair Bart Carr presented the commission’s 2026 work plan, highlighting projects intended to improve pedestrian, bicycle and transit access in the downtown and around the Lafayette BART station. Carr described near‑term moves to advance Connecting Lafayette (downtown pathways and school‑safety improvements), a BART Town Center Bike Station and a smart‑signal upgrade to optimize traffic flow.

“This will include a new unattended bike station providing secure parking for 82 bicycles,” Carr said, describing a new plaza, a shared bicycle–pedestrian pathway and a passenger‑vehicle turnaround planned between the BART entrance and the town center.

The commission also reviewed two traffic‑calming proposals for Glenn Road, technical findings on potential right‑turn‑on‑red restrictions at Mount Diablo Boulevard intersections, and an advisory role on ebike safety outreach led by the Lafayette Police Department. Carr said the commission endorsed a 65% design plan for the downtown pathways and flagged the Topper and School Street pathways as centerpiece items.

Councilmembers pressed staff for timing and funding details. Patrick, the city’s transportation program manager, said the BART Town Center bike‑station work began in February and that the school‑safety project is undergoing environmental review and utility relocation work that will likely move major construction into a subsequent year. On the Lafayette aqueduct pathway — an east‑west trail on East Bay MUD right‑of‑way — the commission is pursuing detailed plans to extend the route from Delores toward Pleasant Hill Road as funding permits.

Several projects depend on outside grants. Carr and Patrick both noted that a citywide active transportation master plan is grant‑dependent and would follow the planned multimodal mobility study, which is expected to launch as the parent study for many downtown‑area efforts. The proposed smart‑signal system is intended to make traffic signals more responsive to real‑time volumes and improve circulation in the downtown.

Why it matters: The combined projects aim to increase walking and biking accessibility into the downtown core, improve safety at busy intersections, and support the city’s transit‑oriented objectives around the BART station. Councilmembers said they appreciated the technical work and requested clearer schedules and funding commitments as the studies move toward final design and construction.

What’s next: Staff will return with refined timelines, grant status updates and environmental findings. Several projects carry conditional schedules (grant awards or Caltrans federal‑funding processes) that could shift construction windows.