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Hayward staff recommend ‘Civic Avenue’ redesign for downtown loop after safety and traffic analysis
Summary
City staff recommended advancing the “Civic Avenue” alternative in the Safe Streets Downtown planning phase, aiming to convert the downtown loop to two‑way streets with protected bike lanes and widened sidewalks; staff emphasized safety gains but warned the option raises congestion and that later design and construction phases are unfunded.
City staff on Tuesday urged the Hayward City Council to advance the “Civic Avenue” design as the preferred alternative for the long‑debated downtown loop redesign, saying it balances safety improvements and economic vitality with smaller congestion impacts than a full downtown‑grid conversion.
The recommendation came during a work session presentation from Public Works Director Alex Amiri and Deputy Director for Transportation Byron Tang, with Farron Piers consultants on hand. Tang said outreach found broad community concern about the current one‑way loop and that safety has been a persistent problem since the network conversion in 2013: "collision happens on the loop every 11 days," he told the council, and the project aims to reduce fatal and serious injury collisions in line with the city's Vision Zero goal.
Staff summarized four options evaluated in Phase 2: a baseline (limited safety tweaks), a downtown grid that removes a segment of Foothill Boulevard, a two‑way conversion that retains Foothill as a through street, and a variant that preserves more Foothill capacity. The downtown grid showed the greatest safety and placemaking benefits but produced the largest increases in intersection delay, the team said. The Civic Avenue option also converted many streets to two‑way, added protected bike lanes and widened sidewalks while keeping Foothill as the main through route; staff said outreach preferred Civic Avenue by a 58% margin among survey respondents who expressed a preference.
"Civic Avenue provides the safety benefits and the economic vitality benefits of the other option but with much reduced congestion impacts," Tang said, explaining why staff recommended advancing that option into Phase 3 for refined design, cost estimating and additional outreach. Staff emphasized that the planning phase is federally grant‑funded, but environmental review, final design and construction are not funded yet.
Council members broadly expressed support while pressing staff for follow‑up: costs and a schedule for design and construction (“we don't have the cost information right now,” Amiri said); further outreach to businesses and affected residents (council members asked for targeted outreach near Watkins and to nearby schools); and pilot tests for pedestrianization proposals. Several members urged a cautious pilot approach before any permanent closure of B Street into a plaza, and asked staff to pursue parking enforcement and bike‑parking improvements in tandem with street design changes.
Members also raised concerns about traffic diversion into neighborhoods and asked for more detailed traffic and diversion analysis in the next phase. Amiri said the next steps include a third outreach round, development of more detailed concepts, and cost estimates by late 2026 or early 2027.
The item was a work session and did not include a formal council vote; staff asked council for directional guidance and to confirm that the recommendation aligns with council goals.
What happens next: staff will refine designs, perform environmental analysis if needed, develop cost estimates tied to grant or capital plans, and run another public outreach phase before returning to council with recommended next steps and funding options.
