Politicians in the Bay Area want to remove bike lanes from the Richmond-San Rafael bridge because they are worried about traffic congestion.
Cyclists say removing these bike lanes will put them in danger.
https://richmondside.org/2025/08/05/richmond-san-rafael-bridge-bike-path-final-vote/
https://bikeeastbay.org/rsr2024-2/
During the public hearing, commissioner Karl Hasz was spotted driving his car
On one hand, I wouldn’t be surprised if this bike lane actually doesn’t get as much use, considering it’s across a 5 mile bridge, and neither end has a lot lot of destinations until you get further inland. There aren’t any 3 mile trips being replaced, and most cars are traveling farther (think Berkeley to Novato or Richmond to Santa Rosa).
On the other hand, there is no other cycling alternative to get between those places. The bridge is a freeway so bikes aren’t allowed in the car lanes (and weren’t allowed before the bike lanes). Sure there’s Golden Gate Transit route 580 with bike racks but it’s hourly, gets stuck in the car traffic (but even worse since it takes very congested exits), and you can’t take oddly shaped cargo bikes or trailers on it. So anyone who commuted by bike would be screwed.
Five miles. Dang, I hadn’t processed that. Even at highway speeds, that bridge would take more than five minutes to cross; if you’re a strong cyclist, you could do it in, what, 30 minutes?
Still, you’re right. The next closest way for a bike to get around would be something like 20+ miles out of your way in one direction or the other, it looks like. So it would turn any hour-long errands you might be able to run by bicycle into day trips of 4-8 hours.
I dunno. Tough choice.
I personally still firmly believe in keeping the bike lane. Cars have 2 other lanes they can take, but bikes don’t have many other options. I don’t believe they can go via San Francisco or highway 37 so it’s an even bigger detour than I thought. The hourly bus theoretically works if you have a “normal” bike but cargo bikes, fat bikes, recumbents, trikes, and heavier e-bikes are screwed.
The only compromise I could see is closing it off to bikes during rush hour only, but providing a shuttle bus or van, ideally one that’s always waiting at the side of the bridge (not some number you have to call), has room for cargo bikes/trailers, and only covers the actual bridge to minimize headways and traffic delays. And even then it would just result in induced demand as people start commuting yet longer distances.
Yeah, the more I think about it, the less I think they should get rid of the lane. If anyone at all relies on it, it’s worth the lane.