Telegraph Avenue needs a major change, and BRT is the catalyst. I live near Andronico’s on Telegraph in Berkeley, where the road transitions from more dense, older storefronts, some with housing above, to more of a combination of older buildings built to address pedestrians and newer suburban style buildings with vast parking lots. As much as I might like to have a sushi restaurant down the block, I don’t want it to be located in an old IHOP building with an oversized roof and a huge surface parking lot. And, as much as I like having a grocery store nearby, you should be able to walk from the sidewalk into the store without having to walk through driving lanes or parking spaces.
Parking is a huge problem here. Not lack of parking, but existence of surface parking. Surface parking detracts from the aesthetic quality of the streetscape, disrupts pedestrian circulation, and is a terribly inefficient use of land in an urban area. One of the things I love about Berkeley is that it is both a bustling urban center and a landscape of beautiful undeveloped hills, grasslands, and forests. Just like we don’t want to destroy wild areas on the edge of the Bay Area region by building a sea of houses, we don’t want to destroy our urban areas by continuing to let them decay by preserving what is there, just for the sake of it currently existing that way. For some reason, many Berkeley residents do not want change, especially not major change. But, look up and down Telegraph and you will see it needs a major change.
Increasing the density of jobs and housing along Telegraph, coupled with implementing BRT, will provide a much needed catalyst for change. It is difficult to imagine, as it is still a relatively new concept. The concept is that BRT is more like a light rail system. Stops would be closer together than BART, but farther apart than traditional bus stops. BART does serve the areas served by BRT, however BART is designed to bring suburban commuters into San Francisco, not to serve shorter trips of urban residents in the East Bay. There are a host of mobility benefits for both Berkeley residents and residents farther south in the corridor, however, the biggest benefit I see as a Berkeley resident is the revitalization of Telegraph Avenue, as a fun, cool place to go in 2025.
3 comments:
A recent site (for me) on Telegraph: anti-BRT signs in store windows.
I was confused by your comments on BRT. You imply that the Andronico's parking lot may disappear if transit/bus systems improve on Telegraph. Yet, I think if you talk to the shoppers in Andronico's you would find that most of them live up in the forested hills, or within walking distance of the store....neither group being interested in using a bus on Telegraph Ave. to purchase their groceries. Given how close the Berkeley Bowl is to the Ashby BART station, why is that parking lot ALWAYS full?
I believe the antagonism toward BRT is due to the plans to disrupt local car traffic (limiting lanes, eliminating street parking) without any visible benefit to local residents. It may be that residents of Oakland & San Leandro want to come to UC and Telegraph Ave. shops, but there is little to attract me to get on a bus to go to International Blvd. shops or San Leandro businesses. I don't drive there either.
If there were more dedicated parking spaces for bikes, more people would bike to the store. If you build parking spaces for cars, then people will come in droves by that mode of transport.
The other problem is the US has this once-a-week mega-shopping-trip way of grocery shopping, because there arent a bunch of smaller neighborhood groceries to fit the neighborhood scale, and people work too many damn hours here. (with attendant commutes to jobs by private car)
I would love to not drive to emeryville, berkeley, sf, oaklanf by using rail and BRT instead.
Ken
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