What’s in a Bridge Connection?
Spoiler alert: it’s about more than the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge itself
Since November, people walking, scooting, and riding bikes have been traveling from the East Bay to the North Bay and back. Not by magic, not through a complicated route involving bike, bus, BART, MUNI, and the Golden Gate Bridge, but by powering themselves directly across on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge.
On opening day, thousands of smiling faces rode within Richmond neighborhoods and across the Bay for the very first time. We saw people connecting: laughing with total strangers and new friends. It was sheer joy celebrating this leap forward for people-first streets together.
But the first four years of this new path — the pilot — is not set up as transparently or equitably as it should be. Parameters for a successful pilot are not clearly defined. It is about so much more than the number of bike riders per day, so we asked: what would success actually look like for the new path?
Success is access across the Bay for two entire counties. Success is seamless in-town biking and walking networks that connect neighborhoods across highways. Success is building on Richmond’s deep history of taking action against fossil fuels by reimagining how people travel. Success is thinking beyond the next four years and creating infrastructure with future generations in mind.
Opponents of the bridge path say the lane should be used for vehicle travel. We say: that short-sighted idea won’t solve the traffic problem. When a third lane on the lower deck of the bridge opened to vehicles in 2018, traffic congestion simply shifted from the bridge deck into North Richmond. The current pilot doesn’t include provisions to study the environmental impact — air quality, noise, and safety — of moving a bottleneck of idling
cars into Richmond neighborhoods. Holding the health and well-being of surrounding communities as a priority: that is what success looks like.
During more than two decades of advocating for this project, Bike East Bay worked with local partners like Rich City Rides to ensure the path would meet the needs of Richmond. Together, we successfully secured an additional $750,000 for improvements including increased safety at highway on-ramps, and better access to trails and green space — vital outdoor amenities that should be available to everyone. Future-focused infrastructure that builds stronger communities: that is what success looks like.
Through Sunday wellness rides, a worker-owned bike shop, and youth programs, Rich City Rides creates a sanctuary where anyone can come and connect to a community. The programs create a vision of the future that puts people first. “Bike infrastructure on the bridge and within Richmond is an extension of this space,” says Paul Ehara of Rich City Rides.
Bike East Bay is here to make sure that, for the first four years and for decades to come, our communities will have access to streets built for people: whether it’s connecting neighborhoods across the street, or across the Bay. We hold the new path on the bridge to these standards of success.
Learn more about this campaign at: BikeEastBay.org/RSRBridge.
