Changes coming to Richmond-San Rafael Bridge bike and ped path
Scott Mace
Regional governing body agrees to turn the multi-modal path into
emergency shoulder during peak commute hours
By Sierra Lopez | slo...@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
UPDATED: August 8, 2025 at 4:10 PM PDT
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2025/08/07/changes-coming-to-richmond-san-rafael-bridge-bike-and-ped-path/
RICHMOND — A bike and pedestrian path running across the Richmond-San
Rafael Bridge 24 hours a day, seven days a week, will close Sunday
evenings through Thursday mornings beginning in October.
The change comes after a vote by the Bay Area Conservation and
Development Commission, a body charged with ensuring maximum public
access to the San Francisco Bay, during a meeting Thursday. The decision
is likely the first time public access to the San Francisco Bay has been
revoked in such a major way in the commission’s 60-year history,
multiple commissioners acknowledged during the meeting.
“This has come up as one of the most controversial issues, and
important,” said Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia, who sits on
the Bay Area Conservation and Development Commission, during the
meeting. “This issue is not really just about bikes versus cars but it’s
about bikes and transit.”
Opened in 2019 as part of a pilot program, the protected path
transformed a third lane that acted as an emergency shoulder since the
1970s into a 4-mile connection for cyclists and pedestrians traveling
between Contra Costa and Marin counties. It also expanded the San
Francisco Bay Trail.
While beloved by bike and pedestrian advocates, the multi-modal path has
been a source of frustration for many commuters driving westbound into
Marin County who have argued the lane has exacerbated traffic congestion
at morning peak travel hours, especially after collisions or other
traffic incidents because a driver has no way to leave a travel lane.
Opponents have argued a vast number of people are suffering to
accommodate a path used by only a few. About 90 to 132 cyclists commute
across the bridge during the weekdays, depending on the season,
according to a 2024 study by California Partners for Advanced
Transportation Technology. About seven to 15 pedestrians cross the
bridge daily, according to the study.
Comparatively, between 3,250 to 3,600 cars travel westbound across the
bridge per hour during peak commute hours.
Having grappled with an influx of advocacy on both sides, the Bay Area
Conservation and Development Commission agreed to extend the pilot
program by three years and approve a requested program amendment from
the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.
The approval means the path will remain open to bikes and pedestrians
Friday through most of Sunday when use of the path has been most regular.
A concrete barrier protecting the lane would then be moved to the side,
a two-hour process to occur twice a week, turning the path into an
emergency shoulder from 11 p.m. Sundays to 2 p.m. Thursdays.
A free shuttle will be available to those who were using the multi-modal
path across the bridge from Richmond’s Tewksbury Avenue bus stop to San
Rafael’s Vista Point parking lot. The shuttle, which also can transport
bikes, will run every 20 minutes from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. except on
Thursdays, when it will end when the path reopens.
Moving the barrier will cost about $1 million annually, a $500,000
increase in what is already spent by the California Department of
Transportation In partnership with the Bay Area Toll Authority to move
the barrier once monthly as part of a routine check and for road
maintenance.
The Bay Area Council, a nonprofit business advocacy group, lauded the
commission’s decision as a “win-win-win” for all parties. While hopeful
the emergency shoulder will help move traffic along more steadily, they
said residents living near the freeway will be surrounded by less
emissions and cyclists will still get access to the “under-utilized”
path on weekends.
“This decision is a big victory for the tens of thousands of
hard-working commuters who cross the bridge daily and the many Richmond
residents who have suffered the impacts of harmful tailpipe emissions
from idling traffic,” said Bay Area Council CEO and President Jim
Wunderman in a press release. “Common sense and fairness have prevailed
to improve access to the bridge for all users, speed up the commute and
end needless traffic backups.”
Alternatively, Bruce Beyaert, chair of the Trails for Richmond Action
Committee and co-chair of the San Francisco Bay Trail Board of
Directors, said the decision “flew in the face” of the commission’s
mandated responsibility of providing maximum feasible access to the San
Francisco Bay and shoreline.
Similarly disappointed in the decision is former Richmond Mayor Tom
Butt, who said in an interview after the meeting that “nobody has a
spine anymore.” Whatever benefits come from opening the shoulder will be
short-lived, Butt said in his newsletter Friday, noting research has
shown similar road changes encourage people to drive, leading traffic
issues to return and potentially worsen.
“The early morning congestion is not the result of a closed lane, and
solving it is not easy, cheap or quick,” Butt said. “The root cause of
the congestion is economic disparities between Marin and the East Bay.”
As justification for amending the current configuration of the pilot
program, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission plans to use the
three-year program extension to study the feasibility of turning the
far-left lane on the upper westbound deck into a carpool and bus lane
during weekdays as part of its Westbound Improvement Project.
The multi-modal path would return on weekends under that model as well.
The changes coincide with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s
Richmond-San Rafael Bridge Forward project, which plans to replace
tollbooths on the Richmond side with an open tolling system.
Richmond will also receive $10 million from Regional Measure 3, a tax
approved by voters in 2018, to help fund bike and pedestrian connections
to the bridge. Two bike and pedestrian improvement projects, the
Richmond Wellness Trail and the Complete Streets Project, have been
identified for potential funding.
Heavily disappointed in data collection efforts employed during the
original pilot program, the Bay Area Conservation and Development
Commission required that the Metropolitan Transportation Commission
return within nine months with more detail on the type of data they plan
to collect and a method for conducting an Environmental Justice study.
“The data gathering that was done during the pilot to date was
insufficient,” said Zach Wasserman, chair of the Bay Area Conservation
and Development Commission. “It had better be better as we go forward
with this continuation of the pilot project.”
Originally Published: August 7, 2025 at 6:43 PM PDT
Scott Mace
Op-ed in the Marin Independent Journal, August 12
Dick Spotswood: Richmond Bridge bike lane doesn’t serve greater good for most
By Dick Spotswood | spot...@comcast.net
PUBLISHED: August 12, 2025 at 12:59 PM PDT
Bay Area regional governments and Caltrans have taken baby steps
toward common sense. That happened last week when the Bay
Conservation and Development Commission considered the infamous
Richmond-San Rafael Bridge’s upper deck bikeway.
The result, which passed by 15 votes to two, will see the upper
deck configuration changed. The two westbound traffic lanes will
remain. From early Monday morning to 2 p.m. on Thursday, the bike
path will become a breakdown and maintenance lane. From midday
Thursday through Sunday night, the bridge’s movable safety barrier
will be shifted for use by cyclists and hardy walkers.
After already lasting five years, the “pilot project” will be
extended three more years. In nine months, staff will present
“preliminary benchmarks” and “an environmental justice analysis.”
They’ll also “test and study elements of the Westbound Improvement
Project” including removal of the bridge’s old toll plaza.
For the first time, that study will include the feasibility of a
part-time high-occupancy vehicle lane for mass transit and
carpools. Don’t hold your breath. Given that timetable, the
earliest a westbound carpool-transit lane could be opened is 2029.
Only if that occurs, might bus commuting be practical.
A breakdown lane will marginally improve the commute for
Marin-bound workers residing in more affordable Contra Costa
County. Now, when vehicles are disabled blocking the roadway, the
barrier’s presence allows only one traffic lane to remain in
operation.
The numbers tell the story. According to the Metropolitan
Transportation Commission, on average weekdays the Richmond-San
Rafael Bridge handles 132 bike “trips” and 24 pedestrian “trips.”
On weekends, there are 347 one-way trips on bikes and 47 hikers.
Since most make a round trip, these 132-bike “trips” imply 66
people are utilizing the third lane.
Contrast that with almost 38,000 westbound auto trips made each
day. There’s something perverse if only 66 cyclists use one lane
while 38,000 drivers are allotted the two other Marin-bound auto
lanes.
Marin County Supervisor Stephanie Moulton-Peters sits as a BCDC
and MTC commissioner. While absent last week, she indicates the
problem “is about limited access to a limited amount of
right-of-way. Given the confines we must work with, the latest
compromise it’s a good government, good news story.”
In Moulton-Peters’ absence her BCDC alternate, Sausalito Mayor
Joan Cox, raised a good point. “The bicycle path arguably provides
access for more local bicyclist commuters but diminishes access
for more far-reaching ones. … Riding a bicycle is not a viable
option for thousands of people who commute to Marin on the
Richmond Bridge, particularly those from the farther reaches of
the East Bay.”
Cycling advocates claimed that bridge congestion is due to Marin’s
lack of workforce homes.
“As for those who urge Marin County to provide more affordable
housing, I’ll say that the ratio of worker to housing in Marin is
actually superior to that of San Francisco and surrounding
communities,” Cox said.
Decisions regarding the roadway configuration on Bay Area toll
bridges are now made jointly by multiple regional and Caltrans,
each with a different mission. Since BCDC’s mission includes
“maximum public access,” they have little concern over traffic
congestion.
The Bay Area needs a more holistic approach. The late, great
Assemblymember John “Jack” Knox (D-Richmond) was the author of
much of the legislation creating these alphabet agencies.
Knox’s long-term goal was creation of a Bay Area regional
government where one central authority would perform the duties of
BCDC, MTC and other alphabet agencies. Ideally, its members would
be directly elected given their broad mandate. Unfortunately, the
idea of regional government is apparently permanently stalled due
to inter-governmental rivalry and petty politics.
Given the conflicting missions and the pro-bike/anti-auto ideology
of some of the involved players, the latest “compromise” was the
best achievable outcome. Perhaps by the pilot project’s conclusion
in 2029, the greater good for the greatest number of people will
finally be the highest priority.
Columnist Dick Spotswood of Mill Valley writes on local issues
Sundays and Wednesdays. Email him at spot...@comcast.net.