Week 8 - Finalizing the Cost Report and New Grants

Hey everyone!

This week was not that hectic as it usually would be, and that’s because I am nearly done with my Senior Project!

What I mostly did was finalize my cost report and start working on the final presentation. However I did learn some new information that I did want to share with you.

Last week, I talked about some major grants that cities in the East Bay can use to fund their transportation projects that advance pedestrian and cyclist safety. I actually discovered a new grant that was just recently established; the Safe Routes to BART (SR2B) Grant that was established in 2020 to build up active transportation routes to BART stations ¹. With about $77 million allocated for funding, with that money being split up for yearly cycles of grants awarded to transit agencies ¹. The grants, however, only cover up to 35% of the total cost of the project unless a transit agency can demonstrate the need for full funding. I found out about this grant when looking at the funding for the Walnut Avenue/Liberty Street Intersection Improvement Project ².

Along with this, my project focuses on making a sweeping change to the design of intersections to improve multi-model mobility. However, cities can still make protected intersections for a lot cheaper than what Fremont has been doing in terms of Quick Build Projects with the disadvantage being that it is not as safe as the Fremont protected intersections but it does mean that a lot more projects can be done to create a strong system of bike lanes and intersections. An example of this can be seen in Berkeley which made its first protected intersection in 2016 at Hopkins St & The Alameda, which adds concrete islands for cyclists. And this project was done for only $180,000 ³! Oakland was able to make a similar type of intersection for even cheaper, opting to use bollards instead of concrete which made construction cost only $100,000 ³. A far shot from the millions of dollars spent by Fremont, this was only to show that there are still different routes cities can take based on their priorities and existing infrastructure.

Hopkins St & The Alameda intersection at Berkeley

That’s all for this week, I hope you learned something new!

¹Safe Routes to BART (SR2B). https://www.bart.gov/sites/default/files/docs/SR2B%20C2%20Guidelines.pdf

²“Completed Public Works Projects.” City of Fremont, fremont.gov, www.fremont.gov/government/departments/public-works/public-works-projects/completed-public-works-projects. Accessed 25 Apr. 2024.

³“Protected Intersection Update: What’s Next? – Streetsblog San Francisco.” Sf.streetsblog.org, 31 Oct. 2019, sf.streetsblog.org/2019/10/31/protected-intersection-update-whats-next. Accessed 25 Apr. 2024.