IMPORTANT PROJECT UPDATE (June 2023)
OakDOT is excited to bring the $15M Construction Contract Award for project to the City of Oakland’s Public Works and Transportation Committee Tuesday June 27, 2023 at 11:30AM! This is an exciting final step forward for this vital safety project, and is the culmination of more than 6 years of community engagement, design, and project development including an Oakland City Council vote to approve the final project design in June 2022. The full agenda report for Tuesday’s Committee meeting item and more information on the project is available here: (LINK).
Pending approval at the June 27 Public Works and Transportation Committee, the construction contract award for this project will be presented to the full Oakland Council on July 18, 2023.
Previous Project Update (June 2022)
On June 21, 2022, the Oakland City Council unanimously approved the 14th Street Safety Project on the consent calendar. OakDOT will be moving swiftly to advertise this project for construction, tentatively slated to begin in early 2023. OakDOT will be working with local residents, merchants, and stakeholders on scheduling and planning for construction. Please reach out to Charlie Ream at CReam@oaklandca.gov for more information.
A deep and heartfelt appreciation to everyone who supported and engaged with this project over the last 5 years!
The City of Oakland Public Works Committee Approved this Project with a vote of 4-0 at the 3/22 Public Works Committee Meeting! Thanks to everyone who showed up to speak on the item. Including e-comments submitted online, there were 28 supportive comments and 4 unsupportive commenters.
PROJECT GOALS AND DESIGN ELEMENTS
Today, 14th Street is designed to speed motor vehicle traffic through Downtown as quickly as possible. In the 5 years since the City applied for this safety grant in 2016, 2 people walking in crosswalks were killed by drivers on 14th Street - both seniors. Tragically, on June 16, 2022 - 5 days before this project was set to be approved at City Council, a driver killed someone biking on 14th Street at Jefferson Street in a hit-and-run collision. In the 5 years from 2016-2021, vehicle collisions injured 189 people, 38 of them severely. This stretch of 14th Street represents one of the densest concentrations of traffic injuries and deaths in the City of Oakland. These tragic and preventable collisions, injuries, and deaths are a daily barrier to mobility for all, and a barrier to 14th Street operating as the center of a calm and walkable Downtown. The Goals of this project are to:
- Invest in safety improvements for all people who use 14th Street
- Improve the connection to Downtown for people walking, biking, and taking transit
- Install String Lighting or Pedestrian-scale sidewalk lighting on 14th Street to improve nighttime visibility
- Add parking to the 14th Street area by installing angled parking on 13th Street which will add up to 53 parking spaces on 13th
- Improve transit reliability for the 14 line, one of the busiest bus lines in Oakland
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
During public outreach meetings in 2019, the City heard concern from the community regarding parking, roadway safety, support for small businesses, and cultural/aesthetic elements related to the Black Arts Movement Business District (BAMBD). In Summer 2021, the City of Oakland Department of Transportation (OakDOT) came back to the 14th Street community to provide a status update on our progress in meeting the community’s requests.
CHANGES WE'VE MADE BASED ON FEEDBACK (UPDATED 2/22):
- Create an Expanded Sidewalk plan for the core commercial block from Webster to Harrison. This will provide a raised bike lane and more pedestrian space on this block where sidewalk crowding is an issue.
- Remove a lane and install angled parking on 13th Street to ADD up to 53 parking spaces and calm traffic on 13th Street.
- Adding more sidewalk lighting for visibility after dark
- Devoting funding to the CIty's Public Art Program which will install community-led Public Art on the corridor
- Providing up to 35 off-street monthly parking spaces at a 50% discount to local business owners and employees
- Providing Parking validation to area merchants at a 50% discount
- Adding more trees and landscaping
- Adding canopies, seating, and amenities on transit boarding islands
Please contact Charlie Ream at CReam@oaklandca.gov with any questions or comments.
