Oakland, CA is a large, ethnically diverse community with nearly 400,000 residents located across the bay from San Francisco. In November 2002, the Oakland City Council adopted the Pedestrian Master Plan as part of the Land Use and Transportation Element of the City’s General Plan. The plan promotes a pedestrian-friendly environment — “where public spaces, including streets and off-street paths, will offer a level of convenience, safety and attractiveness to the pedestrian that will encourage and reward the choice to walk.”
The impetus for the Pedestrian Master Plan began in 1995 with the creation the Oakland Pedestrian Safety Project (OPSP). OPSP was formed in response to an unusually high rate of pedestrian fatalities, the highest in the state of California. A city council member spearheaded the effort and ran the project out of the city council office. OPSP drew the support of numerous parties, including city and county agencies of aging, police, community groups, and local hospitals. The office received two seed grants and, later, a larger grant to develop the comprehensive pedestrian safety plan as well as the Walk Oakland Map/Guide and their “Walk to School Day” program. (See Youth in Motion Toolbox for information about other Walk to School programs.) It is unusual that the Pedestrian Master Plan was completed through the city council’s office rather than the city’s planning office, but reflects the fact that the work started as the project of one specific council member. The OPSP now operates out of the city’s planning and zoning division.
Results
The Pedestrian Master Plan methodically outlines the current state of pedestrian safety and access in the city and provides a long-term vision for the pedestrian network. Through text, photographs and drawings, the plan outlines:
The plan establishes the need for pedestrian infrastructure improvements and serves as a guide to how Oakland can create a safe and accessible walking environment for its residents. Ultimately the plan will be used to achieve:
Through the organization’s work to improve pedestrian conditions, they gained information on the nature of pedestrian-vehicle conflict through the use of GIS maps and input from neighborhood groups. Planners made use of five years of data from the California Highway Patrol to determine those regions of the city that suffered the greatest number of pedestrian crashes. Two areas stood out — Oakland’s largely immigrant Chinatown and the low income and immigrant neighborhood of Fruitvale. Faced with dramatic representations showing the magnitude of the problem, public officials and the public were able to acknowledge the locations of pedestrian-auto conflict and to begin addressing those problems.
Communication with residents of each neighborhood, especially the Asian community, led to better understanding for both planners and residents. This coupled with a personal tragedy — the death by auto of a community leader’s father — led to increased effort to improve pedestrian conditions. Planners gained insight about the specific difficulties facing pedestrians in the community — such as congestion and poor traffic design. They addressed the specific needs of area residents, a large number of whom are elderly.
Work has begun to implement the improvements called for in the pedestrian plan. In 2001, the Chinatown neighborhood started its planning process for specific infrastructure improvements; construction is to begin 2007. Even without the anticipated construction, the plan is viewed as a success. Public awareness of pedestrian issues has increased dramatically and local planners have indicated that new development cannot go forward without addressing pedestrian needs.
Physical improvements will include the use of pedestrian refuge islands as well as many traffic calming techniques, including bulb-outs, speed humps and traffic circles. In addition, the city has reintroduced the “pedestrian scramble.” This technique stops all vehicular traffic simultaneously and allows pedestrians to cross in all directions. Oakland currently uses a pedestrian scramble at one heavily used intersection and is planning to add three more. The planning process is implementing a new program, Oakland’s Safe Routes to Transit initiatives. Modeled on the national Safe Routes to School Program, the program dedicates earmarked funds from increases in bridge tolls to plan and construct bicycle and pedestrian access close to transit facilities.
Lessons Learned
Strengths
Innovative Ideas
Implementation
Resources
www.oaklandnet.com/government/opsp.html
The Oakland Pedestrian Safety Project promotes pedestrian safety and access through education, enforcement, and engineering and works to develop comprehensive solutions to pedestrian problems through coalition-building and community outreach
Contacts
Oakland Pedestrian Safety Project
Community and Economic Development Agency
Planning and Zoning Division
250 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, Suite 3315
Oakland, CA 94612
Phone: (510) 238-7049
Fax: (510) 238-6538
For more information about NJ’s 17 Transit Villages, contact:NJ TRANSIT (973) 491-7822 vebaker@njtransit.com Transit Villager Coordinator New Jersey Department of Transportation 609-530-5957 monica.etz@dot.state.nj.us
References
Bechtel, A.K., MacLeod, K.E. & D.R. Ragland. (2003). Oakland Chinatown Pedestrian Scramble: An Evaluation. Berkeley, CA: Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Berkeley Traffic Safety Center. Retrieved March 22, 2006 from http://repositories.cdlib.org/its/tsc/UCB-TSC-RR-2003-06
International City/County Management Association. (2005, January). Active Living and Social Equity: Creating Healthy Communities for All Residents. Retrieved March 22, 2006 from http://bookstore.icma.org/freedocs/Active%20Living%20and%20Social%20Equity.pdf
Patton, J. (2005). A Pedestrian World: Competing Rationalities and the Calculation of Transportation Change. Publication forthcoming in Environment and Planning A.
Tester, J.M., Rutherford, G.W., Wald, Z., & M.W. Rutherford. (2004, April). A Matched Case—Control Study Evaluating the Effectiveness of Speed Humps in Reducing Child Pedestrian Injuries. American Journal of Public Health. 94 (4): 646-650. Retrieved March 22, 2006 from Ebsco Research Databases.
The City of Oakland. (2002, November). Pedestrian Master Plan. Oakland, CA.
