Bump-Outs, Beacons, and Bioswales: A Walk Through Safer Streets

Our Piedmont Recreation Department’s Walking on Wednesdays group marched in Piedmont’s July 4^th Parade with about 20 walkers with four K-9 best friends. We had fun walking and waving to the Highland Avenue parade watchers. A large turnout of 41 walkers and two K-9 best friends were at the Exedra last Wednesday to get back to our regular Piedmont street walking. Before getting started, it was shared that the Piedmont Post had provided a July 4^th Wednesday Walkers parade photo and cartoon in that day’s issue.

Our group likes to know what’s happening with the City’s construction projects. We regularly see the progress on the new aquatics center. However, there is a smaller, but important safety project that has been going on that we haven’t considered and it’s part of a much larger City effort.

The intersections at Grand/Linda and Grand/Greenbank were identified in the City's 2021 Safer Streets Plan as two of the top ten priority locations for pedestrian safety enhancements. These intersections were prioritized because of their proximity to a school, being on an arterial street, and being part of a bike/bus route. The current Grand Avenue work is a $1.5 million safety improvement project. It is being funded in part by a $500,000 grant from the Alameda County Transportation Commission.

In recent years, the City has completed similar improvements on Oakland Avenue. Bulb-outs and flashing beacons were added at the Oakland/Howard and Oakland/Sunnyside intersections in 2022 and at Oakland/Jerome and Oakland/El Cerrito in 2024. The Grand Avenue project began on April 23^rd this year at its intersections with Linda and Sunnyside Avenues. This project also includes improvements at Greenbank Avenue.

These bulb-outs extend approximately six feet beyond curbs to create a shorter crossing for pedestrians and enhancing visibility for drivers and pedestrians. Pedestrian activated rapid flashing beacons alert vehicles that walkers are preparing to cross the street. Other improvements include repaving intersections, enhancing pavement markings, relocating drainage inlets and a fire hydrant, and providing new pedestrian ramps.

When the bulb-outs at Linda and Greenback Avenues are complete, construction will begin at the intersection of Grand and Fairview. The City’s first “green infrastructure,” a landscaped bioswale, that improves drainage and supports soil filtering of storm water, will be built there.

Once all the bulb-outs and curb ramps are complete, Grand will be repaved from Fairview to Greenbank. The project is expected to be completed in August. A grant application is also currently pending for similar pedestrian safety improvements at the intersections of Moraga Avenue with Ramona, Highland, Mesa Avenues, and Red Rock Road.

We headed out, going down Magnolia Avenue and stopped for a sideway inspection of the work on the aquatics center. The site was buzzing with over 20 workers doing various jobs. We continued to El Cerrito Avenue, went across it to Oakland Avenue, and took a look at the 2024 bulb-out improvement. Down Oakland, we did the same at Jerome.

We continued to and up the Oakland Avenue Bridge. Its lampposts, lights, and guardrails make it a lovely entrance to the city, and the guardrails make the bridge safer for walkers. This project was part of the Piedmont Pedestrian and Bicycle Master Plan that was adopted by the City Council in 2014. Just last month a car crashed into the guardrails. No one was hurt and we could see no damage to the guardrails.

We stopped at Sunnyside Avenue and noted the bulb-outs and flashing beacons that were added at the intersection in 2022. Going down Sunnyside we enjoyed a unique home with a curved brick wall that has a built-in brick bench for weary walkers, but we didn’t have time to use it. At the corner with Grand, the street safety improvements there and up the street at Linda Avenue were noted. It was good spot for the attached group photo.

We crossed Grand Avenue at the Ace Hardware and passed the site of the Piedmont’s future Shell Electric Vehicle Charging Station at Wildwood Avenue. It is replacing the Piedmont Shell gas station that had been in Piedmont for 95 years. It was closed in November 2023 and the property was sold to Shell. The site is fenced off, and some demolition has been done, but construction hasn’t started.

An update on the project was shared. Shell recently issued a notice of Environmental Assessment Activities. An investigation was done in June with samples taken to examine the extent of contamination in the soil near the former tanks where chlorinated solvents had been detected. When analysis of the samples is complete, the site will be secured until approval is given for abatement of lead/asbestos and demolition of the existing building. The County will issue a work notice about the abatement and demolition prior to work occurring. However, the County may require cleanup actions based on the results of the tests.

It was time to return to the Exedra, and we took a scenic route back. We walked up Wildwood Avenue, Palm Drive, Park View, and a short piece of Windsor Avenue to the Wildwood School’s lower playground and then Piedmont Park. We took the park’s lower trail to the city center with a fuller understanding of all the work being done to improve Piedmont street safety.

This video from the City that provides an update on the pool’s construction - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzfLfUnWneA