Title
Recommendation to Approve Design Concept for Cross Alameda Trail Gap Closure on Atlantic Avenue between Webster Street and Constitution Way. (Transportation 91402)
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Jill Keimach, City Manager
Re: Recommendation to Approve Design Concept for Cross Alameda Trail Gap Closure on Atlantic Avenue between Webster Street and Constitution Way
BACKGROUND
In 1991, the City Council began enacting policies to develop a multi-use trail on the old Alameda Beltline property. Since then, the City has worked to implement what is now called the "Cross Alameda Trail" (CAT) in this corridor. Today, two segments of the CAT are under development with funding from grants: (1) the Ralph Appezzato Memorial Parkway (RAMP) segment from Main Street to Webster Street, and (2) the Jean Sweeney Park segment from Constitution Way to Sherman Street. Once built, these sections together will create a 1.5-mile trail from Main Street to Sherman Street that is completely separated from cars and will likely attract a large number and diversity of people, including children, people less comfortable riding, and seniors. The entire CAT, when complete, will be a major east-west walking and bicycling corridor, stretching from the Seaplane Lagoon at Alameda Point to Tilden Way for a total of 4 miles (Exhibit 1).
In the middle of the two approved, funded and designed segments of the trail is a crucial one-block gap along Atlantic, between Webster and Constitution, called the CAT Atlantic Gap. In early 2016, City staff brought an initial design concept for this project to the Transportation Commission (TC), which approved the concept in general, while asking for additional design and traffic analysis detail, and that the City work with AC Transit to retain the existing bus stop. Over this past year, staff worked with all internal and external stakeholders, including AC Transit, and analyzed and evaluated the options for providing a h...
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