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Status Report on Commercial Streets and Slow Streets Programs
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The COVID-19 pandemic rapidly and dramatically changed both the transportation and economic environment in Alameda. In response, starting in April 2020, City staff began implementing many new transportation efforts and re-tooling existing efforts, to ensure that residents, businesses and visitors could safely live, work, shop and dine in Alameda. In May 2020, the Alameda City Council endorsed the implementation of the Commercial Streets program and the residential Slow Streets programs, and since then approved having these programs in place through October 31, 2021.
Commercial Streets:
Staff developed the Commercial Streets program and launched it in May 2020 with the objectives to:
• Support business needs for additional space to meet temporary changes in operations to address public safety and COVID-19, as articulated in County Health Orders.
• Create more space for people to safely walk along the commercial corridors while physically distancing as more stores and businesses open.
• Create more space for customers to safely stand in lines to shop at businesses while also allowing enough space for people to walk along the corridor.
• Create more space for well-separated (6 feet or more) dining and shopping.
• Create more space for convenient customer pick-up of products and to-go meals from outside the building.
The program has many elements:
• Park and Webster Sts were both reconfigured to add space for parklets. The restriping includes:
o Park Street from Lincoln to Encinal Avenues, completed in July 2020. An extension of Park Street south to San Jose was completed in early April 2021.
o Webster Street from Lincoln to Taylor, completed in August 2020.
• The City has issued just under 30 parklet permits and 6 sidewalk seating permits.
• Alameda Avenue (a short segment off Park St) was closed to auto traffic to allow space for outdoor dining, at the request of the Downtown Alameda Business Association.
• The City issued a conditional use permit last year to allow private parking lots and outdoor areas to be used for outdoor dining and retail. More than 15 businesses are operating under this use permit.
• In addition to 15 minute pick-up/drop off parking on Park and Webster Sts, the City, upon request, provides businesses with 1-2 pick up parking spaces to support to-go services. Over 30 spaces were installed.
Slow Streets
On April 29th the City launched the Slow Streets Alameda program in response to the COVID-19 emergency to provide more space for residents to walk, run, bike, scooter and roll, while meeting then current physical distancing requirements of at least six feet.
To date, 4.7 miles of streets have been temporarily re-configured with temporary barriers and signs to discourage through traffic, while still allowing emergency vehicles and those needing to access a destination on the street, like residents and delivery drivers. The following segments of roadways, shown also in the attached map, are Slow Streets:
• Pacific Ave (Ninth to Oak Streets)
• San Jose Ave (Morton to Oak Streets) + Morton St (San Jose to San Antonio Avenues)
• Santa Clara Ave (Pacific Ave to Sixth St)
• Versailles Ave (Fernside Blvd to Otis Dr)
• Orion St (West Midway Ave to Pearl Harbor Rd)
What’s Next?
The City is now evaluating both programs, and collecting feedback from the public and businesses. Staff will bring recommendations to the Transportation Commission on July 28th and to Planning Board and City Council in September, ahead of the current October expiration date.
Respectfully submitted,
Rochelle Wheeler, Senior Transportation Coordinator