notes.husk.org/likes images.

When I first read on Streetsblog about Oakland’s recent experiment in reclaiming pavement for parks, I couldn’t picture where it was. It’s where Telegraph dead-ends on Broadway. Now I am double-dubious of Oakland’s Planning director for ending the pilot four months earlier than planned. If you’ve biked through this weird junction, you know there is a lot of car real estate going on here, and it is easy to feel edged out and intimidated when peddling through. If anything, I wish the City had done MORE to re-engineer it for cyclists – particularly when going northbound it is dodgy and uncomfortable and has plenty of excess car capacity.

Was the concern really that cars need to be able to go a block further on Telegraph rather than re-route onto Broadway, the main thoroughfare mere yards away? Because that is absurd. Not as absurd as the idea that blocking the one way, one-lane traffic through here would have hurt the Men’s Warehouse and Awaken Cafe… since those are the only two businesses immediately next to the traffic there. Awaken Cafe is a hipster/cyclist hang out and Men’s Warehouse I feel like can deal.