Richmond Street for All?
- Livable El Cerrito
- Mar 29
- 4 min read
Updated: Mar 30
Speakers presented two perspectives and some new information on the proposed Richmond Street redesign at the March 24 meeting of the El Cerrito Democratic Club.
The Richmond Street Complete Streets project is controversial because it would remove about half the parking in the eight blocks of Richmond Street north of Moeser Lane and add a dedicated chicane bike lane that would curve around the remaining parking spaces. Clusters of parking spaces would be available only on one side of the street in any given block.
The Presenters
Presenting first were Inge Brust and Shelby Holguin, two residents of Richmond Street who helped start the Richmond Street Neighbors Association. The group says 90% of residents there oppose the plan, and it is asking the city to reconsider the proposed design and explore alternatives.
Presenting second was Steven Price, co-founder of El Cerrito/Richmond Annex Walk & Roll, a group that advocates for bicycling, walking, transit, and other low-carbon transportation alternatives. He and other Walk & Roll members have spoken in favor of the proposed redesign at city meetings.
Brust and Price both tried to make it clear that they are reasonable people whose opinions are based upon research as well as experience.
Brust, who does not think the bicycle lane makes sense for Richmond Street, said she is a lifelong bicyclist who was born and raised in the Netherlands. She did not get a driver’s license until she was 47.
Sharing the Street
Brust said 90% of residents object to plans to remove about 50% of the street's parking spaces to make room for bike lanes. The removal of parking would be done in a way that leaves parking only on one side of the street or the other, creating more need to cross the street.
About 40% of the population in these 8 blocks is over 65, and many are in their 70s and 80s. They rely on close street access to their homes for themselves, their friends, and caregivers. Without that, Brust said, older and disabled neighbors may eventually be forced to leave the neighborhood where many of them are long-time residents or even second-generation residents.
Brust said few bicyclists use Richmond Street. She said bicyclists account for 0.3% of total traffic there.
She said the current "sharrow" designation allows bicyclists and all other vehicles to share the road.
In addition, she said narrowing the street to calm traffic would make it harder to evacuate. She referred the audience to a video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-Pjyp3G5ek
146 Driveways in 8 Blocks
Brust said the planned curving bike lane running alongside the curb would not make Richmond Street a safer place for bicyclists to ride.
“On the one mile stretch between Moeser Lane and Hill Street there are 10 road junctions. (In addition) the National Association of City Traffic Officials considers driveways to be intersections. There are 71 driveways on one side of the street and 75 on the other, which means that each bicyclist will have to navigate over 10 intersections per block.”
Brust said she and most people living in the neighborhood avoid riding their bikes on busy Richmond Street. Instead, they bike on side streets and the Ohlone Greenway.
Zero Accidents Involving Bikes
Shelby Holguin researched data on bicycle and pedestrian crashes on Richmond Street using CHP data (the California Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System).
She found that there were zero crashes involving bicyclists on Richmond Street from 2013 to 2024.
There were four Richmond Street crashes involving pedestrians. Two accidents occurred at Gladys Avenue, one at Donal Avenue, and one at Fairmount Avenue. The two accidents for which detailed reports were found involved pedestrians trying to cross Richmond Street.
Holguin said the Richmond Street project “was supposed to address pedestrian issues on the street and at some point it seems to have become about bicyclists.”
The Richmond Street project should focus on pedestrian safety, she said.
Multimodal Mobility for All
Steve Price, who has lived in El Cerrito since the 1980s and has advocated for policies that support modes other than cars, opened with a slide showing that the cost of car ownership has risen to more than $12,000 per year, according to the American Automobile Association. He pointed out that cars have been getting bigger and heavier and continue to dominate our streets.
Since the 1990s, Price has had a business, Urban Advantage, that he said has helped cities and other public and private groups envision walkable futures. He showed some example slides of “as is” streets from different locations followed by photo simulations he generated showing how the same streets could be more pedestrian and bicycle friendly.
Ideally, streets should support pedestrians, scooters, bicycles, micro cars, and cars.
“We shouldn’t be thinking about individual streets," he said. "We should be focused on the network.”
Price stressed that he is not trying to force people to get rid of their cars.
“We believe that safe streets should be for all,” he said.
Price said the proposed Richmond Street redesign, including use of chicanes (S curves), bike lanes, bulb-outs, and other traffic calming features, would slow traffic and help make Richmond Street safer for everyone.
Price said research shows that streets with bike lanes are safer. He referred an interviewer to a blog he posted to refute statements made on the residents’ website.
Price’s blog states, “a comprehensive 2009 review in Environmental Health Journal examining 23 studies found that bike facilities, including marked-on-road bike lanes, consistently reduce injury rates and collision frequency by about 50% compared to unmodified roadways.
Price said work is continuing on the Richmond Street redesign and that it will work.
For more information
View the Richmond Street Neighbors Association website at:
Email them at richmondstreetneighbors@gmail.com
View Steve Price’s rebuttal at: https://www.ecrawalkroll.org/blog/3zm3x1evx0tu88s2ztgbemo3yruq7u
View Walk & Roll’s position at: https://www.ecrawalkroll.org/richmond-street-complete-streets
This story was updated on March 30, 2025.
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