Fans of overwater cycling or rollerblading to Treasure Island or otherwise take note: the Bay Area Toll Authority will reveal possible plans for a pedestrian lane connecting the city's sidewalks and bike lanes to the in-progress Eastern Span of the Bay Bridge at a public hearing tonight. The proposals come two years after the Toll Authority told bike advocates they would look in to a few design options for the Western Span and 10 years after the idea first sprung up.
Bike advocates are already optimistic, despite the fact that they have yet to see any new plans or a hard budget figure. Likewise, no one at BATA has tried yet to single out any funding sources for the project which could run up a $550 million tab. Back in 2009, the Bike Coalition suggested bumping up tolls by a buck to pay for bike lane construction, but tolls have already gone up in the time since and those funds already went to seismic retrofit work. As Toll Authority spokesman John Goodwin told the Examiner, the $550 million figure might be an overestimate, depending on which of the plans presented tonight is selected, but the project will be "extremely costly" no matter which route it takes.
Anyway, don't expect to be getting to the East Bay under your own locomotion anytime soon. Assuming everything falls in to place, the "extremely difficult" addition to the bridge will likely take another 10 years to become a reality. In the meantime, anyone looking to weigh in would do well to check out the public hearing tonight at 5:30 p.m. at the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.
