MAC Meeting: Somerset Avenue Sidewalk Improvement Project
New sidewalks and bike lanes will be built beginning in Spring 2025 in order to make pedestrians and cyclists safer on the west side of town.
The Castro Valley Municipal Advisory Council (MAC) heard an update from the county about the Somerset Avenue Sidewalk Improvement Project.
The project extends from Stanton Avenue to Redwood Road. The Alameda County Public Works Agency will be installing new concrete sidewalks in order to improve pedestrian and bicycle access to Castro Valley High School, Castro Valley Elementary School, Our Lady of Grace School, and the Castro Valley Downtown area.
In addition to the new sidewalks installed where there are none current, the project will include wider sidewalks where they do exist, shared Class 3 bike lanes, ADA curb ramps at all intersections, high-visibility crosswalks, sidewalk bulb outs at intersections, flashing beacons, and over 100 new street trees.
A typical section of street in the improvement area would be a seven-foot-wide sidewalk, seven-foot-wide parking lane, 11-foot shared auto/ bike lane, another 11-foot shared lane in the opposite direction, followed by a seven-foot parking lane in that direction, and another seven-foot sidewalk.
Construction is set to begin this spring and last about 18 months Construction will typically be Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and two-way traffic is expected to be maintained throughout the process though some detours may pop up.
Speaker Jim Robson said a focus should be on dedicated bike lanes instead of “sharrows” where bikes share space on the road with cars and that cyclists are often forced to use sidewalks, which is bad for everyone.
“They need to have a place to ride and they shouldn’t be on sidewalks,” said Robson.
A mother whose child was hit by a car on Somerset on their way to Castro Valley High last month said something needs to be done about safety in the area.
“He was very lucky, but he should have to depend on luck,” she said
For more information about the project and to see updates, visit www.acpwa.org/projects/2022/Somerset_Ave.page.
At Monday’s meeting, the MAC also approved their schedule of upcoming meetings for 2025.
Generally speaking, Land Use meetings are held on the second and fourth Mondays of each month and General Purpose meetings are held on the third Monday of the month beginning at 6:00 p.m., in the Castro Valley Library, Chabot Room, 3600 Norbridge Avenue.
The exceptions in 2025 will be the General Purpose meetings in January and February which will be held on Thursday January 23 and Thursday February 20 and the second Land Use meeting in May which will be held on Tuesday, May 27- all due to holidays.
The MAC asked county staff why Thursdays were the replacement date instead of the common replacement day of Tuesday when Monday is a holiday and staff said they’d look into it- so those dates may shift.
It was also suggested that the October 13 meeting be moved or removed because, while not a county holiday, it is Indigenous Peoples’ Day, so that change may also be made in the future.
Anyone with questions regarding the Land Use meetings may call Rodrigo Orduña at the County Planning Department at 510-670-5400 and for questions regarding the General Purpose meetings, call Tona Henninger at 510-670-5717.