Bart-Downtown Pedestrian Interface

The San Leandro BART-Downtown Pedestrian Interface project transformed an uninspiring expanse of asphalt and concrete in front of the San Leandro Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) station into a vibrant urban streetscape well prepared for future high-density transit-oriented development planned for the surrounding area. Pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorists all benefit from these improvements. The original seven vehicle lanes were reduced to five to create space for the installation of on-street parking, class 2 bike lanes, and wider pedestrian sidewalks. New accessible pedestrian ramps were installed along with bulbouts and ornamental crosswalks at street intersections. A high-quality aesthetic environment was also created with additional landscape medians, sidewalk planter islands, street trees, decorative street lights with pedestrian scale fixtures, and wayfaring signage. The BART-Downtown Pedestrian Interface project is the first project to be implemented as part of the City’s Downtown Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Strategy. This strategy, created with a grant award from the MTC and Alameda County Transportation Improvement Authority (ACTIA), was unanimously approved by the San Leandro City Council on September 4, 2007. The TOD Strategy creates a long-term vision for how San Leandro can accommodate projected future growth while leveraging existing assets such as transit, the downtown core, surrounding neighborhoods and the San Leandro creek to create a vibrant and attractive downtown. The transformation of San Leandro Boulevard intended to achieve the following goals established by the City of San Leandro in its TOD Strategy: • Increase transit ridership through improved multi-modal accessibility and safety and the creation of a high-quality environment. • Enhance connections to downtown and the greater region. • Reduce vehicle miles traveled by San Leandro residents. • Promote pedestrian activity through improved station access and streetscape. The above goals are a seamless fit with both the recommendations of ‘Complete Streets’ as well as the project design which focused on facilitating access to the BART station for all modes of transport and improving its connection to Downtown San Leandro. As a seven-lane arterial, San Leandro Boulevard’s existing configuration acted as a barrier to effective pedestrian circulation. The TOD Strategy envisioned reducing its width and transforming it into a pedestrian-friendly seam joining BART and downtown, providing an attractive gateway to San Leandro. The segment of San Leandro Boulevard from Davis Street to Thornton Street completed under this project is one of the most critical links in the City’s TOD Strategy, as it is a barrier in the connectivity between downtown and transit. Implementing the recommendations of this strategy will achieve a downtown environment that is pedestrian-friendly with a mix of land uses and densities that promote transit ridership. Sustainable principals