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Editor: 

To make Bus Rapid Transit work, we should remove cars from Telegraph between Bancroft and Dwight.  

We can do this without tangling up traffic if we make Dwight Way two-way, instead of making Durant two-way as the southside traffic study recommends. 

The MTC has approved funding for a Bus Rapid Transit line that would run from San Leandro to downtown Oakland, on Telegraph Ave. to the UC Campus, and around the campus to downtown Berkeley. BRT would cut the time the bus currently takes by about a third, by providing bus-only lanes, by allowing buses to preempt traffic signals, and by taking other measures to speed up buses. 

What do we want to happen when the bus-only lane on Telegraph reaches Dwight Way?  

Do we want the buses to fight with the current traffic on Telegraph, which is sometimes so congested that you can walk faster than people drive? 

To make Bus Rapid Transit effective, we should close Telegraph to cars between Bancroft and Dwight, and allow only buses, delivery vehicles, and service and emergency vehicles to drive there. 

As Mayor Dean has said, we should be careful to do this in a way that does not cause congestion. Currently, traffic does become congested when we close Telegraph for street fairs, because all the traffic is routed up 

Dwight Way and congests the southside streets above Telegraph. 

Making Dwight two-way would reduce congestion by dispersing traffic.  

When drivers on Telegraph reach Dwight, some would go up Dwight, and some would go down Dwight and continue north through downtown.  

This would give drivers a more direct north-bound route than they now have when Telegraph is closed for street fairs. 

Making Dwight two-way would also reduce traffic in the Claremont and Elmwood neighborhoods. Traffic that begins near campus above Telegraph would be able to drive down Dwight and travel south on Telegraph, rather than driving through the Waring-Belrose corridor, as they do now. 

The southside traffic study has shown that we can close Telegraph to cars and convert two of the one-way streets to two-way traffic. There are obvious benefits to converting Bancroft and Dwight to two-way traffic, instead of Bancroft and Durant. 

Charles Siegel 

Berkeley