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Mayor Jesse Arreguín and the City's Planning Department have announced a series of "community open houses" this week, regarding three alternatives for reconfiguring (narrowing) Adeline Street from Ashby BART to the Oakland border. 

This schedule lists several daytime drop-in hours, some evening hours, and a few specific themed sessions. All are at the Ed Roberts Campus adjoining Ashby BART. The don't-miss session should be "Redesigning the Right-of-Way," on Saturday March 17 from 12–1:30 pm, including “Q&A...lead [sic] by the Planning Team". You can RSVP at the link above, or at (510) 981-7409. 

Apparently in the works for three years, all three alternatives would remove mixed-use traffic lanes from Adeline, to add bike lanes and green space at the sides or center. The drawings look pretty, but if you've been anywhere near the chaos caused by the far-smaller "downtown BART plaza improvement project" over the last 18 months, multiply that chaotic experience to imagine the years of construction disruption, congestion, noise, and pedestrian and cycling hazards/inconveniences involved in making sausage on anything like this scale. 

At the link above, be sure to scroll down to "Option (C) Key Route." This Option includes its own remarkable "Option to close Adeline between MLK and Ashby for flea market and special events on weekends." If you were anywhere around South Berkeley during last year's Juneteenth weekend, you've already experienced the congestion, cut-through traffic, and general mess propagated by completely blocking Adeline, ever. 

To conserve your time at any of these sessions, first visit this page, where you'll find links to the actual proposed street changes, plus associated promotional pitches from the sponsoring City department.