Page One

An open letter to Mayor Shirley Dean and members of the Berkeley City Council: 

Sometime in 2001, Council will dedicate a new landmark in Berkeley for generations to come – the pedestrian/bicycle bridge over I-80. This month, however, is when you must select which design features of the I-80 overcrossing will be added to the construction contract you recently awarded. Decisions made now will determine whether the bridge is a pedestrian-friendly gateway that welcomes people to our city and its waterfront or merely a very expensive steel arch whose design flaws make it difficult and uncomfortable to use. 

Over a year of extensive research went into the bridge’s design phase to guarantee it would attract users and be safe and pleasant for them. Similar structures from around the world were analyzed for their design successes and failures. Simple design features were identified to make the project function best for the user. A team of internationally known architects, landscape architects, and engineers was hired to translate these guidelines into a unified whole. 

In preparing the construction drawings, however, many of these basic user features were stripped from the contract as it became evident that the engineers had significantly underestimated the cost to build the bridge structure they had recommended. The original budget of $3,100,000 has already ballooned 70 percent to $5,270,584. More troubling is that even this new funding level has been met only by the elimination of exactly those features which will make the bridge a success for its intended visitors. 

The main entry staircases have disappeared, adding nearly a mile for the pedestrian making a round trip. The landscaping plan to soften the massive structure’s impacts on the two parks is entirely gone. Any place to sit down along the 1/3 mile pathway has been dropped. Even the bridge entryways are no longer deemed to be part of the project. Walkers and cyclists will arrive in our shoreline park at a patch of bare dirt. Those coming from the Bay Trail will be greeted to Berkeley by an odd conglomeration of old roadbed, an abandoned traffic island, and a parking lot – rather than by a landscaped plaza with terraced seating overlooking the dramatic view of the lagoon in Aquatic Park. 

This dysfunctional design does not have to be the face you present to the world when you dedicate the bridge. For a fractional increase of the total budget, you can build the project the people of Berkeley want. You must look closely at those features which have been stripped from the contract and decide which ones must be added as change orders. Direct staff to identify suitable funding strategies. Don’t let bad planning ruin a landmark that will stand for a hundred years as your legacy. 

Gail Keleman, Parks & Recreation Commission 

Paul Kamen, Vice-chair Waterfront Commission 

D. Mark Abrahams, Transportation Commission 

Zasa Swanson, President Berkeley Partners for Parks 

Dave Campbell, President Bicycle Friendly Berkeley Coalition 

Mark Liolios, Past President 1998 Berkeley Partners for Parks 

Key issues city needs to address 

Staircases 

• Direct access routes to bridge removed 

• Greatly reduces bridge functionality for pedestrians 

• Round trip to bridge's viewing deck now 1/2 mile instead of single staircase 

• Round trip to bay shoreline nearly a mile longer 

• Awkward connection to points south 

• Loss of important safety feature – quick alternate exit from lengthy ramping 

Landscaping 

• All trees and shoreline planting at site in Aquatic Park will be removed to build ramps, columns, and roadbed 

• Massive berms to support bridge ramping will become primary landscaping feature seen by everyone entering Berkeley or passing through 

• Without landscaping, long ramping on multiple concrete columns will destroy scenery in both parks 

• Proposed hydro-seeding of ground cover has already failed at this site 

• Will encourage pedestrians to make shortcuts down hillsides 

• Without irrigation, invasive non-natives such as thistles and kikuyu will colonize the site and be impossible to eradicate 

• Adding landscaping at a later date may triple its cost 

Seating/Rest Areas 

• One-way crossing is a third of a mile long 

• Pedestrians need clearly delineated spaces in which to rest along the way 

• There is no seating anywhere along the entire route 

Berming against retaining wall 

• Simple landscaping solution can soften impact of large concrete retaining wall. 

• Without berming, wall is a permanent graffiti billboard 

Entryway plazas 

• Much of ramping and span will be stark and pedestrian unfriendly 

• Two plazas are the gateways to Berkeley and its shoreline park 

• Aquatic Park entryway could provide simple terraced seating down to the water 

• Opportunity to feature views of two parks 

• Should have kiosks with maps to nearby destinations 

• Lighting standards should be pedestrian-friendly