Berkeley Bicycle Plan

Adoption Date:

On May 2, 2017 the Berkeley City Council approved the Berkeley Bicycle Plan 2017. The vision of the Bicycle Plan is to make Berkeley a model bicycle-friendly city where bicycling is a safe, attractive, easy, and convenient form of transportation and recreation for people of all ages and bicycling abilities.

The Plan is the result of a robust public engagement process that included more than a dozen Open Houses and other public events as well as an innovative public survey that collected the opinions and preferences of more than 600 Berkeley residents. City staff, with consultant support, completed a “Level of Traffic Stress” analysis to better understand what bikeway improvements could encourage more people to bicycle in Berkeley. The resulting Plan recommends a core network of “Low Stress” bikeways, a continuous and connected system of safe and comfortable bikeways that serve all types of people riding bicycles in Berkeley. The core Low Stress network is part of a larger overall bikeway system in Berkeley that is supported by wayfinding signage, bike parking, a high standard of maintenance, and education, encouragement, and outreach programs.

The bikeway costs, prioritization, and design guidelines resources in the Plan will help City staff, the City Council, and the community to determine where to focus our energy within the range of recommended bicycle projects and programs.

The 2017 Bicycle Plan involved an extensive public engagement process which included two public open houses, regular updates to the Bicycle Subcommittee of the Transportation Commission, information tables at nearly a dozen local community events (e.g., farmers’ markets, street fairs), outreach at the 2015 and 2016 Bike to Work Day events, a project website with an ongoing comment page, and a bicycling preference survey. Over 1,000 comments were received throughout the process from gathering existing conditions through review of the public draft plan document.