Background
The Franklin Street Complete Streets Project will repurpose one lane of vehicle traffic on Franklin Street from 11th Street to Broadway to narrow this high-speed roadway, calm traffic, install pedestrian safety improvements, and implement and the City's 2019 Bicycle Plan recommendation for separated bike lanes on Franklin Street between 11th Street and 22nd Street/Broadway. Importantly, this project will go beyond the Bike Plan recommendation to add two-way bicycle connectivity on this one-way northbound thoroughfare, and will extend this two-way cycletrack down 22nd Street to connect to Telegraph Avenue. Once complete, this project will form a central spine of pedestrian and bicycle connectivity north/south through Downtown Oakland, connecting the protected bike lane/pedestrian corridor projects on Telegraph Avenue, 20th Street, 14th Street, and the TEMPO BRT lanes on 11th and 12th Streets.
OakDOT is currently working to secure construction funding for this project via an Active Transportation Program grant application in June 2024.
Project Rationale
OakDOT prioritizes roadway safety improvements based on safety needs, coordination with other projects, and geographic location in high-equity priority neighborhoods. With a dense concentration of vehicle collisions on Franklin Street, this street is on the City's High Injury Network (HIN) which represents the 6% of Oakland's streets that account for over 60% of severe and fatal crashes. Repurposing a lane of travel on Franklin will shorten pedestrian crossing distances, slow vehicle speeds, and allow less opportunity for reckless driving/speeding. These improvements will target aggressive speeding which led to vehicles crashing into Wise Sons Deli (Franklin and 17th Streets) two times in 2023 and 2022.
This project bisects two of Oakland's Highest Equity Priority Census Tracts per the City's Geographic Equity Toolbox, which takes several demographic factors into account to target investment in the highest-need neighborhoods in the City. This project will connect to several ongoing projects including the 14th Street Safety Project, the 19th Street BART to Lake Merritt Urban Greenway Project (on 20th Street), and the Telegraph Avenue KONO Corridor Project. These connections will form a complete grid of slow, calm streets in Downtown Oakland that are prioritized for people walking, biking and taking transit. This grid of connected streets will allow residents of these high-equity priority neighborhoods to travel safely around and into/out of Downtown Oakland.
Schedule
- Outreach - 2021 to current, ongoing stakeholder outreach in Spring 2024
- Design - ongoing (see 15% designs linked below)
- Construction - Pending grant funding, (estimated 2028-29)
