The installation of a bike and pedestrian path barrier on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge’s Bike & Pedestrian Path begins this week, with crews starting work Tuesday from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., according to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC).
The work will continue each weeknight in October. The pathway is slated to open on the bridge’s upper deck heading westbound later this fall.
The $20 million project will deploy a moveable barrier similar to the one being used on the Golden Gate Bridge to separate traffic from the bike and pedestrian pathway.
Critics of the plan believe there should be an extra westbound vehicular lane, rather than a bike and pedestrian lane. Recently, a third eastbound lane was opened during peak commute hours to ease traffic congestion.
With a moveable barrier, there is opportunity in the future to remove the bike and pedestrian pathway to make way for cars in order to ease traffic, Marin County Supervisor Damon Connolly, a member of MTC’s Board of Directors, told KTVU-2.
The bike and pedestrian path will be the first such connection between the Marin County and the East Bay, MTC said.
