City offers traffic reduction plan for Alameda Point

The Planning Board took a first look Monday at a plan intended to blunt the traffic to and from Alameda Point by offering incentives to walk, bike, carpool and take public transit.

The Transportation Commission will offer its recommendation on the draft transportation demand management plan on April 23, and the City Council could approve it on May 19.

“The main goal of this plan is getting people onto transit, and out of vehicles during peak hours,” Alameda Point Chief Operating Officer Jennifer Ott told the board Monday.

The draft plan calls for a new agency to oversee the promotion, creation and implementation of transit and other programs designed to get solo drivers out of their cars. The new agency would be staffed by newly hired workers and funded by assessments paid by Point residents and businesses, along with parking fees and fines, grant money and other sources.

Long-term solutions for reducing traffic that are spelled out by the plan will cost about $2.4 million a year to operate, an amount that includes the cost of managing a host of city-run parking lots. Setting up that shared parking, along with parking meters and vehicles for enforcement officers, could top $27 million over time, the draft plan says.

Alameda’s general plan and additional planning documents for the Point require city leaders to find ways to reduce anticipated rush hour car trips generated by businesses by 30 percent; peak hour trips generated by residents must be 10 percent less than they’re expected to generate. City leaders anticipate building 1,425 new homes at the Point and creating as much as 5.5 million square feet of commercial space there.

Near-term services listed in the plan include shuttle service to BART’s 12th Street station in Oakland, car share and emergency ride home programs, along with the creation …read more

Source: Alameda News From The Alamedan