Residents at OPDC’s March Let’s Talk meeting discuss ideas for improving bike and pedestrian safety on Bates Street.
Oakland is dense and walkable, and many of our residents do not use cars to get around. It’s also home to busy streets where cars, buses, shuttles, and bicycles all compete for access. Safe sidewalks, street crossings, bike lanes, and access to transit are incredibly important here.
We’re always mindful of the old saying, if you’re a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. Delivering safer streets in Oakland is never simple or straightforward: problems have multiple causes, and solving those problems requires coordinated effort among stakeholders and agencies that each have different tools to offer. Over the last several months, we’ve convened conversations to ensure resident concerns are reaching the right ears at the city and our neighborhood institutions.
Bike Pittsburgh leads residents on a pedestrian and bike safety assessment and walk through West Oakland.
Some of these issues — like those that Pitt Safe Streets and Pitt Urban Planning are highlighting on Bates Stret — are about street design and public infrastructure. At our March Let’s Talk, students and long-term residents came together to talk about their experiences trying to cross Bates, noting where visibility is poor and traffic flow is chaotic. We’re coordinating with Oakland Transportation Management Association, the Department of City Planning, and the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure to prioritize and tackle the problem intersections and enforcement challenges Oakland neighbors highlighted.
Other pedestrian safety issues — like those West Oakland residents have raised for years about Robinson, Darragh, and Terrace Streets — are as much about the ways Oakland’s institutions manage their employees and clients coming into Oakland, as they are about street design and infrastructure. We’re supporting DOMI to work with Pittsburgh Regional Transit and emergency services about changes to traffic flow on Fifth Avenue, and we’re putting together transportation demand management planners from UPMC, Carlow, and Pitt to work proactively with DOMI to coordinate their forecasting and strategies. We continue to support West Oakland residents to be present in these conversations, because there are no good solutions without a clear definition of the problems, and it’s lived experience that best informs that analysis.
OPDC’s 2025-2030 strategic plan calls for building social connections that support a thriving intergenerational community. We will continue to create space and opportunity for neighbors to work together to develop plans that are responsive, creative, and inclusive. For more information, or to share your Oakland pedestrian safety concerns, contact Liz Gray at 412.335.0933 or email questions@opdc.org.
