For the last two years, Livermore, California, has been welcoming pedestrian safety improvements along East Avenue. Utilizing low-cost, short-term methods to visually calm traffic and catalyze long-term change—a strategy known as tactical urbanism—has allowed locals to expedite long-requested interventions to the corridor.
While the road has long possessed a reputation for being unsafe, particularly at night, the recent initiative was catalyzed by the death of Yaneli Morales, who was fatally struck by a car while crossing East Avenue in 2019. Her family launched a petition calling for small improvements that would make a big difference for pedestrians: better lighting, speed bumps, and improved visibility. “This is something that I believe has to get done right away so no other families have to mourn the loss of a loved one,” the petition stated, adding that safety improvements shouldn’t be limited to one intersection but implemented throughout Livermore.
Livermore engaged Street Plans to help materialize a bike lane on East Avenue. Early on, Street Plans recognized that the foundational question being asked was not the most appropriate one given the residents’ needs. The first step was engaging the community and asking them what they want out of the corridor design.
The question to ask is not whether we can fit bike lanes here. That’s an engineering question and this is not an engineering problem. What we have is a design problem.
Tony Garcia, Street Plans Principal
Please visit thegoodmenproject.com for the full article. (by Asia Mieleszko, June 2023)
And checkout out Tactical East Avenue for more project details.