On a Plain
Once the overall place of the General Plan and the Transportation Element are understood. The next step in coming to terms with the Transporation Master Plan is to understand the existing Transportation Element and how they apply to the streets. This posted is also located here as a Static Page, but I’ve pasted it below. In order to put the TMP proposals for a given street (or for the Island’s roadway system as a whole), it’s important to understand what the current policies propose.
So I present the first in what will amount to 4-6 pages on the TMP, hopefully in easily digestable bites:
Policies in the existing Alameda General Plan and Transportation Element
The City of Alameda General Plan defines itself not only as a reflection of existing conditions (at the time of its writing) but also as a plan for moving into the future.
“The General Plan establishes the City of Alameda’s development policies for the period 1990-2010. Its purpose is to guide residents, businesses, policymakers and elected officials in making choices about public and private activities that shape the City’s physical environment. The General Plan as an expression of community values serves as a marker, both for where the community finds itself today and where it hopes to be in the future.“
The General Plan identifies five key themes for all planning in Alameda:
- An island: …General Plan policies strengthen awareness of the City’s island setting by making the shoreline more visible and accessible.
- Small town feeling: …The City does not have or want tall buildings, freeways, highway commercial strips, or vast tracts of look-alike housing…
- Respect for history: …The General Plan emphasizes restoration and preservation as essential to Alameda’s economic and cultural environment.
- De-emphasis of the automobile: In a city where almost every street is a residential street, it is not surprising that increased traffic is seen as a major threat to the quality of life. The General Plan commits Alameda to vigorous support of transit improvements, ferry service, reduction of peak-hour use of single-occupant vehicles, and an enjoyable pedestrian environment.
- Multi-use development on the Northern Waterfront:
Charter cities are required to have seven elements in their General Plan, one of which is the “circulation element.” In Alameda, that element is called the Transportation Element and it sets out the framework for expectations on the appropriate use of Alameda’s roadways and identifies the planning framework for future changes and development.
From the existing 1990 Transportation Element:
“Because virtually every street in Alameda is a residential street, traffic is a major issue. After considering possible ways to avoid congestion by increasing the capacity of routes across the Main Island, participants at a General Plan workshop, the Planning Board, and the City Council rejected this solution. Alternatives to the single-occupant automobile, limiting street capacity, and new routes between I-880 Freeway and Bay Farm Island were seen as desirable alternatives.”
The Transportation Element quickly jumps into defining Alameda’s “street system”:
“Excepting South Shore and a portion of Fernside, the Main Island street system is a 19th-century grid featuring wide east-west boulevards that carried street car tracks and two north-south commercial streets — Webster Street and Park Street — that are the principal connections to the mainland. Recent construction of Constitution Way diverts traffic from Webster Street to Eighth Street. Traffic is dispersed because drivers have a choice of routes to most destinations. Bay Farm Island, most of which was planned in the 1970s, is dominated by landscaped arterial streets; access to homes is from collector streets and cul-de-sacs.”
The current policy divides streets into one of two classifications “Major and Minor” and then specifically states that traffic should be encouraged to use the Major streets :
Policy 4.1.a : Designate a system of major streets and minor streets as a basis for managing traffic to minimize intrusion in residential neighborhoods.
Policy 4.1.b: Encourage traffic within, to, and through Alameda to use the system of major streets by providing traffic control measures to ensure smooth flow.
Further guidance is given as to how to deal with traffic on the streets of Alameda in two more policies (the italicized text is included in the General Plan and carries no legal weight. However it does clarify the intent of the policy).
Policy 4.1.c: Do not increase through-traffic capacity on the Main Island.
Capacity increases would disrupt neighborhoods, would attract more traffic, and would dissuade pedestrians and bicyclists.
Policy 4.1.i: Develop a program to restrict through-traffic on minor streets where it becomes a problem for residents.
Techniques for restricting through-traffic include stop signs, speed limitations and physical alterations such as road narrowing, barricades and speed bumps.
Combined together, these policies make it clear that traffic “flow” is to be maintained on Major Streets (Policy 4.1.b) and that restrictions to through-traffic through the use of stop signs, speed bumps, etc. is reserved for Minor Streets (Policy 4.1.i).
Beyond these policies, there is very little specific guidance given in terms of how the roadways should be planned.
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