Bike advocates hoped a plan to limit access to the Richmond bridge would die. It didn’t

Clarification: An earlier version of this article neglected to point out an important change in the proposed bike lane limitations. The plan would allow the bike lane to eventually be used as an high-occupancy vehicle lane part-time.

In 2019, after almost a year of being unemployed, Richmond resident Carlos Torres finally got a job offer at a San Rafael plumbing supply company.

The job, however, came with a caveat: He would have to cross the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge.

He was willing to make the drive across the busy commute thoroughfare for the 5:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. shift, but right before his first day, he found out his car needed repairs he couldn’t afford at the time.

“So I had this new job and no car to get me there,” Torres, who now works for Rich City Rides, told Richmondside in an email. “My saving grace was that I was able to buy a used bicycle and ride across the bridge in the early morning hours.”

Although describing that time as “cold, sad days,” Torres said that thanks to the bridge bike path he was able to get to work and get back on his own two feet.

“Without the trail, I don’t think I would be where I am today,” he said.

On both sides of the bridge, local cyclists and pedestrian advocates are bracing themselves for the possibility of a future of reduced access to the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge bike path.

After a number of postponements, a highly anticipated vote to determine the path’s future is expected to happen Thursday at the Bay Area Conservation and Development Commission’s (BCDC) meeting in San Francisco.

Bridge bike lane

Richmond bridge bike lane access to be reduced starting this fall

The vote was initially scheduled to take place in March but was delayed multiple times, a decision that was initially celebrated by bicycle and pedestrian advocates. Officials seeking to alter how often the trail is open to help alleviate traffic congestion had until July 12 to put a proposal back on the BCDC’s agenda or it would have been permanently withdrawn, according to a letter sent by the transportation agencies seeking the lane restriction.

Initially the proposed lane changes would have kept the lane for emergencies only — not for traffic to use. Now the Caltrans and the Bay Area Transit Authority are considering using the lane as a part-time HOV lane from Regatta Boulevard across the bridge to encourage commuters to carpool or take buses.

Since its debut as a pilot project in 2019, cyclists and pedestrians have had access to a 10-foot-wide path on the bridge’s north side, separated from traffic by a moveable concrete barrier. According to Metropolitan Transit Commission (MTC) data, there have been ​​413,889 bike trips across the bridge since it opened and 60,003 pedestrian crossings.

The pilot’s modification, which was initially submitted by the MTC and Caltrans to the BCDC in 2024, is calling for the bike path to be reduced from its current 24/7 model to Thursday afternoons through Sundays. The goal is to provide the transportation agencies with a three-year period to collect information about emergency response times and delays related to incidents on the bridge.

The plan would also provide cyclists with a free shuttle service between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. on days when the path is closed.

Bike advocates say bridge limitations don’t provide “maximum public access” to shoreline

Dani Lanis, Bike East Bay advocacy manager, said that he believes that the new plan has not changed substantially since it was pulled off the BCDC agenda earlier this year and goes against the agency’s principle of providing “maximum feasible public access” to the bay’s shoreline.

“The current trail closure proposal doesn’t meet that standard,” Lanis told Richmondside in an email. “Before the previous meeting postponement in April, BCDC staff were planning to recommend against the MTC and Caltrans’ trail closure proposal for this reason.”

The proposed bridge lane restrictions have been opposed since 2024 by the West Contra Costa Transportation Commission — which represents all five cities of western Contra Costa County — and by the Richmond, Albany and Berkeley city councils. Local pro-bicycling organizations, such as Rich City Rides, have also opposed it.

“This path connects communities that have historically been disconnected, and reducing access sends the wrong message about who our transportation systems are meant to serve,” Rich City director Najari Smith told Richmondside in an email. “Dismantling access to this path moves us backward on every front — climate justice, public health, and equity.” 

A May 2024 report by UC Berkeley’s California Partners for Advanced Transportation Technology (PATH) said that the bike lane’s impact on bridge traffic has been minimal, with westbound drivers experiencing less than one minute of additional travel time despite the reduced vehicle capacity.

Bruce Beyaert, chair of the Trails for Richmond Action Committee (TRAC), told Richmondside that he believes the upcoming Richmond-San Rafael Forward project, scheduled to replace toll booths with open-road tolling by summer 2026, and the effort by the MTC to extend the HOV lane will relieve traffic congestion for drivers coming from the Richmond side.

“The biggest problem is the approach to the bridge,” he said. “Those improvements are going to make a big difference.”

Opposition to the bridge bike path by motorists and business associations in the public comments submitted to the BCDC have been especially critical of it, revealing deep divisions over the bike path’s impact on traffic safety and congestion.

Ron McRobbie of San Rafael criticized the proposal as “smoke & mirrors,” arguing that allowing the bike path to remain as it is “will not ease the westbound commute and related negative environmental impacts” and called for the bike lane to be removed completely. He also questioned the costs and complexity of moving barriers twice weekly to accommodate the proposed Thursday afternoons through Sundays model.

Douglas Williams, a Richmond-based consulting engineer who has worked on Bay Area bridges, raised security concerns about the unmonitored bike path, calling it “highly vulnerable to terrorist sabotage,” citing a 19-hour bridge closure in July 2023 when someone experiencing a mental health crisis had to be rescued by emergency responders after getting onto the bridge via the bike lane.

Mill Valley resident John Orofino urged commissioners to “vote yes to approve the return to normalcy on the bridge,” citing concerns about delays affecting businesses and emergency response.

The revised proposal has garnered some support from business organizations representing employees who use the bridge.

The Richmond Chamber of Commerce endorsed the proposed path limitations, with Executive Director Vernon Whitmore stating in his public comment that the current configuration has led to an increase in traffic incidents during weekday morning commutes.

“These delays disproportionately affect people of color in Richmond who rely on predictable travel times to meet rigid work schedules,” Whitmore wrote, emphasizing that many affected workers are “essential workers — educators, healthcare professionals, tradespeople, public employees, and service workers — who cannot work remotely.”

Reports show that the weekday peak travel times became less predictable as the barrier has prevented disabled vehicles from being moved out of the flow of traffic. And the lane itself is not being heavily used, as the MTC report from Nov. 5, 2024 said the path averaged only 140 daily bicycle trips on weekdays compared to 360 on weekends and holidays, adding that the majority of riders (85%) use the path for recreation and exercise, while just 15% use it for commuting.

One of those commuters is 20-year Point Richmond resident Bart Hackworth.

Hackworth, a captain for the Golden Gate Transit ferry, said he began using the bike path when it opened to get over the bridge for work. Even before that, when he lived in Marin, it was important for him to not use his car if he didn’t have to, choosing to bicycle to San Francisco for work.

“Pretty much I’ve used it to get to work on most days,” he said. “For me, I’m in the business of transportation, mass transit, public transit and (I support) the whole idea of giving drivers an alternative to get off the road and get to work a different way.”

Hackworth added that, although a shuttle would be available, the schedule wouldn’t work for him.

“If they close this bike path that’ll wipe out Monday through Thursday for me,” he said. “I have to be at work at 5:30 a.m. and the van service starts at 6 a.m. so that won’t work. The earliest bus is 5:45 a.m. leaving Richmond so that won’t work. So essentially, I’ll be back in my car (if this gets approved).”

Torres said that if the lane access is limited,  it will have an even worse impact on commuters who don’t have vehicles, as he once did.

“Regardless of what people think are ‘regular work hours,’ closing down the trail and not having a way for folks that don’t have a working car to get across the bridge means you’re shutting down work opportunities, educational opportunities and healthcare opportunities,” he said. “That is the decision that the BCDC is facing right now.”