Richmond Parkway drivers will see some road safety improvements as the city moves forward with a plan to use millions in unspent funds on paving and street work.
The city council voted 4-3 Tuesday in favor of the roadwork plan after District 3 council member Doria Robinson pulled the item from the consent calendar for discussion. Typically, the council’s consent calendar is for non-controversial items that are passed en masse.
Robinson and Districts 5 and 6 council members Sue Wilson and Claudia Jimenez dissented while Mayor Eduardo Martinez voted yes alongside Jamelia Brown, Cesar Zepeda and Soheila Bana, the three council members who usually don’t vote in sync with those affiliated with the Richmond Progressive Alliance, as Martinez is.
The vote comes after the city passed a resolution in March that allocated $6.2 million of $8.2 million in unspent 2024-2025 fiscal year funds for “complete streets” improvements, with the remaining amount earmarked for unhoused intervention, pension obligation and environmental monitoring at Point Molate.
Robinson questioned why nearly a third of the money ($2 million) was for the Richmond Parkway and said that she was under the impression that the March vote meant the money would be spent addressing “day-to-day” traffic safety issues in residential neighborhoods.
“I thought that was a great way to invest these monies because we get so many complaints from people around traffic safety issues,” Robinson said. “It is the most consistent complaint when you go knocking on doors. So I was alarmed when I saw that a third of the money was going to be applied to the Richmond Parkway which is not going to address these issues.”
City officials says the ‘high-injury’ corridor’ needs the work done
In recent years, the city has addressed street safety in high-trafficked areas via “traffic calming” measures at certain intersections.
Public Works Director Daniel Chavarria defended the decision to allocate funding for Richmond Parkway paving and street improvements because it is a “high-injury corridor.” He also added that the $2 million would include improvements along the seven parkway intersections: San Pablo Avenue, Blume Drive, Lakeside Drive, Hensley Street, Goodrick Avenue, Hilltop Drive and Barrett Avenue.
Chavarria said city traffic collision data shows that about 7% of Richmond’s reported collisions happen along the Richmond Parkway.
According to the Richmond Parkway Transportation Plan by the West Contra Costa
Transportation Commission, from 2011 to 2020 there were 322
traffic collisions on the corridor that resulted in injury, including 25 fatalities.
The roadway, built in the 1990s as a bypass, is a major link between I-80 and I-580 and is a primary route connecting to the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge and serving “many functions of regional and local importance,” according to the transportation plan. It’s a goods movement (truck and rail) corridor connecting to the Port of Richmond; it has local industrial uses; it’s a regional commuter corridor; it’s a critical segment of the San Francisco Bay Trail, a 500-mile long regional walking and biking path network looping around San Francisco Bay; and it connects to the Richmond Parkway Transit Center served by AC Transit and WestCAT.
“The idea is that we are going to (traffic) stripe the entire Richmond Parkway in the jurisdiction of Richmond which is going to enhance visibility and improve traffic safety,” Chavarria said. “Because Richmond Parkway is a long stretch, the price is that high.”
Council member says Carlson Boulevard should be a priority
Although Jimenez said she understands the parkway project is necessary, she questioned how those improvements were prioritized over other locations.
In recent years, the city has said it prioritizes street projects requested by residents based on criteria from existing evaluations of streets in the city’s Local Road Safety and Bicycle Pedestrian Action plans.
“We created a street-calming program where there are so many intersections,” Jimenez said, admitting that she is frustrated. “I’m not saying that this isn’t important and I know you are the engineers but I want answers about when the other parts are coming. We have been talking about this list and what I see is just 18 projects from many years ago.”
Jimenez was referring to the council’s initial 18 traffic-calming projects that were completed last year.
Robinson said she believes certain areas, such as Carlson Boulevard north of Cutting Boulevard, are also “high-risk.”
“That’s where at least two fatal accidents have happened,” Robinson said.
“I feel like there is this issue that keeps happening where if you don’t put any energy into making a plan to address something then it is never shovel-ready,” Robinson pushed back. “If we only focus elsewhere then these locations that have similar or greater need, because we haven’t done the work to prep them to be ready, will never be ready.”
Robinson, who is seeking reelection to a second term on the council in the June primary, added that it is “frustrating” that she has been trying to follow city staff’s lead and “trust the process.”
“But I’ve also seen a pattern where we have serious issues because we are not putting the energy in to create a plan for them, they are not ready so then other things go first that are ready,” Robinson said.
Chavarria said the Richmond Parkway improvements are not about whether one project is better than the other but about what can be done right now on certain projects with limited staffing and projects in different stages of planning and construction. (The city recently hired a senior transportation planner and had another staffer return from leave.) Josef Munoz, capital improvement project manager, said that the city is attempting to address the problem area of Carlson in the city’s Carlson Crosstown Project’s second phase, which is set to begin construction later this year.
“What I don’t see is us addressing those zones,” Robinson said. “We are putting all these things on a list that sits there.”
