Not an Environmentally Sound Plan
While reducing carbon emissions is a commendable goal, The Richmond Street Complete Streets Improvement Project will have the opposite effect. Increased congestion, double-parking and drivers circling to find parking will result in higher greenhouse gas emissions. The assumption that bike lanes will significantly reduce car use is unfounded. If environmental sustainability is the objective, the City of El Cerrito should explore more effective measures that do not come at the expense of El Cerrito residents’ daily lives.
The Richmond Street Complete Streets Improvement Project
When implemented as proposed is
NOT GREEN!
Slower traffic equals more greenhouse gasses. Stop-and-go traffic reduces fuel efficiency and increases greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Congestion can occur when the flow of traffic exceeds the capacity of a roadway. This can lead to slower speeds, more stops and starts, and increased fuel consumption. The project increases traffic congestion, but its designers do not seem to care about the increase in pollution that goes hand in hand with it.
Drivers may feel inclined to take a longer, less direct route to avoid a congested Richmond Street. Provided the traffic count of 8,400 cars per day is accurate, this would massively increase carbon emissions, pollution and energy costs. In addition, other neighborhood streets would have to carry the burden of traffic that once used Richmond Street.
While you are circling the block in town, trawling the congested streets for a parking spot and getting increasingly irritated, you are also doing something else—polluting your environment. The ugly truth is that 30-40% of urban congestion in major cities is caused by people searching to park, going in circles sometimes for five minutes, sometimes for far longer. That is a lot of time and fuel spent on, in the case of Richmond Street, an unnecessary activity. When the plans as proposed are implemented, residents of Richmond Street and their visitors have to circle the area and potentially drive further away to find parking. This equals more greenhouse gasses.
Constricted roadways are likely to be blocked by delivery vehicles and ride-sharing services. This can cause traffic back-ups and idling. This equals more greenhouse gasses.
Drivers who are forced to double-park are more likely to leave their motors running. This also equals more greenhouse gasses.
In 2022 INRIX, a company specializing in traffic and transportation analytics, released a new study that examined and rated the economic implications of "parking agony." According to the survey, German drivers spend an average of 41 hours per year looking for the illusive parking spot, at a cost of €896 per driver in wasted time, fuel, and emissions, and €40.4 billion for the country as a whole. The study incorporated data from the INRIX parking database of 100,000 spots in 8,700 cities in more than 100 nations, with survey findings from nearly 18,000 drivers in the United States, United Kingdom and Germany.
Adding bike lanes to areas without neighborhood consent can leave them unused and unwanted by community members, furthering the separation between the city and its residents. This project is definitely not sustainable; it is a waste.
The construction of bike lanes comes with its own environmental costs, including resource use and emissions.
The City carelessly—or conveniently—omits the distinction between driving an electric car and driving a gasoline car. As part of the Advanced Clean Cars II regulations, all new passenger cars, trucks and SUVs sold in California will be zero-emission vehicles by 2035. This is in 10 years.
Conclusion: We cannot kill the climate to save the climate. Creating bike lanes at the cost of on-street parking is not green.
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