The Piedmont Public Works department is working on creating a Pedestrian and Bike Master Plan in order to promote more environmentally-friendly methods of transportation and make it safer for bikers and pedestrians.

Piedmont is the only city in Alameda County without a bike plan and one of two cities without a pedestrian plan. The state and county have been urging cities to adopt such plans to be more environmental and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Piedmont Planning Technician Janet Chang is the head coordinator of the project. She has been working on it since February.

“The plan is a document and its the first step of coming up with recommendations and strategies of how to make Piedmont more bikeable and walkable,” Chang said.

The plan allows them to apply for grant funding to implement the projects that will be outlined in the plan. They applied for a grant through the Alameda County Transportation Commission, which they received in September.

“It’s a very collaborative process so we are trying to engage the community and we had people write in during the grant process, we asked people for letters of support and so we got 120 letters,” Chang said.

Once they got the funding, they started working directly on the plan by looking at assessment needs.

“When we actually started the plan, we had a community workshop in October when people came– around 40 people– people were able to identify places that they thought needed attention for bicycle and pedestrian improvements,” she said.

They also released an online survey where people were able to answer questions about how much the currently walk and bike for commuting and for recreation, as well as indicate some areas that they think need improvement.

With the needs assessment part of the project now complete, they are now working with a consultant, Niko Letunic of Eisen Letunic, who will generate a list of possible improvements from the needs specified.

From there, they will present the improvement options to the public to see whether or not they adequately address the problems discussed in the needs assessment process. They will be holding another public workshop in mid-February where residents can look at improvement options and prioritize them.

After they get the public’s opinion, Letunic will make a more finalized list of improvements and draft an implementation strategy, which Chang is hoping will be adopted by the Piedmont City Council by July.

Piedmont resident Tim Rood attended one of the workshops to discuss pedestrian and bike needs. He has been very vocal about green transportation, as he is the co-chair of Piedmont Connect, a local grassroots environmental group, which organizes Bike to Work Day.

“I have been advocating for Piedmont to develop a pedestrian and bicycle master plan for the last 3 years,” he said. “I founded and lead the Green Transportation interest group.”

Rood has been biking to work for over 15 years. He said part of the reason his family moved to Piedmont was because it is so walkable.

Rood said he supports the implementation of the plan because it will make walking and biking in Piedmont safer.

“The plan will guide Piedmont’s investments in safer streets over the years to come,” he said. “By evaluating needs and conditions citywide, the plan will provide a process for setting set priorities in a sensible way.”

Senior Smith Levi agrees that the city could make biking in Piedmont safer. Sometimes biking can be dangerous because cars often don’t pay attention to bicycles, he said.

“The biggest issue is the ‘right hook’; when a car makes a right turn when a bike is next to the car, forcing them into the inside of the turn,” Levi said. “That’s one issue that Piedmont faces. I’ve been stuck in that position twice this year, once by a police officer.”

Chang said one of the bicycle improvements that would be included in the plan is creating a bicycle network.

“[We are determining] which areas need bike lanes, bike routes, and bike racks, because Piedmont is really steep and the topography is different from other cities, and so coming up with a bicycle network will help bikers in Piedmont identify which routes they will take when traveling through the city or going from place to place,” she said.

They also hope that through the plan they will be able to increase awareness about sharing the road with bikers.

“[Other improvements are] things that help people with safety, like teaching people how to drive with bicyclists on the road, or how to ride a bike, and other programs that encourage walking and biking,” Chang said.

“The biggest issue is people not being aware of bicycles. I think the biggest thing that Piedmont could do would be to paint a big green strip down highland for bicyclists like on 40th street,” Levi said. “This increases awareness of bicycles and boost contrast between the cyclist and the road making them more visible.”