The segment of Adeline St. From Market to Stanford is routinely used as drag strip by drivers in cars with obnoxiously loud exhaust and stereos. In addition to the breakneck speeding, there are frequent sideshow style donut sessions as evidenced by the tire marks at intersections. The City needs to redesign Adeline Street from the Emeryville border to the Stanford intersection as shown in the bicycle masterplan. In this thorough redesign, traffic calming measures should be a high priority.

Please note that there is an already approved plan for a road diet on Adeline from the Emeryville border all the way up to Stanford, which will bring the street down to one lane each direction with buffered bike lanes on the side. As part of this plan existing crosswalks will also likely be upgraded, but new ones could potentially be added via Oakland's "crosswalk decision matrix" flow chart document.

The intersection of Adeline and Market will also be getting an extensive safety overhaul, shrinking the road space by extending the sidewalk bulbouts considerably, while also realigning the crosswalks to make it easier to get from one side to the other.

Additional treatments are also welcome, but all of the planned improvements coming in 2014 should have a significant impact on traffic speeds.

I definitely agree that there should be a stop sign installed on the southeast corner of 61st and Adeline (right next to Driver Park). Heading west on 61st and making a right onto northbound Adeline (or a left onto southbound Adeline) is difficult and dangerous due to poor visibility from parked cars and the high speed northbound traffic on Adeline. A stop sign at this corner would be prudent and safe for pedestrians and bikers.

Placement of a stop sign here should be a top priority if there is an already approved plan for traffic calming.

Also...regarding that approved plan...what is the timing to implement? Or will this plan languish in local politics with no defined implementation date?

Here is a design document for the Adeline Street bike lanes coming in 2014, although some changes have been made since this was published in May 2012, mostly around the Adeline/Market intersection where the additional bike/pedestrian safety project is also being implemented:

http://www2.oaklandnet.com/oakca1/groups/pwa/documents/agenda/oak034852.pdf

Thanks for the link. However it doesn't show any stop sign at the location I indicated. Even with traffic narrowed to a single lane in both directions it still makes a turn from 61st onto Adeline, particularly a left onto Adeline pretty difficult and dangerous.

Do you know if there are opportunities to revise or modify this plan to accommodate such a request? I didn't see any stops along this stretch beyond the current traffic lights. Cars can still generate a good head of steam before merging with Stanford, so a stop sign here would be pretty effective at slowing things down.

The plans for Adeline that I referred to only go as far north as 61st Street, whereas it sounds like the issue the original post was about is related to the crosswalk over Stanford connecting to 62nd Street, as the sharp intersection between Adeline and Stanford means drivers are indeed looking far to the left and behind themselves instead of toward the crosswalk ahead.

The crosswalk over Adeline just north of 61st will likely get upgraded to a ladder-style crossing, but since this is just a striping project new stop signs are not included as they require a warrant and a different process for installation.

You might try contacting OPD to see if they have any collision reports at that location, which would bolster a community request for a stop sign installation there. Sending this request to your city council person along with any collision data might get the ball rolling.

I'm the original poster and i was meaning at the corner of 61st not 62nd.

Thanks for the clarification Nick, although I personally see the crosswalk at 62nd as much more dangerous than the one at 61st, as from my experience drivers are typically still looking straight ahead until they get closer to Stanford. Also, the crosswalk at 62nd is open obscured by all the vans parked at the curb, whereas there is no parking obscuring the sight lines at the crosswalk at 61st.

I'd be interested to see what effect the already approved road diet and upgraded crosswalks will have on speeds before moving ahead with a stop sign at that location.

Adeline @ 61st is definitely more of a pressing concern and an achievable goal as the whole park area is rather a charlie-foxtrot of traffic engineering.

One is required to look over one's shoulder at a very sharp angle when merging with traffic on Stanford. Traffic on Stanford is preparing for its adjustment at the traffic signal @ MLK as well as watching the crosswalk @ 62nd.

This means that anyone not creating yet another hazard by stopping completely is driving (and likely accelerating) without looking in the direction they're traveling.

A large scale plan that may or may not ever be realized would yield nearly the same benefits as a $2,400[1] stop sign.

[1] http://clerkwebsvr1.oaklandnet.com/attachments/20440.pdf

Is a traffic study warranted at Adeline/King/Stanford? Shouldn't the City of Berkeley be involved? Maybe BPD could coordinate patrols with OPD at the park.

Nick, we've been discussing the stop sign at 61st but Robert has a point about a stop sign at the merge. That would still slow traffic as they pass 61st since they'll need to stop right after but it also has the cars starting slowly right before the crosswalk at 62nd. I cross the 62nd Street crosswalk often and I always have to be careful peeking around the VW buses before stepping out.

Robert, do you have a link to the plans for the improvements at the Adeline/Market/57th intersection?

Three developments since that plan was approved do include a significant demand for on-street parking.

1) The units at the SE corner of Adeline @ 61 are all on-street parking (there are a couple pro-forma parking spots on the plan submitted to the city

2) The Buslab staff park a large number of their WIP and stock(?) on the streets.

3) People started parking along the park for the Tuesday market and some drivers have continued that practice on a regular basis.

All of these reduce the visibility per Nick's comment. Reasonable people in a reasonable frame of mind do slow down and do their best to be vigilant, but it's a confusing bit of interaction.

One of the other things I have noted is the short one-way stretch of Adeline north of 61 is a conduit for wrong-way traffic. Because of the risk, drivers making a left from Stanford @ 62 will speed through southbound. This happens 2-10 times per day, distributed more in the evenings.

I think the plan is a lovely idea, but the area is changing rather quickly. Small adjustments now are an addition to the plan, not a replacement.

The other post about turning onto Adeline from 61st is correct. Vision is blocked by parked cars. That's one reason I prefer the stop sign at 61st. Also, a sign at 62nd would not slow down traffic already on Stanford. Finally , the 61st junction feels more compressed and more heavily traveled. Cars would still speed through there on the way to 62nd. My two cents. Cheers!