California Legislature—2015–16 First Extraordinary Session

Assembly Bill No. 9

Introduced by Assembly Member Levine

(Coauthors: Assembly Members Baker, Bonilla, Bonta, Thurmond, and Wood)

(Coauthors: Senators Allen and McGuire)

August 17, 2015

An act to add Section 30910.8 to the Streets and Highways Code, relating to the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 9, as introduced, Levine. Richmond-San Rafael Bridge.

Existing law specifies the powers and duties of the Department of Transportation, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, and the Bay Area Toll Authority with respect to the collection and expenditure of toll revenue from the 7 state-owned toll bridges within the geographic jurisdiction of the commission, including the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge.

This bill would require the department, immediately, or as soon as practically feasible, but no later than September 30, 2015, to implement an operational improvement project that temporarily restores the third eastbound lane on State Highway Route 580 from the beginning of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge in the County of Marin to Marine Street in the County of Contra Costa to automobile traffic and that temporarily converts a specified portion of an existing one-way bicycle lane along the north side of State Highway Route 580 in the County of Contra Costa into a bidirectional bicycle and pedestrian lane. The bill would require the department to keep the temporary lanes in place until the department has completed a specified project relating to the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge or until construction activity for that project necessitates removal of the temporary lanes.

This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Vote: ²⁄₃. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

(a) The Richmond-San Rafael Bridge opened
on September 1, 1956. At the time of construction, the bridge was
one of the longest bridges in the world and was constructed at a
cost of $62 million.

(b) The initial construction, with the help of additional funding
provided by the state (Chapter 159 of the Statutes of 1955),
provided for the construction of six 12-foot-wide lanes. The six
lanes were initially comprised of three lanes in both the eastbound
and westbound directions.

(c) In 1977, the then little-used third lane on the Richmond-San
Rafael Bridge was closed to allow for a pipeline to transport eight
million gallons of water a day from the East Bay Municipal Utility
District to drought-stricken Marin County. In 1978, the pipeline
was removed and the third lane was restriped as an emergency
shoulder.

(d) In 1989, following the Loma Prieta earthquake and the
closure of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge from October
17 to November 18, inclusive, the third lane on the Richmond-San
Rafael Bridge was opened in both the eastbound and westbound
directions to help ease traffic flow across the bay.

(e) The possibility of permanently reopening the Richmond-San
Rafael Bridge to bicycle and pedestrian access has been debated
for more than three decades since the 1977 closure of the third
lane. In 2001, plans for bicycle access were rejected by the
Department of Transportation for safety reasons. Alternative plans
to open the bridge to bicycle and pedestrian access that address
safety are currently under development.

(f) The total estimated cost of permanently reopening the third
lane in the eastbound direction on the Richmond-San Rafael
Bridge, reconfiguring the bike path on the east side of the bridge,
and constructing a bike path on the westbound level of the bridge
is $65 million.

(g) In the interest of improving traffic flow, maximizing existing
resources, and reducing the environmental impacts resulting from
the traffic backup on the eastbound bridge approach that impacts
traffic on Highway 101, it is necessary that the third lane of the
bridge be reopened to traffic at the earliest possible date.

SEC. 2.  

Section 30910.8 is added to the Streets and Highways
Code, to read:

30910.8.  

(a) Notwithstanding any other law, the department
shall immediately, or as soon as practically feasible, but no later
than September 30, 2015, implement an operational improvement
project that does the following:

(1) Temporarily restores the third eastbound lane on State
Highway Route 580 that existed prior to 1977 and that was
temporarily restored immediately following the Loma Prieta
earthquake, from the beginning of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge
in the County of Marin to Marine Street in the County of Contra
Costa to automobile traffic.

(2) Temporarily converts the existing one-way bicycle lane
along the north side of westbound State Highway Route 580 from
the Marine Street interchange to Stenmark Drive and the toll plaza
in the County of Contra Costa into a bidirectional bicycle and
pedestrian lane.

(b) The department shall keep the temporary third automobile
lane and the temporary bidirectional bicycle lane in place until the
department has completed the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge Access
Improvement Project (RTP ID 240758) or until construction
activity for that project necessitates removal of the temporary
lanes.

(c) (1) For the duration of the operation of the temporary third
automobile lane, the department shall determine, according to a
competent engineering analysis, the maximum speed that can be
maintained with safety in the eastbound direction and shall post
that maximum speed at appropriate locations. If the department
determines that the maximum speed is less than the currently posted
maximum speed, then the department shall, at the time that the
temporary third automobile lane is restored, have in place
appropriate devices to alert drivers to the lower speed, which may
include, but are not limited to, raised pavement markings, flashing
lights, temporary electronic message signs, and any other means
that the department deems necessary.

(2) For the duration of the operation of the temporary
bidirectional bicycle lane, the department shall install appropriate
signage indicating that the lane is bidirectional. The department
may place a temporary barrier between the temporary bidirectional
bicycle lane and the automobile lanes.

(d) Concurrent with the implementation and operation of the
temporary third automobile lane and the temporary bidirectional
bicycle lane, the department and the Bay Area Toll Authority shall
continue, without delay, current efforts to develop and deliver the
permanent Richmond-San Rafael Bridge Access Improvement
Project (RTP ID 240758).

SEC. 3.  

This act is an urgency statute necessary for the
immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within
the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into
immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:

In order to temporarily restore the third eastbound automobile
lane of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge to automobile traffic at
the earliest possible date, it is necessary for this act to take effect
immediately.