How cool would it be to bike across the Bay Bridge??

super cool. 

For more than 15 years, bicycle advocates in San Francisco and the East Bay have pushed for a west span path to connect bike commuters to the east span path expected to open between Oakland to Yerba Buena Island by 2014.

read more: sf.streetsblog, 14.12.11.

*conceptual photo is a cross-section! Hopefully we won’t be riding our bikes and then taking a dive

**This would make for such a great bike ride from the East Bay: south from Richmond or over the Berkeley Bike Bridge, along the shore (The Bayshore Trail, it’s called?) (Emeryville), and then across the Bay Bridge.

The development team — headed by Lennar and Wilson Meany Sullivan — has planned 8,000 new condos and townhomes that could accommodate 19,000 residents. Sale prices have been set between $600,000 and $900,000, slightly less than prices in San Francisco.

The upsides include incredible views, the proximity to downtown San Francisco, and the acres of planned parks, as well as organic farm and a wind farm to provide power for the area. The downside is transportation: there will be long waits and high tolls to drive on and off the island whose only exit is onto the already-congested Bay Bridge. And there is the larger question of whether there is enough demand for the new housing. 

Although a ferry terminal, more buses, and a five-dollar toll are being touted as the way to reduce congestion, questions still remain about the impact the addition of thousands of cars will have on traffic. 

The planning commission approved the Treasure Island redevelopment plan. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors will vote on the project May 17. The Supervisors’ budget and finance committee will hold a hearing on the project this Wednesday.

thebaycitizen, 09.05.11.