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Berkeley worker Jaime Montoya paints a section of curb red at a ceremony Thursday to celebrate Berkeley finishing implementation of a new state law that prohibits parking next to crosswalks. Credit: Nico Savidge\/Berkeleyside<\/p>\nBerkeley worker Jaime Montoya paints a section of curb red at a ceremony Thursday to celebrate Berkeley finishing implementation of a new state law that prohibits parking next to crosswalks. Credit: Nico Savidge\/Berkeleyside<\/p>\n
City worker Jaime Montoya pulled a hose from the back of a Berkeley Public Works Department truck Thursday afternoon and pointed it at a section of curb along West Street across from Strawberry Creek Park. With city leaders and fellow public works employees cheering and snapping photos, Montoya sprayed a shiny coat of red paint onto the curb, covering a 20-foot stretch before it reached a crosswalk at Addison Street.<\/p>\n
This was the golden-spike<\/a> moment marking the completion of a street safety project that has been unfolding across Berkeley for more than a year<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Crews have been painting thousands of sections of curb red to prohibit parking directly next to intersections<\/a>, where stopped cars can make it harder for approaching drivers to see pedestrians, cyclists and other motorists. The vast majority of serious and fatal traffic collisions in Berkeley happen at intersections, so officials hope that by improving sightlines they can drive down the number of crashes.<\/p>\n Berkeley is one of the cities in California to make change<\/p>\n A 2023 state law prohibited drivers from parking within the 20 feet of curb space approaching an intersection, a practice known in traffic safety circles as \u201cdaylighting\u201d the corners.<\/p>\n But the law didn\u2019t come with any funding to mark those spaces off-limits, leaving it up to cities and other local governments to pay for the work out of their own budgets. As a result, many haven\u2019t \u2014\u00a0Oakland officials said last fall that they don\u2019t have the staff or funding<\/a> to implement the law, with just two employees responsible for street-painting work throughout the city.<\/p>\n Berkeley has become one of the first cities in California to finish painting its curbs to comply with the law, City Manager Paul Buddenhagen wrote in a memo this week<\/a>, after public works staff and a contractor applied the treatment at nearly 1,700 intersections.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m super proud of the city today,\u201d Mayor Adena Ishii said at the event on West Street celebrating the end of the project. \u201cI can\u2019t believe you all did it so fast, I thought for sure this was something that was going to take years.\u201d<\/p>\n Curb painting was partly funded by Measure FF<\/p>\n Berkeley spent $1.6 million<\/a> to contract with the firm Chrisp Company to bolster the work of its five-person street-painting staff. Funding for the contract came from Measure FF, the parcel tax voters approved in 2024 to fund street paving and safety projects<\/a>; the city\u2019s 2021 settlement agreement with UC Berkeley<\/a> for the university\u2019s use of city services; and a mix of city and regional money that funds Berkeley\u2019s Street and Open Space Improvement Plan.<\/p>\n Cities have been allowed to write tickets for violations of the daylighting zone since last year, even if the space wasn\u2019t marked with a red curb. That led to fears that drivers unaware of the new law might park in a legal-seeming space, then be surprised to find their cars ticketed. Berkeley officials, like those in other cities<\/a>, said drivers in those cases would generally get warnings<\/a>, and tickets would be saved for those who parked in areas with marked red curbs.<\/p>\n Now that the city\u2019s daylighting zones are all painted red, parking enforcement officers have the green light to ticket anyone who leaves their car in one.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tRelated stories<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\tPaint the curbs red: New parking law will cost Berkeley at least $1.25M<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\tJanuary 24, 2025Jan. 24, 2025, 4:17 p.m.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\tNo red curb, no ticket: Berkeley backs off on fining drivers for parking near crosswalks<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\tApril 2, 2025April 2, 2025, 1:30 p.m.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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