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A protester holds a sign at a demonstration in support of protected bike lanes on Hopkins Street in Berkeley on March 12. Credit: Estefany Gonzalez for Berkeleyside<\/p>\nA protester holds a sign at a demonstration in support of protected bike lanes on Hopkins Street in Berkeley on March 12. Credit: Estefany Gonzalez for Berkeleyside<\/p>\n
The Berkeley City Council could revive the long-debated proposal to build bike lanes along Hopkins Street on Tuesday, months after some of its members appeared ready to drop the project<\/a>.<\/p>\n A new plan<\/a> put forward by Northwest Berkeley Councilmember Rashi Kesarwani calls for the city to repave the rutted street with a version of the bike lane project officials shelved more than three years ago amid a fraught and polarizing process<\/a>. The new proposal differs on some details, but the broad outlines of the project and its trade-offs remain the same: Bicyclists would get new lanes separated from car traffic, pedestrians would get changes meant to keep them safer crossing the street and drivers would get a repaved road with less parking \u2014\u00a0145 fewer spots, according to an initial estimate by public works officials.<\/p>\n All street parking would be removed in front of the homes and businesses on a 0.4-mile stretch of Hopkins between Monterey Avenue and Peralta Avenue to make room for the new protected bike paths. The section of the street east of Monterey Avenue \u2014 which includes Hopkins\u2019 popular shops, as well as King School Park, with its pool, tennis courts and playground \u2014 would have parking only on the south side of the street, according to Kesarwani\u2019s proposal.<\/p>\n The estimate from public works officials<\/a> painted a different picture on one critical block however. It indicated all parking could be removed from the section of Hopkins between Monterey and McGee avenues, the commercial strip that includes businesses such as Monterey Fish Market and Gioia Pizzeria. City Manager Paul Buddenhagen, who shared the estimate with council members, cautioned in an email Saturday that it was not precise, adding that \u201cexact parking loss counts are not possible until a parking impact analysis takes place.\u201d Kesarwani declined an interview request, but insisted the commercial block is wide enough to allow parking on one side.<\/p>\n The proposal represents a shift for Kesarwani, a longtime supporter of the bike lanes who had partnered in the spring with North Berkeley Councilmember Shoshana O\u2019Keefe in a call to repave the corridor without new bike infrastructure. That plan would have delivered what opponents of the bike lane proposal want to see: a repaving project that smooths the street without redesigning it.\u00a0<\/p>\n Kesarwani wrote in a message to constituents Monday that two developments this spring led her to drop the earlier plan and push for the bike lanes. First, Berkeley Fire Department leaders wrote in a report<\/a> that the bike lane plan developed years ago would not significantly impede their ability to respond to emergencies \u2014 a reversal from three years ago, when city officials cited concerns about emergency responses<\/a> as a reason to stop work on the project. And in April, members of the City Council\u2019s infrastructure subcommittee weighed in against the idea<\/a> of paving the street without bike lanes, and called for the redesign to be included in any paving project on Hopkins.<\/p>\n Kesarwani acknowledged in her message that the proposal \u201crepresents an unprecedented change to how the public right-of-way is used in a residential neighborhood.\u201d But she noted it calls for city officials to develop a \u201ccurb management plan\u201d that could include new disabled parking spaces, loading zones, time limits and other measures that she contends \u201cwill allow us to better manage the parking spaces that remain.\u201d<\/p>\n As with other projects in Berkeley<\/a> and beyond that seek to beef up safety at the expense of space on the road for cars, Kesarwani and supporters of the project \u2014 an urbanist coalition<\/a> that includes bike and pedestrian safety advocates, as well as pro-density housing groups \u2014 contend the changes are worth the loss of parking.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAs Berkeley continues to grow,\u201d Kesarwani wrote, \u201cI believe we have an opportunity and an obligation to plan for that growth in a way that allows people, including parents, children, the young who cannot afford a car, and the elderly who cannot safely operate one \u2014 to walk or bike safely.\u201d<\/p>\n Opponents of the plan, including many of the area\u2019s merchants and O\u2019Keefe, who represents Hopkins\u2019 eastern stretch, disagree. They maintain the move to sacrifice so many parking spaces risks driving away the customers who come to shop at the area\u2019s local businesses, and making daily life more difficult for residents who will lose parking in front of their homes.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m going to try to see if I can find a compromise, because I\u2019m really concerned about the parking loss,\u201d O\u2019Keefe said in an interview. \u201cIt could potentially really devastate that area in a way that I don\u2019t think is fair.\u201d<\/p>\n Bike advocates hail project as \u2018a huge step in the right direction\u2019<\/p>\n The proposal from Kesarwani, who represents the western portions of Hopkins, calls for building 1.2 miles of new or upgraded bike lanes that would run from the corridor\u2019s east end, at Sutter Street, to Peralta Avenue, where the street intersects with the popular Ohlone Greenway bike path. Segments west of The Alameda would be protected from traffic by physical barriers such as parked cars or curbs, while those to the east would have a painted \u201cbuffer\u201d space.<\/p>\n The item also includes pedestrian safety measures such as raising the street level at the busy intersection of Hopkins and Monterey Avenue, where a pedestrian was struck and killed in 2017<\/a> \u2014 a change that cues drivers to slow down.<\/p>\n The proposal is a referral that asks staff in the Public Works Department to launch outreach to residents, businesses and other interested parties to inform the specific designs of the project, although it states that the protected bike lanes would be \u201cthe established foundation\u201d for those plans. In a text message, Kesarwani wrote that she believed Tuesday\u2019s vote should \u201cbe the final decision on a conceptual design for the project,\u201d meaning the council wouldn\u2019t reopen the question of whether to build the lanes.<\/p>\n The features would be installed in the 2028 fiscal year, when Hopkins is scheduled to be repaved.\u00a0<\/p>\n The wider eastern portions of Hopkins have painted bike lanes today, but they disappear as the street narrows at Monterey Avenue, meaning riders must share lanes with car drivers on some of the corridor\u2019s busiest blocks.\u00a0<\/p>\n Bike advocates say that puts riders at risk of collisions, and makes the prospect of using the street so intimidating only experienced and confident cyclists do it; protected lanes, they argue, encourage a wider swath of people to ride their bikes. In addition to concerns about the loss of parking, critics contend the lanes can make streets confusing or difficult for people to navigate.<\/p>\n In a break from the 2023 project, which called for directing cyclists into a two-way bicycle track, Kesarwani\u2019s proposal would build one-way bike lanes on each side of the street. Bike advocates applauded the change \u2014 the two-way track was a narrower design officials settled on as a way to preserve more of the street\u2019s parking, but Walk Bike Berkeley leader Ben Gerhardstein said it would\u2019ve been a tight squeeze, and required westbound riders to cross the street to join the two-way track.<\/p>\n Gerhardstein said the wider one-way tracks are more intuitive and \u201cwill improve the safety of the street design even more than the two-way option would have.\u201d<\/p>\n He wasn\u2019t as fond as some of the other changes. The new proposal shortens the protected lanes by 0.3 miles compared with the earlier project, which extended them to Stannage Avenue; those blocks will instead continue to have no dedicated space for bikes. The painted buffer on the eastern segment also doesn\u2019t offer as robust of protection as physical barriers.\u00a0<\/p>\n But compared with the plan officials were considering earlier this year that would have effectively killed the bike lanes, Gerhardstein said, \u201cIt\u2019s a huge step in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n How will Berkeley pay for Hopkins bike lanes? <\/p>\n The two sides of the Hopkins debate are marshaling their forces ahead of Tuesday\u2019s City Council meeting, writing hundreds of emails to members and coordinating how they\u2019ll make their case before the body.\u00a0<\/p>\n O\u2019Keefe, who removed herself from the amended Hopkins item, said she will propose the council adopt the first plan she and Kesarwani put forward. Berkeley Hills Councilmember Brent Blackaby wrote in his own newsletter to constituents Sunday that he shares concerns about the loss of parking and wants the council to instead recommend city staff study ideas supported by bike lane opponents, such as new \u201clow stress\u201d bike routes on nearby Ada or Rose streets.<\/p>\n But Donna DeDiemar, who has rallied opposition to the plan with the group Save Hopkins, said she fears city leaders will back Kesarwani\u2019s latest proposal.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have people on the council who are committed to doing something, anything, on Hopkins,\u201d DeDiemar said. \u201cThey want like hell to get this done.\u201d<\/p>\n Mayor Adena Ishii and Councilmember Mark Humbert are listed as co-sponsors of Kesarwani\u2019s item, while two more council members, Terry Taplin and Cecilia Lunaparra, are members of the infrastructure committee that called for including bike lanes in any repaving work. Unless one of those members changes their minds, that would provide the five votes needed to approve Kesarwani\u2019s proposal.<\/p>\n Still, specific plans for how Berkeley would pay for the project remain unclear.<\/p>\n Buddenhagen, the city manager, shared \u201cvery rough\u201d estimates with council members that showed the protected bike lanes could cost about $3.3 million, while the work to repave Hopkins would run $11.2 million.<\/p>\n Kesarwani contends that means the lanes represent only a \u201cmarginal\u201d additional cost, and one that is worth paying. Her proposal does not spell out where that funding might come from, though \u2014 she wrote in a text message that it would be up to public works staff \u201cto develop a cost estimate [and] determine the additional funding that will be needed.\u201d<\/p>\n O\u2019Keefe countered that Berkeley would have to pull funding away from other paving or safety projects to build the bike lane. The council earlier this month approved a five-year paving plan<\/a> that included some funding for Hopkins, but not enough for a major street redesign, and signed off on a spending plan for projects funded by the 2024 paving and street safety tax Measure FF that didn\u2019t include work on Hopkins. O\u2019Keefe said she wouldn\u2019t support potentially dedicating a \u201chuge portion\u201d of the city\u2019s funding to a plan she regards as wrongheaded.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis is devastatingly zero-sum, this paving money situation,\u201d O\u2019Keefe said. \u201cI would rather have bicycle safety on four other streets than this particular project.\u201d<\/p>\n Gerhardstein argued the council doesn\u2019t need to decide precisely how it will fund the project Tuesday night, nor does he believe Berkeley officials need to hear more public input on the question of whether Hopkins needs bike lanes. What matters, he contends, is that the city starts moving the project forward.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to get this done and not drag it out further,\u201d he said. \u201cCouncil will have as much information as it needs from community members to make a decision about this project.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tRelated stories<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\tThe Hopkins Street battle is back: Berkeley reopens \u2018toxic\u2019 debate over bike lane<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\tApril 1, 2026April 1, 2026, 2:58 p.m.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\tHopkins Street bike lane project delayed by staffing, safety concerns<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\tApril 5, 2023July 27, 2026, 4:14 p.m.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Natera_230121_073_BikesonHopkins_05.jpg\")
A Hopkins Street business displays a sign from the group \u201cSave Hopkins\u201d in a 2023 file photo. The group rallied against the proposal to build protected bike lanes at the expense of parking along the street. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside\/CatchLight Local<\/p>\n![\"Dozens](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/large-Natera_230418_022_HopkinsDieIn_01.jpg\")
Cyclists held a \u201cdie-in\u201d protest along Hopkins Street in 2023, after Berkeley leaders shelved the project building new protected bike track along the busy corridor. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside\/CatchLight Local<\/p>\n
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