"Traffic in Transit" a West Berkeley area traffic plan (SUDS) video presentation
Script and narration: L A Wood

The urban landscape is cluttered with automobiles. For many municipalities like Berkeley, the impact of auto density has reached a crisis. This is expressed in the congestion we feel. The pollution we breathe and for some of us, the parking tickets we receive.

Hello, We are on the streets of Berkeley. The city is renown for many things in including problems with parking and auto congestion. Our City has experimented with a number of solutions to meet the traffic demands of urban growth and increased automobiles.

Slow street such as Milvia Street behind me have become a popular solution for some of Berkeley’s traffic ills. Traditionally, the placement of traffic lights and signs has come as a response to specific street congestion in each district. Unfortunately, traffic control measures like stop signs, speed bumps and traffic barriers have varied results. These control measures can create even greater congestion.

In most cities like Berkeley, traffic planning generally lags behind area development. The lack of an effective regional planning also interferes with Berkeley’s ability to solve its many traffic problems.

This traffic dilemma is especially evident in the south and west districts of Berkeley which host a commuter corridor. In this section of the city, the Berkeley flatlands, light industry, commercial and residential interests all struggle to coexist while continuing to create a new traffic dynamics. Lets look at one such area an West Berkeley and examine several of these traffic issues more closely.

West Berkeley it has been said is that place you drive through to get to the freeway. This is a long held view because of the area’s industrial and commercial development.

However, this is a changing picture as residential growth continues. This sector of District two is called the Corporation Yard Neighborhood.

The neighborhood is bound by Sacramento Street, Dwight Way, San Pablo Avenue, and University Avenue. The Public Works vehicle maintenance yard is the area’s largest business and it contributes to the highest volume of vehicular traffic. Indeed, the city operations represent a unique business.

Berkeley operates the largest fleet of vehicles within the city limits. The city regulates, state required trip reduction required trip reduction as a pollution control measure for both business and municipal operations. This regulatory relationship has help slow the long awaited traffic changes to the Corporation Yard and surrounding community.

Since the turn of the century, Berkeley’s Corporation Yard has been located at 1326 Allston Way. This building behind me was designed by then city architect Walter Ratcliff. Back then, Berkeley was comprised of two areas, Oceanview and the University of California. The Corporation Yard was constructed in the space between the two.

Residential growth did not really take off until the 1920s. It was not long after, that the was surrounded by housing.

The first public Works vehicles were horse drawn. What once where horse stalls and equipment sheds are now office and storage space. As transportation technologies changes so did the community around the maintenance facility.

As the use of autos and specialized trucks by the city exploded, residential growth contributes to a rezoning of the surrounding neighborhood. This has resulted in the Corporation Yard becoming the largest non-conforming land use anywhere in Berkeley.

Both Allston way and Bancroft Way gates provide direct entrance and exit from the yard. Currently, the Allston Way gate provides twenty-four hour service to the yard. The Bancroft Way gates are only used from 6:00 AM to 4:30 PM, Monday through Friday.

In addition to maintaining the city’s vehicles, the Corporation Yard contains the central fueling station for nearly all of Berkeley’s trucks, specialized equipment, and automobiles. Most of these are stationed at the Yard where they are also serviced. Refuse trucks from the Transfer Station occasionally fuel at the Yard too.

The last time any changes were purposed for the facility’s traffic and circulation plan was 1987. More to come...

Quote on seeing video..."They always say a picture's worth a thousand words, and undoubtedly the pictures made an impression on us," said Councilwoman Diane Woolley-Bauer. (1995)