$500 Million......

With the east span finally open, planners are already at work on the next mega-Bay Bridge project - a $1 billion-plus makeover of the western span that would include a $500 million hanging bike path.
"I'm sure the bike advocates are going to start agitating for that" soon, Metropolitan Transportation Commission Executive Director Steve Heminger said from the stage at Monday's bridge re-opening ceremony.

What they want to do on the west side of the bridge

They already are. "It would be spectacular," says Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom. "It would complete the entire region with a pedestrian crossing, not just a bike path."

And "while it's a lot of money, it will create a lot of new capacity on the bridge," said Renee Rivera, executive director of the East Bay Bicycle Coalition.

The idea would be to create a hanging lane that would not only accommodate bicyclists and pedestrians, but bridge maintenance vehicles as well.

The project, however, has significant engineering challenges.

For starters, an MTC feasibility study found bike lanes would be needed on both sides to keep the bridge's weight balanced.

Adding the extra lanes, however, would make the span too heavy. To offset that, planners propose to replace the roadway with a lighter material.

Another big challenge: dealing with the steep grades getting on and off the bridge, while still complying with federal disability-access laws.

The east side has a bike lane now on the new bridge

But the biggest challenge of all could be selling toll-paying commuters on the idea.

Drivers are already paying up to $6 at peak hours to cross the Bay Bridge. Redoing the western side to include the bike path would probably mean "putting something in front of the voters," - like a "temporary" $1 hike in bridge tolls, said MTC spokesman Randy Rentschler.

At least that's how the bicycle wheel is being spun. I just don't know why they want to do this, it is a long way across the bay and it is so much easier to take the train. It would be so much less expensive to just give bike riders a free pass to ride the train under the bay than spend so much on a bike lane. Add the wind, rain, cold to the crossing and I can't see many people commuting across on a bike or even a person in a motorized wheel chair. It is miles across and the also the tunnels through the island don't have a bike lane as well. Just a crazy idea...