BikeAlameda

Traveling between Oakland and Alameda's west end?

By ferry:

The Oakland ferry landing is at the foot of Clay Street off of Jack London Square. From 12th Street BART head down Broadway to the water and turn right.

The Alameda Ferry landing is on Main Street, near the old Naval Air Station's housing units, between the Atlantic street entrance and the 'Main' entrance to the base. It's also right next to Bay Ship shipyards and the Rosenblum winery.

Bike riders always got off the ferry last

The short hop is listed as $1.25. Take a print out of the web pages to be sure to be charged the correct fare.

The short hop is convenient for commuting to the west end of Alameda from Oakland in that it short hops from Oakland in the AM, and from Alameda in the PM.

Via Park Street bridge:

From the west end to Jack London Square via Park Street is about 6 miles and takes only slightly longer than the ferry. Use the Park Street bridge and then follow the instructions for 'To Oakland from the Park Street Bridge, along the Oakland Embarcadero.'

--Contributed by Rob Hawks and Matt Robertson

From 53rd and MLK in Oakland to High St and Santa Clara Avenue in Alameda

Take Market St south to San Pablo Ave, then San Pablo Ave until it ends. (Traffic is forced to take a left at the last light before the road ends - take this left.)

Continue across Telegraph, Broadway, etc, then take a right at Madison. You'll probably get stopped by a red light at the first traffic signal on Madison, but you should hit a run of synchronized green lights if you're speedy enough.

Keep going straight on Madison as you you cross under 880, letting most of the traffic turn left for freeway access.

At the next stop sign, turn left, then right at the next stop sign (Oak) which will join the Embarcadero.

Follow the Embarcadero to the Park Street bridge, where there are lots of choices for getting to Santa Clara and High Street.

San Pablo and Market may seem daunting to you, but both are wide streets where cars seem to find adequate space to get around a bicyclist without friction. I usually find very little traffic on Market. On San Pablo, I have two rules: first, never enter an intersection in the blind spot of an adjacent car (be even or ahead of their front wheel); and second, when the light is red, move to the front of the queue so you're first across the intersection on green (after checking for red light runners) so as to be most visible and claim your space.

To Oakland from the Park Street Bridge, along the Oakland Embarcadero

First, get to the bridge from Blanding Avenue, the last street before the bridge (connecting from Oak Street from the West or Broadway or Fernside from the East). Cross the Bridge, we suggest riding on the "sidewalk" rather than the car-filled, rough-textured road surface.

Continue straight, and keep to the right on the street. (The cars alongside will be heading toward the freeway; the 29th street overpass rises on your left.) At the intersection of East 7th, just before the cars turn right onto the freeway, there is a walkway under the overpass. Go left under the overpass; you'll wind up heading on East 7th street.

(Often, cyclists try to take a shortcut by crossing the bridge on the left side, then going against traffic to meet up with the Embarcadero. The problem is that there just isn't any reasonable way to cross onto the correct side. The suggested route is much safer and only adds 1000 feet to your route.)

After a couple of stop lights, this will curve around; you're on the Embarcadero. (Watch for some railroad tracks just past the Con-Agra building; these were supposed to be removed, but nothing happened!)

You'll pass Dennison (access to Coast Guard Island), a nice Marina area (with not-so-nice diagonally and perpendicularly parked cars -- be careful!), and a mix of Freeway and Estuary scenery.

Shortly after you go over a sandy bridge (that crosses the channel connecting to Lake Merritt), the road will loop to the right. Turn left onto the West Embarcadero to head toward Jack London Square, or continue straight onto Oak Street to head toward Downtown.

Coming back toward Alameda is just a ride in the opposite direction on Embarcadero. After the big curve by the "Con Agra" flour plant, turn right onto Kennedy. Follow the road and it will take you right onto the Bridge.

Shoreline Trail to Bay Farm Island

Some of the easiest outings are along some scenic paths. The Shoreline trail along Crowne Beach is an obvious one, but on nice weekend days, the path will be filled with dog-walkers, pedestrians, joggers, skaters, and other cyclists.

To get to Bay Farm Island from there, turn left onto Broadway (just a short jog) and immediately right onto Bayview Drive. This will curve to the left and turn into High Street. Turn right onto the sidewalk of Otis Drive. Very soon, a bike path will branch off. Follow the path as it curves to the left, under the bridge. You'll now be backtracking on the other side of the bridge; take a sharp left to get onto the Bay Farm Bike Bridge. Cross the bridge. You can either turn left, going around "Mt. Trashmore" (the model airplane field); you'll rejoin civilization at Harbor Bay Parkway, where there is a bike path alongside the road. (Be careful crossing onto HBP; the cars turn even though there's a "walk" sign for you.) If you turn right after the bridge, you'll ride a bumpy wooden dock back under the bridge and end up at the start of Island Drive toward the shopping center or along the trail along the shore.

How do you get between the East and West parts of the island?

Here's Lucy's favorite way to get between the East and West parts of the island, along a southerly (but inland) route. It's along very low-traffic streets, and there are hardly any stop signs along the way. WESTWARD: From Oak/Clinton, go up Clinton, past Grand, to the end of Clinton at Sherman street. Turn Right on Sherman. (You can proceed directly to Marina Village on Sherman.) To continue heading West, turn left after just one block onto San Antonio. Go up San Antonio until the street is about to Dead-End, and turn right on Ninth Street. Two blocks later you're at Ninth/Central where you can turn left to head toward Webster Street, or stay on Ninth to head further North.

The inverse of this is: South on Ninth to San Antonio (just before Ninth dead-ends as well), Left onto San Antonio until Sherman Street. (Don't miss Sherman, or you'll have to backtrack!) Right on Sherman for one block, and then Left onto Clinton. Take Clinton all the way down to Oak or Park Street.