 |
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Concept:
Campanile Way is refurbished with new paving and lighting, and the historic landscape is restored. Service vehicles are removed to a walled court on the site of South Hall Annex, and Campanile Way is returned to the pedestrian. |
|
Because UC Berkeley is located on a hilly site in the middle of a large and intensively developed city, access to and within the campus will always be a challenge. Strategic goal 9 describes a comprehensive and balanced program of initiatives to improve access to the campus. However, the core campus itself should remain a pedestrian environment with minimal vehicular intrusion, safe and accessible to people with both full and limited mobility.
|
|
Download & Print
|
|
Strategic Goals 
Capital investment shall both optimize access to campus programs and resources and maintain the primacy of the pedestrian, by:
- establishing a program of strategic investments to upgrade major pedestrian routes into and within the core campus.
- creating a network of campus access routes that serve users of all levels of mobility.
- collaborating with the city and LBNL on integrated landscape and access improvement programs at the campus perimeter.
- restricting service and delivery vehicles to designated times and routes.
- consolidating core campus parking in structures outside or at the edge of the core campus.
Safe and convenient access to campus is essential. A vital intellectual community depends as much on the casual encounters that arise from well designed patterns of access, as it does on the more structured encounters of the classroom and laboratory. The growing trend toward interdisciplinary scholarship requires a campus sufficiently compact to allow for formal and informal collaboration.
The core campus is an intensively developed environment, laced with an intricate web of circulation systems that are complex and often confusing in their purpose, hierarchy, and linkages. There is a lack of signage leading to the campus, and a lack of a legible wayfinding system within it. Staging sites for construction, which will continue unabated for many years, often exacerbate the problem by temporarily obstructing access routes within the campus.
|
|
|
|
Pedestrians
Walking, the primary means of movement in and around the campus, should be encouraged both by upgrading major pedestrian routes to make them pleasant, comfortable, and secure day and night, and by minimizing conflicts with vehicles. A comprehensive program of investments in pedestrian access is required both within the campus and at its perimeter.
Initiative 5.1
Define a program of investments in major pedestrian routes on campus, and a prioritized sequence of implementation.
A comprehensive program of landscape improvements for the campus is presented in conceptual form in the Portfolio, along with how they should be sequenced to integrate with building and open space projects. The Landscape Master Plan shall define these improvements in more detail, including their relative priorities, and standards for paving, lighting, wayfinding and furniture. The standards shall serve to create a clear visual hierarchy of use: so, for example, routes shared by pedestrians and vehicles are easily distinguishable from pedestrian-only routes.
Initiative 5.2
Collaborate with the City on an integrated program of access and landscape improvements at the campus perimeter.
Hearst, Oxford and Bancroft should be envisioned as 'seams' linking campus and community, rather than borders dividing them. The campus should take the initiative with the city to develop, and seek funding for, a joint program of investments to improve the visual quality, pedestrian safety and amenity, and transit service on these streets. Specific elements may include:
- redesigned intersections to improve pedestrian safety,
- removal of curbside parking to create wider sidewalks, enhanced landscaping and/or bike lanes,
- improvements to make transit service more convenient and comfortable,
- a coherent landscape and lighting treatment along each street, and
- improved landscaping, paving and lighting at major campus gateways.
Initiative 5.3
Collaborate with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory on an integrated program of safety, access and landscape improvements to Gayley Road.
The replacement of Stanley Hall, by a new building triple its size, is only the first of several potential major building projects at the east end of the core campus. Moreover, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory intends to publish a new Long Range Development Plan in the near future, under which its space inventory could increase significantly. The two access routes to LBNL from the west, Hearst Avenue and Centennial Drive, both intersect the university-owned Gayley Road.
As presently configured, the narrow roadway and sidewalks are not only congested but uncomfortable for cyclists and pedestrians. The campus should take the initiative with LBNL to develop, and seek funding for, a program of investments to improve the visual quality, pedestrian safety and amenity, and transit service on this campus-owned street. Specific elements of this program may include:
- a redesigned roadway to provide bike lanes and extend the historic Piedmont medians north,
- redesigned intersections to improve safety and visual quality at campus entrances, and
- a coherent landscape treatment to preserve and enhance the rustic character of Gayley Road.
|
|
Figure 5.1
Vehicular Circulation
|
|
Disabled Access
As indicated in figure 4.1, a network of 'major pedestrian routes' on campus has emerged based on key destinations and historic patterns of travel. However, some of these routes include segments which are not accessible for those with impaired mobility.
Initiative 5.4
Define a strategy to achieve a network of campus access routes that serves all campus users.
A study to identify obstacles to disabled access to and within campus, and identify the initiatives required to mitigate them, is now under way. The results of this study shall be incorporated into the design of both individual projects and the program described in initiative 5.1.
|
|
|
|
Vehicles on Campus
While the core campus is often described as a 'pedestrian' environment, in fact it is crawling with a wide variety of vehicles: not just campus vehicles, but service and maintenance trucks, package service vans, construction vehicles and private cars. Not only do they pose a hazard to pedestrians, particularly on busy routes such as Sather Road and Campanile Way, they also cause paving and landscape damage which the campus has very limited funds to repair. As the campus becomes more and more congested due to both growth and construction activity, the unregulated flow of private vehicles through the core campus must be managed more assertively.
Policy 5.5
Restrict private service and delivery vehicles to designated exterior and interior routes, and admit them to interior routes by permit only from 8 am to 5 pm.
Many campus buildings can be served via short access roads directly from city streets: these are shown as 'exterior routes' in figure 5.1. In general, these exterior routes do not cause serious conflicts. Vehicles on interior routes, however, not only interfere with major pedestrian routes and places, but also degrade the serenity and historic quality of the heart of campus. Access to interior routes should be limited to two points, east and west gate, and should be by permit only from 8 to 5, to minimize vehicular movement on campus during peak times of instruction.
Policy 5.6
Restrict curbside and other surface parking outside designated lots to time-limited loading and service vehicles with permits.
In the long term, there should be no surface parking on campus for other types of vehicles. Surface parking lots on the core campus and adjacent blocks should be replaced over time by new buildings and open spaces, some of which may incorporate replacement parking below grade.
However, surface parking can not be entirely eliminated. Repair, maintenance, and specialty construction vehicles require parking near every building on campus, since the tools and supplies in their trucks must be readily available. Loading zones for both passengers and deliveries are also required, although one zone can often serve multiple buildings: but, as on city streets, those zones should have time limits.
Policy 5.7
Consolidate commuter and visitor parking in structures outside, but within walking distance of, the core campus.
Parking located in the interior of the core campus not only encourages vehicular traffic on campus, it is a poor use of scarce and valuable land. In general, campus parking, except those spaces described in policy 5.6, shall be consolidated in structures at the perimeter or within walking distance of the core campus.
|
|
|
|
Construction Access
Construction access and staging are necessary elements of the ongoing capital program. These areas and access routes must be developed in a coordinated manner, planned for continued use by multiple projects, and designed to anticipate long-term landscape and open space improvements.
Policy 5.8
Prepare and maintain a master plan for access and staging of projects under construction.
The plan shall include policies regarding contractor and sub-contractor parking and designated routes and time restrictions for construction materials delivery, to be incorporated into construction contracts and information presented to prospective bidders.
|
|
Note: This section deals with topics related to circulation within and around the core campus. The topic of access to campus is covered in strategic goal 9. |
|
|
|
