Pinole, Ca – After touring eight cities along the San Pablo Avenue Corridor last year, a group of local elected and city officials will to tour North San Pablo Avenue, which extends from Pinole to Crockett. With the success of AC Transit’s rapid bus system, San Pablo, a historic route, is a crucial bay area transit arterial. The entire San Pablo Corridor extends through ten cities: Oakland, Emeryville, Albany, El Cerrito, Richmond, San Pablo, Pinole, Crockett, Hercules and Rodeo.
Nearly a year and a half ago Assemblywoman Hancock convened the corridor cities to discuss regional strategies to turn San Pablo into a “world class boulevard.” Since then, the group has held a series of workshops and meetings on form based coding, smart growth incentives, and lessons learned from other transit corridors. Recently CalTrans approved a face lift for San Pablo by authorizing funds to repave the street.
The tour, sponsored by the West Contra Costa Transportation Agency (WCCTAC) and Assemblywoman Loni Hancock’s office is a part of a larger effort to foster regional smart growth strategies across ten cities in the bay area. CalTrans, AC Transit, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), the East Bay Community Foundation Livable Communities Initiative and the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG). In an earlier planning process the San Pablo Avenue group identified eight potential priorities for San Pablo.
Saturday’s Tour will focus on spotlighting new development and examining challenges.
“This is an excellent opportunity for us to continue the work together to promote more livable communities. I believe that San Pablo Corridor can succeed in becoming a model for the state,” said Assemblywoman Hancock.
The group hopes to seek state and local funding to initiate a regional planning process for San Pablo in the future.
What: A tour of San Pablo Avenue
Who: Assemblywoman Hancock, WCCTAC, other elected
Where: Nation’s Hamburgers at 16396 San Pablo Avenue, City of Pinole
When: Saturday, June 25th, 2005 -- 9:00 am – 1:00pm.