The Problem

The City of Oakland is currently home to both a growing economy and an expanding population. Though both of these developments have the potential to bring many positive impacts to the city, they also produce new challenges. One of the major challenges arises in the form of transportation. The city has thus far struggled to provide infrastructure able to keep up with the growing demands. Along with struggling infrastructure, pollution and fossil fuel dependence continue to harm the Oakland’s environment and the health of it’s citizens. In order to address both these environmental concerns and the need for improved transportation networks, our group has begun a project with the City of Oakland to locate the best route for a Bicycle Highway.

Our Approach

Using two separate suitability analyses, one in which we map social opportunities and constraints, and one in which we focus on the natural landscape’s physical opportunities and constraint, and then layering them and performing a location allocation and best route network analysis, we arrive at our final, optimal Bicycle Highway for a connected Oakland

Accessibility and Efficiency: Bringing Bicycle Highways to Oakland Youth

Accessibility: Social Suitability Map Efficiency: Physical Suitability Map

Combined Physical and Social Suitability Map

Our Solution In order to address the need for improved, sustainable transportation system, our group chose to model the best initial route for a bicycle highway in Oakland. By providing a sophisticated bicycle highway in Oakland, cyclists would be able to enjoy a smooth ride with as few stops and dangerous turns as possible. The major aim of our project was to create a highway based on the principles of accessibility and efficiency, addressing both equity and route optimization. By focusing on the youth population we aim to allow for mobility amongst a demographic that faces marginalization within the current transportation systems.

Final Suitability Map and Bicycle Highway Route

Aspect Tin Analysis

High Opportunity Location Allocation

Tin Slope Analysis

Physical Opportunities and Constraints Social Opportunities and Constraints

After completing the total suitability map based off of the social and physical constraints, we used the Oakland network (given to us via the c188 website) to create a Network Analysis. The Network Analysis was used in order to minimize the number of stops and terms while maximizing access and efficiency. In order to do this we used both the Location Allocation and New Route Network Analysis. Through our process that is shown through the flow chart to the right of this box we found the optimal route for the Oakland Bike Highway.

UNION

Throughout our process of data collection and analysis we discovered that most of our opportunities would be considered social opportunities and most of our constraints would be considered physical. This added another layer of analysis to our approach, revealing that building a bike highway would produce a great deal of social advantages, but that the building process would face challenges when addressing physical and environmental limitations.

EFFICENCY ANALYSIS ACCESSIBILITY ANALYSIS

All maps are projected in NAD 1983 California State Plane, Zone III