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Warren Wells, AICP

@warrenjwells.bsky.social

9.6K followers 1.1K following 5.2K posts

Policy & Planning Dir. @marinbike.org • UCLA Urban Planning • AICP Planner • Baltimore ➡️ LA ➡️ East Bay • 🚫🚗Car-free commuting since 2015 • Missing middle renter. 📍Berkeley, CA

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Warren Wells, AICP @warrenjwells.bsky.social · Nov 12

Welcome, new followers!

Here's a brief explanation of who I am and what you'll see me posting about.

🧵

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Warren Wells, AICP @warrenjwells.bsky.social · 3h

"Crossings" (which I bought from my LBS) was my favorite book of 2023.

Do yourself a favor and check it out!

Ben Goldfarb @bengoldfarb.bsky.social · 20h

Sure why not! Support indies by ordering America’s favorite #roadecology masterpiece through Bookshop and I’ll send ya a free signed bookplate (DM w/ proof of purchase and address). Bezos will be absolutely *furious.*

bookshop.org/p/books/cros...

Warren Wells, AICP @warrenjwells.bsky.social · 3h

Any state electeds wondering why this project is costing so much should ask two questions:

1. What is the need for such large inside and outside shoulders?
2. Is Caltrans maintaining the possibility of making this a 6-lane, rather than the current 4-lane, freeway?

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Warren Wells, AICP @warrenjwells.bsky.social · 8h

Sure, what I'm saying is that the difficulty compared to the northern segments of SMART would be an order of magnitude greater, given a bunch of private land and the need for the rail line to displace an existing, very popular trail.

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Warren Wells, AICP @warrenjwells.bsky.social · 8h

Yeah, it's one of the most used bike trails in the Bay, actually. And you can't do rail-with-trail through the tunnel, since it was single tracked there.

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Warren Wells, AICP @warrenjwells.bsky.social · 11h

Rose *Quarter.* Sorry.

Warren Wells, AICP @warrenjwells.bsky.social · 11h

Hilariously, $11B doesn't even build you Marin County's RHNA allocation, much less Sonoma, Napa, and SF, which are about 6x Marin's population combined.

It would obviously be a better use of money though.

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Warren Wells, AICP @warrenjwells.bsky.social · 11h

Unfortunately the ROW just isn't there south of Larkspur.

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Warren Wells, AICP @warrenjwells.bsky.social · 11h

It sees like 25k adt today! Not that many people use it!

Warren Wells, AICP @warrenjwells.bsky.social · 11h

Paging @cityobservatory.bsky.social

This reminds me of what's been happening with the Rose Corridor project. Engineers saying they're not adding lanes but then putting in huge shoulders that just *might* be able to be converted to a travel lane in the future.

Warren Wells, AICP @warrenjwells.bsky.social · 16h

Caltrans has released a cross section for the ultimate (raised viaduct) version of SR-37.

Now maybe I'm just being paranoid, but if you were building a road that you planned to keep at 4 lanes wide, I don't think it would look like this.

Cross section of 114' wide bridge structure with each direction having a 12' outside shoulder and a 10' inside shoulder.

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Warren Wells, AICP @warrenjwells.bsky.social · 11h

It's because they plan to make this a 6 lane freeway.

Reposted by Warren Wells, AICP

John Pfaff @johnpfaff.bsky.social · 13h

Um, ICE just coldly shot an unarmed PRIEST in the head w a pepper ball when he (and everyone around him) clearly posed no threat.

For the crime of … complaining about government policy.

Core 1A speech.

With cameras rolling, they’re sniping priests for sport.

Kurt @flglchicago.bsky.social · 15h

Here’s video of the incident

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Warren Wells, AICP @warrenjwells.bsky.social · 11h

They are removing that entirely to accommodate the additional lanes.

Warren Wells, AICP @warrenjwells.bsky.social · 11h

Yeah, this is extremely outside my area of expertise, but I can say that this is not a roadway that is being designed for a rail retrofit.

Reposted by Warren Wells, AICP

Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 1d

The California fire marshal has created an email address for comments from the public on the legislatively mandated single-exit work group: [email protected]

If you have any comments (any at all, whether particularly novel or not), please send them.

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Warren Wells, AICP @warrenjwells.bsky.social · 12h

I mean, a number of the towns/cities are fighting proposals tooth and nail.

San Rafael and the County are doing a good job, but Fairfax is losing it over one building proposed on the single largest site identified in the housing element.

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Warren Wells, AICP @warrenjwells.bsky.social · 12h

Maybe, but I didn't think that is the way it is being designed. There would not be room to double track on one side of this structure and still have two lanes, and running rail in the median would require moving the center barrier and restriping the lanes.

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Reposted by Warren Wells, AICP

Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 15h

I can't stop thinking about this. We're pursuing zero fire risk in multifam, while tolerating much more in single-fam. People respond by building and living in single-fam, where they're exposed to not only one of the highest fire death risks in the developed world, but also TONS more car crash risk

Emily Hamilton @ebwhamilton.bsky.social · 15h

Love this new report on buildings' relative fire safety from @alexhrwtz.bsky.social and Pew colleagues.

www.pew.org/en/research-...

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Warren Wells, AICP @warrenjwells.bsky.social · 14h

But you could probably say they are roughly equivalent, especially if VTA gave up on single bore.

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Warren Wells, AICP @warrenjwells.bsky.social · 14h

Sadly, SV BART is now more expensive than the whole sr-37 project. That's at $12.2B I believe.

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Warren Wells, AICP @warrenjwells.bsky.social · 14h

One wonders how much less it could cost if they were just planning to build a 4 lane highway and not one that they *just might* add another two lanes to by converting the wide shoulders.

Warren Wells, AICP @warrenjwells.bsky.social · 14h

For more coverage on this benighted project, check this out.

bsky.app/profile/warr...

Warren Wells, AICP @warrenjwells.bsky.social · 4d

Absolutely molten-hot language here from Professor Fraser Shilling, Director of the Road Ecology Center at UC Davis, on the decision to spend *half a billion* to widen Highway 37, which is sinking into the bay.

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Warren Wells, AICP @warrenjwells.bsky.social · 14h

Regrettably, Governor Newsom just signed this bill, paving the way to widen a rapidly sinking highway.

MTC Bay Area @mtcbata.bsky.social · Sep 5

Today’s passage of AB 697 marks a major advance for long-running efforts to start work on a suite of projects to enhance North Bay marshlands and wildlife habitats, reduce flooding, improve traffic flow along Highway 37, and introduce transit service between Vallejo and Novato.

Legislature passes bill paving way for Highway 37 improvements

Today’s passage by the California State Senate of Assembly Bill 697 — sponsored by the Solano Transportation Authority, authored by Assemblymember Lori Wilson of Solano County and passed by the Assemb...

mtc.one

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Reposted by Warren Wells, AICP

🦫 Libby Lee-Egan 🦫 @libbington.bsky.social · 15h

Always happy to be in good company as an E-bike poster child. Thanks for the awesome photo @ericpanzer.bsky.social

Berkeleyside @berkeleyside.org · 1d

Residents of all ages and abilities are taking to electric bikes — used for commutes, school drop-offs, grocery trips and joy rides.

Why electric bikes are everywhere in Berkeley

Residents of all ages and abilities are taking to electric bikes — used for commutes, school drop-offs, grocery trips and joy rides.

www.berkeleyside.org

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Warren Wells, AICP @warrenjwells.bsky.social · 16h

What I mean is that it's further along than the rest of the raised causeway aspect of the SR-37 corridor.

Part of the conflict here is that they are widening *but not raising* the Sears Point to Mare Island segment for congestion relief, but that segment will be underwater in a few short decades.

Warren Wells, AICP @warrenjwells.bsky.social · 16h

That's exactly my suspicion.

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