Have you ever wondered where the freeway was? Or where is the retail district? Alameda County is developing the Eden Area Signage Plan to outline wayfinding and gateway signage for areas of urban unincorporated Alameda County, including: Ashland, Castro Valley, Cherryland, Fairview and San Lorenzo. The Economic and Civic Development team designed a theme for each region and established only 3 criteria for destinations: Freeway Entrance, County Facility, and Retail District.

It seems Alameda County has an infatuation with freeways because not only do they feature prominently on their signs, but their plans call for locating most of the signs on freeway off-ramps. It is very clear that they did not even consider people who ride or walk, despite our prominent BART station. If economic development was their goal, they missed their mark because there is now lots of evidence based studies that show cyclists spend more than drivers–bikes are good for business. Additionally, a BART survey once showed Castro Valley as the 10th most bicycled BART station, including all those stations in denser SF, Oakland and Berkeley. 

The BART station makes Castro Valley special. Many people move here for the combination of good schools and BART. The commercial value of BART was recently reinforced in July 23, 2021 KQED Forum radio program where SF Chronicle restaurant critic, Soleil Ho, shouts out to Castro Valley rather enthusiastically. Castro Valley was the first place to pop into her mind as an “under rated smaller city”. She arrives by BART and laments the difficulty in getting around on foot. We need to fix this so as to encourage even more commercial activity via BART. Signs would make her visits easier.

We also have a number of local and state initiatives that support wayfinding signs for cyclists and pedestrians.

• Bike and Pedestrian Master Plan (2019) page 41 class for wayfinding signs.
• Alameda County Community Climate Action Plan developed specific transportation targets since 60% of our greenhouse gases come from cars, including
  • T-1 bike mode share of 1.5% by 2020
  • T-4 walk mode share of 2.3% by 2020
  • T-7 increase student walking, biking, car pooling and public transit 5% above current levels
• Castro Valley General Plan (2012)
• Board of Supervisor’s Complete Streets Resolution (2012)
• Castro Valley Central Business District Specific Plan (1992?)
• Ashland and Cherryland Community Health and Wellness Element (2015)
• Eden Area General Plan 2010
• Ashland and Cherryland Business District Specific Plan (2015)

It seems that the world is increasingly desperate with headlines such as, “The Climate Crisis is Here–Nothing Else Matters Anymore”. It is becoming more and more obvious with each passing day that we need to help people get out of their cars as a way to reduce greenhouse gases. Consequently, we need to make sure we include pedestrians and cyclists in the wayfinding sign plan.