Residents and businesses near a planned protected bike lane in Berkeley are suing the city to halt construction amid ongoing neighborhood backlash. A coalition of neighbors and the nonprofit Friends of Hopkins Street filed the lawsuit in Alameda County Superior Court this week arguing that the Berkeley City Council wrongly approved the bike lane project, which would stretch along Hopkins Street from the Alameda to Peralta Avenue, without conducting the proper environmental and accessibility reviews. Mayor Adena Ishii and City Manager Paul Buddenhagen are named as co-defendants.The bike lane proposal moved forward following a closely watched, 7-2 City Council vote on July 29, shortly after midnight. It would repave the street and add buffers on either side to separate cyclists from traffic, measures that would eliminate more than 145 parking spaces along a street lined by old elm trees, single-family homes and small businesses. Efforts to reimagine the road as a multimodal artery had been gestating since 2018, though previous designs stumbled amid controversy.
Cycling advocates view the protected lane as essential for safety and critical to lure people out of cars. By contrast, Friends of Hopkins Street members see the project as a potential death knell to businesses and a constraint for seniors who regularly drive to and park along the corridor.
Tensions showed no sign of abating during the hours-long hearing in July. Many opponents of the Hopkins Street plan urged the council to study alternatives, including a proposal that would route bicyclists along nearby Ada and Rose streets…