City worker Jaime Montoya pulled a hose from the back of a Berkeley Public Works Department truck Thursday afternoon and pointed it at a section of curb along West Street across from Strawberry Creek Park. With city leaders and fellow public works employees cheering and snapping photos, Montoya sprayed a shiny coat of red paint onto the curb, covering a 20-foot stretch before it reached a crosswalk at Addison Street.
This was the golden-spike moment marking the completion of a street safety project that has been unfolding across Berkeley for more than a year.
Crews have been painting thousands of sections of curb red to prohibit parking directly next to intersections, where stopped cars can make it harder for approaching drivers to see pedestrians, cyclists and other motorists. The vast majority of serious and fatal traffic collisions in Berkeley happen at intersections, so officials hope that by improving sightlines they can drive down the number of crashes.
Berkeley is one of the cities in California to make change
A 2023 state law prohibited drivers from parking within the 20 feet of curb space approaching an intersection, a practice known in traffic safety circles as “daylighting” the corners…