WALNUT CREEK — There’s an inherent peril looming behind the estimated 150,000 cyclists who make the climb up Mount Diablo’s steep 3,849-feet summit each year: motorists speeding past them along the same narrow, winding roads and blind curves.
A decade ago, Alan Kalin, of Danville, rallied a working group within the Mount Diablo Cyclists club to craft a solution that could help ease tensions between people traveling on both two and four wheels but, more important, to also find a safer way to alleviate traffic backups and reduce the number of dangerous collisions.
Their first blueprints for bike turnouts were drafted in 2014, featuring a pioneering design that allowed bicyclists, who pedal uphill at slower speeds, to pull into their own paved lane so that vehicles can pass safely — engineered to mimic turnoff lanes that have for years aided vehicular traffic. Mount Diablo State Park’s roads are the only documented location that has implemented bike turnout infrastructure on a significant scale.
“They don’t exist anywhere else in the world,” Kalin said in an interview. “Motorists love them, cyclists love them — bike turnouts keep everybody safe and lowers the animosity between both groups. It’s not going to eliminate a collision, but we have saved the lives of people that we’ll never know.”
Ten years and 1.5 million cyclists later, 67 total bike turnoffs — also known as auxiliary bike lanes — are now open across Mount Diablo State Park.
On Saturday at 10 a.m., Kalin will join dozens of cyclists, elected officials, parks staff and community members at Curry Point — a scenic staging area halfway up the mountain on South Gate Road — to celebrate this milestone for their model safety campaign.
“This took me 10 years, but we did it,” Kalin said in an interview, recounting the hours of research and gobs of surveys, public records requests and petitions that fueled the project. “I never dreamed that this would happen. I was just trying to save a few lives. The word ‘wow’ almost doesn’t do this justice.”
After construction wrapped this month, there are now a total of 26 bike turnouts along South Gate Road, 16 dotted on Summit Road and another 25 paved on North Gate Road — a 2,133% increase from the original three turnouts that kicked off a pilot program in 2015-16, alongside the installation of new signage and road striping.
The newest phase of turnouts cost $927,000, according to California State Parks officials.
Clint Elsholz, superintendent of the Diablo Range District, in a statement lauded how the infrastructure has helped improve accessibility for both bikers and drivers to enjoy some of the East Bay’s most striking panoramic views and natural wonders.
“We are thrilled to offer these new bike turnouts, which represent our commitment to improving the safety and experience for all who enjoy the beauty of Mount Diablo State Park,” Elsholz said in a statement. “These new turnouts not only enhance safety but also encourage more people to explore the park by bike.”
State Senator Steve Glazer and Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan helped lead a major push in 2021 to extend the network of turnouts by facilitating $1.5 million in California’s budget for additional funding. The money helped bring the total number of turnouts to 45 by October 2022, a significant jump from the previous 17 existing auxiliary lanes.
And by the end of 2023, hundreds of Mount Diablo Cyclists members, community organizations and residents had collectively fundraised more than three-quarters of a million dollars to support additional construction efforts.
Those funds included nearly $125,000 donated by the trust of Joe Shami, a Mount Diablo cycling “legend” who died in 2021 after an SUV fatally struck the 86-year-old in Lafayette. Shami’s contribution was matched by California State Parks.
As this passion project has gained momentum in the East Bay, Mount Diablo State Park’s bike turnouts have also turned into a model for other safety advocates to replicate — improving roads in California and beyond.
In April, researchers at the Oregon State University published a 141-page research paper about Mount Diablo Cyclists’ grassroots advocacy-turned-engineering campaign. Partnering with the Department of Transportation, OSU academics worked with Kalin and other local bicyclists to investigate whether bike turnouts would be a viable solution on Oregon’s roads.
The report found that 77% of cycling-related crashes from 2005 to 2015 occurred on three main roads in the state park. Between 2010 to 2014, one of Mount Diablo’s famous cycling routes — the 11-mile stretch of Summit Road — produced an average of 23 collisions per year. Additionally, researchers cited Kalin’s analysis of collision data between 2015 and 2016, which found that 80% of vehicle-bicycle collisions occurred on or near Mount Diablo’s more than 300 blind curves.
Kalin said collisions dropped to just three accidents in the first two years after the first bike turnouts were installed more than a decade ago. Ever since, he said, surveys have shown that bike turnouts have reduced collisions by 80% and minimized how often cars opt to drive in the opposite lane of traffic to pass cyclists.
“We just created them in the backyard, but then they were discovered,” Kalin said. “They agreed that turnouts prevent collisions and save lives, so now they want them in Oregon, too. There’s actual science that supports this effort.”
The broader cycling community also backs the safety campaign.
Last year, Kalin received the James L. Oberstar Excellence in Bicycle Advocacy Award, was named Contra Costa County’s Bike Champion of the Year, and was recognized by the California Outdoors Hall of Fame for his work to reduce collisions on Mount Diablo.
While Saturday’s event will honor past success to get to this point, Kalin said he still gets calls from cyclists and residents asking to install even more turnouts at different locations — showcasing the desire and success of this work to continue, even if he’s no longer leading the charge.
“It’s been an honor and a privilege to lead this effort,” Kalin said. “These turnouts have put a lot of happy faces on cyclists and a few elected leaders, too.”
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