Crumbling Crosswalks, Wasted Money,
Glory for Councilmember

In 2005 the City spent $1.5 million on a contract for so-called streetscape beautification in the Laurel district stretch of MacArthur Blvd. The City paid to get two arched gateways installed over the street, "ornamental pedestrian level lights," crosswalks of colored and textured concrete, and several other "improvements."

Now, four years later, the crosswalks are already breaking. For its money the City got no improvement in infrastructure, only dilapidation. MacArthur Blvd. tells everyone that Oakland is a city in decay because City Hall cannot focus on basic services.

Colored crosswalk built in 2005, broken by 2009. MacArthur Blvd. at 39th Ave.

When the streetscape project was completed, councilmember for the area Jean Quan made sure to celebrate.

Celebrating Laurel beautification fiasco in 2005. The real clown is not wearing a costume.

The City rejected the first round of bids because the lowest offer, $1.8 million, was 35 percent over the estimate by city engineers. Ray's Electric became the prime contractor in the second round of bids.

Second MacArthur Blvd. crosswalk in decay. Imagine another five years.

Did the City fail to inspect shoddy work? We do not know. It could be that sturdy textured crosswalks with an operating life of more than four years cost more than $1.5 million. In that case, a responsible City official would ask whether the beautification project was really the best use of infrastructure money. But councilmember Quan knows she cannot bask in glory when a city simply keeps ordinary sidewalks and streets in good condition.

Readers Comment

The really significant story about the street redesign is the failure of the design to incorporate features which actually would have improved pedestrian comfort and safety. This could have given a boost to the economy of our shopping district by increasing foot traffic and more than justified the cost. Shattuck Ave. in downtown Berkeley is an example of how to do it right.

The street redesign was only an ineffective imitation of a pedestrian-friendly street design which is not functional (because sidewalks were not widened, curb bulbs were not properly designed to improve safety and comfort of pedestrians using crosswalks, etc.). So an opportunity was lost and money essentially was wasted which might have been much better spent.

– Mike Ferro

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Good construction technqiue for patio slabs requires steel mesh. Streets would undoubtedly have more stringent requirements. The large size of the cracks in your photos surprised me. It could indicate no mesh, inferior concrete mix, undersized concrete thickness or a similar deficiency – all related to contractor ignorance or cutting financial corners.

– A retired contractor