The French Solution to Congested Tunnels: Make Them Car-Free

As Alameda, California celebrates a milestone for its water shuttle service and contemplates expanding the service, Roger Rudick points to an underground tunnel in Lyon, France that offers a different solution for shuttling people across water or difficult terrain — without cars.

In Lyon, two sides of the city are connected by two tunnels: one for vehicles built in the 1950s, and another for transit, bikes, and pedestrians built in 2013. The bike/ped side of the tunnel is “a well-lit, art-adorned passageway” that lets people cross safely. Comparing it to the Bay Area, Rudick notes that California transportation engineers have insisted on dedicating both tunnels connecting Oakland and Alameda, the Posey Tube and the Webster Tube, to cars.

For a tiny fraction of what the taxpayer will foot for widening and re-arranging the ramps into the tunnels, they could adapt Lyon's solution and return the Posey Tube to two-way car traffic, as it was originally designed. Then the Webster tube could be repurposed for bikes and buses (or the other way around). That would move far more people for far less money.

Rudick calls on U.S. policymakers to stop saying “we aren’t Europe” and start seeing the potential of projects like Lyon’s Croix Rousse tunnel — even giving people the opportunity to imagine what it could be like. “Let's start with an open-streets event one weekend in one of the tubes to see what people think.”