Picture your ride home: the glittering blue ball of the bay spreads out in a 360-degree panoply all around; without a single stop sign for more than 4.2 miles, you reach peak speed as silvery fence posts streak past. The super-wide 12-foot shoulder, as big as three standard bike lanes, feels like a luxurious red carpet. A sea gull, riding a fresh air breeze above, hovers and cocks its head to one side, pondering the natural familiarity it shares with you, this two-wheeled creature soaring across the great expanse. Indeed, you feel like a bird. Pounding hard, you rise to the top of the first glittery-steel cage, magically entreating you to push forward through the gateway to Marin...

Sounds like a dream, and it is. But it is a dream that will be realized soon if we can all work together to raise the consciousness of our region to appreciate how easy to provide, and how beneficial to us all, such access will be.

Riding the swooping dragon, the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge - with official blessings, freely and without worry - has been about as close as it can get to becoming a reality, without actually being attained. Together, we can make it happen.

On the first full day of Bikesummer 1999 (Saturday, July 31), hundreds of cyclists will pour towards the bridge from both ends in a peaceful, fun and effective demonstration for equal access. The third event of its kind in recent years, the demonstration is expected to bring new levels of media attention to this long-standing issue and to renew and invigorate our efforts for equal access.

After the ride, there will be an Auto-Free Mountain Biking group departing from each end of the bridge for those who would like to continue the adventures of the day. (For more information about the starting points and routes for the mountain bike rides call Preston Jordan at 510/559-8684 or email PDJordan@lbl.gov.) A local cyclist has also offered his home for an afternoon barbecue/potluck near the bridge on the Marin side.

This demonstration is safe, and families are encouraged to attend. Cyclists will legally cycle to the foot of the bridge, where we are normally turned away to head back home. But today we'll stay a while and imagine what it would be like to keep on going. Those who choose to may engage in peaceful civil disobedience by symbolically crossing the line onto the span, potentially receiving a ticket (usually $55-$109 with no effect on drivers' licenses). Don't worry - there has never been an arrest at any such demonstration at this bridge. Organizers will be working with the California Highway Patrol to soothe their concerns.

Organizers are also working with CalTrans in hopes that rather than the event being a demonstration in protest, that July 31 can be a demonstration in celebration. There is a new CalTrans Director, Jose Medina, who has been very helpful to bicyclists in the past. He was appointed to help bring a human sense to CalTrans, which many view as a bureaucracy which is unresponsive to the needs of the public.

It is reasonable to expect that Director Medina could open the bridge by July 31. A recent, year-long study by numerous agencies and interested parties, found that the bridge should be opened immediately and that such access would be consistent with CalTrans policy. The study also showed that the bridge is safer than city streets for bicyclists as well as pedestrians. For years there has been regional consensus amongst bicycle advocacy organizations that the bridge should be opened immediately. By merely changing the signs and covering the expansion grates (which can snare a narrow tire), the bridge could be opened overnight - at almost no cost.

-Jason Meggs

Richmond-San Rafael Bridge...Access Now! It's easy. It's fun. And nobody has to break the law. Saturday, July 31st. Meet: 10:30 AM Richmond BART or 11:35 AM Larkspur Ferry Terminal.

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