In advance of the May 7 meeting at which City Council will consider physical design changes to stop sideshows at Alameda Point, Councilmember Trish Herrera Spencer has already been redesigning the physical changes.

Forty-nine pages of emails show the councilmember quizzing staff and suggesting changes.

At her request, a roadway planned to be designed with lanes each 12 feet wide — to slow cars and prevent drivers from doing "donuts" — will instead have lanes that are 13 feet in width. The councilmember-cum-traffic-engineer says that the additional width will make it safer for motorists to pass cyclists.

As an amateur traffic engineer myself, I doubt that. Rather, I think the wider roadway width will allow drivers to comfortably drive at faster speeds.

City of Alameda's relevant policies — the Policies on Street Width, Lane Width, Crosswalks and Bulb-outs to Promote Safe, Livable Streets and Environmentally Sustainable Transportation Choices — agree with my own interpretation. That policy is worth a read — it's quick and easy to skim.

Alameda city staff were following that policy when they proposed the original 12 feet lanes:

City staff began with 11 foot lanes (to accommodate trucks and AC Transit Line 96) and then they added another 1 foot to "provide shy distance" from the "vertical curb" to be installed. So the equation of 11 feet + 1 foot = 12 feet.

But here in Alameda one must not forget the equation that shapes a surprisingly large number of local topics: [OFFICIAL CITY POLICIES] - [WHATEVER COUNCILMEMBER TRISH HERRERA SPENCER WANTS] = [THE OUTCOME FOR EVERYONE IN THIS CITY OF NEARLY 80,000 PEOPLE]