See the map of Oakland's 74 miles of closed streets

The city of Oakland is closing 74 miles of streets to create more space for increasing pedestrian and bicycle traffic. The city of Oakland is closing 74 miles of streets to create more space for increasing pedestrian and bicycle traffic. Photo: Courtesy Oakland DOT Photo: Courtesy Oakland DOT Image 1 of / 49 Caption Close See the map of Oakland's 74 miles of closed streets 1 / 49 Back to Gallery

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The new program Oakland Slow Streets launching Saturday will close 74 miles of streets to through traffic to give Oakland residents more space to safely walk, run and cycle during the coronavirus shelter-in-place order.

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf announced the new program Thursday night at a town hall meeting held via Zoom video conference.

“Because of the reduction in car traffic, we will be closing off a number of streets so that bicyclists and pedestrians can spread out and take in fresh air safely on Oakland streets, free of cars,” Schaaf said.

Street closures will begin Saturday and focus on already-established bike boulevards including stretches of Chabot Road, Mountain Boulevard and Golf Links Road in Rockridge and parts of 21st Avenue, Excelsior and 32nd Street in West Oakland. (See all the planned closures in the map above.)

The closures will impact about 10% of Oakland's roads and at a press conference Friday officials said designated streets will be marked with cones and signs. They said essential traffic — such as residents of the streets, delivery vehicles and emergency vehicles — will still have access to these roads.

"People all over Oakland are walking and biking in streets that they normally would not. Drivers need to know that people are in streets where they normally don't expect them," said Ryan Russo, director of Oakland's Department of Transportation. "And so what we're doing is publicizing a set of streets that we had already studied and determined these are the residential streets that allow you to move within your neighborhood and we're saying there shouldn't be through traffic on these streets."

To reduce the spread of the coronavirus, people are being asked to social distance and maintain at least six feet of distance from others. This new program aims to make it easier for Oakland residents to socially distance when walking and running in their neighborhoods.

"We are here to bring a little bit of light into what is a troubling time for many Oaklanders," Schaaf said at a Friday morning press conference. "When we close our streets to cars, we open them up for amazing possibilities. Oakland Slow Streets is trying to send a message that we want Oaklanders to recreate in a socially distance manner, in a physically distant manner. By opening up our streets, to bikes, joggers and pedestrians, we're giving Oaklanders more room to spread out safely. It's also a message to drive slowly and cautiously."

Amy Graff is a digital editor with SFGATE. Email her: agraff@sfgate.com.