LAMORINDA WEEKLY | Orinda and MOFD conduct a contraflow activation exercise


During a test of the contraflow lanes on Miner Rd. on Dec. 2, all right turns onto east-bound Miner Rd. were prohibited by signs that explained the a reverse lane was in effect. Photo Sora O'Doherty

Very early on Saturday morning, Dec. 2, the City of Orinda and the Moraga-Orinda Fire District conduced an activation exercise for the Miner Road contraflow lanes.?The purpose of the exercise was to test the time needed to set up and activate the contraflow system.

The contraflow system is designed to increase the number of cars that can evacuate in the event of an emergency by turning both lanes in the same direction. In the case of Miner Road, both lanes would head west towards Highway 24. In order to assure that there is no traffic flowing in the other direction, signs were set up at each intersection, explaining that the reverse lane change was in effect.

The actual one-way contraflow change of Miner Road lasted approximately 45 minutes and ended at about 8:30 a.m. During the exercise Miner Road was available for only one-way traffic from Lombardy Lane to Camino Pablo.?

Notifications of the exercise went out to affected residents via the Community Warning System (CWS), Nixle, and Social Media Channels on Saturday morning. Residents were asked to use alternate routes and/or adjust their travel plans to factor in the contraflow exercise.

Residents of the area became familiar with alternative routes when Miner Road was closed for several months in 2017 because a culvert under a bridge collapsed following very heavy winter storms.