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  • Who was Ed Roberts?

  • What is the Ed Roberts Campus?

  • Why is the Ed Roberts Campus at the Ashby BART Station?

  • How will the Ed Roberts Campus impact neighborhood parking?

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  • How has the community participated in the design of the Ed Roberts Campus?

  • How will the Ed Roberts Campus benefit the Disability Movement?

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Why is the Ed Roberts Campus at the Ashby BART Station?

artist rendering of bart train in front of campus

The partner organizations chose the Ashby BART site because it will enable people with disabilities and others to travel to their offices efficiently, comfortably and safely. Accessible and reliable public transportation is one of the most important services a community can provide to people with disabilities, and the BART system is one of the best public transit systems in the country in this regard.

From the very beginning, the partner organizations knew they needed a site as close to a BART Station as possible. They also knew they wanted to be located in Berkeley since that city has been such a nurturing and welcoming home for the Independent Living Movement since its inception over 25 years ago.

The campus will be built on land that is now a part of the parking lot on the east side of the Ashby BART Station in South Berkeley and fronts on the east side of Adeline Street, one of Berkeley's busiest commercial corridors. (The Ed Roberts Campus will not in any way involve the parking lot on the west side of the BART Station. This is the parking lot that has long been used by the Ashby Flea Market on weekends.)

The development of the Ed Roberts Campus at the Ashby BART Station will make a number of significant access and safety improvements. For example:

  • The Ed Roberts Campus will construct a new public elevator from Adeline Street to the Station entrance. Currently, the Station is not accessible to people with disabilities from Adeline Street.

  • The Ed Roberts Campus will build accessible parking spaces on the eastern parking lot. Currently there are none.

  • The Ed Roberts Campus will make many other site improvements including new benches, bike racks, lighting, planters, signage, and landscaping.

  • The Ed Roberts Campus will improve pedestrian access to BART from the neighborhoods to the east by creating an attractive, well-lit and safe pedestrian path to the station.

last updated 3/25/07