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Jan 2018 Legislative Update

January 19, 2018/by Zac

Complete Streets for Another Day

Sometimes, even your best effort to dot all the I’s and cross all the T’s can get thwarted by a more influential force. At the first Senate Transportation and Housing Committee hearing of the new year held on Tuesday January 9th, SB 760 became the first casualty of the state legislature’s effort to protect SB 1 implementation efforts.

SB 760, our Complete Streets policy that would bring accountability measures the State Department of Transportation for the implementation of internal policies, was striped down by committee amendments to only include the most non-controversial provision—the adoption of the NACTO urban design guide into the Highway Design Manual.

CalBike’s push to bring Complete Streets to all of California’s communities continues; make sure to keep up with our campaign and help us take the next steps.

Bikes Yield Law Killed for Now

The authors of our common sense bill to require bicycle riders to yield and stop if necessary at stop sign-controlled intersections pulled their bill from consideration last week. Assemblymember Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) and Carl Obernolte (R-Barstow) said that opposition from the California chapters of the American Automobile Association and the Police Chiefs Association, among others, could not be overcome.

This bill would have made California third among U.S. states, behind Idaho and Delaware, to recognize that people on bikes have different vulnerabilities and capabilities when they approach an intersection and deserve different treatment than people in cars. It would have legalized a common practice and made riding a bike safer and more convenient, and it would have reduced unfair and capricious enforcement.

The arguments against the bill made no logical sense but were powerful nevertheless. When this bill comes back we’ll be better equipped to address the arguments with equally powerful appeals.

Automated Speed Enforcement Legalization Pulled

Enforcing speed limits with safety cameras is a proven technology that prevents crashes and saves lives. They don’t racially discriminate. They’re working in 140 U.S. cities and counting, but they’re banned in California.

A bill to fix this by allowing San Jose and San Francisco to implement a pilot program was killed last week when its authors chose to pull the bill from consideration. The bill would have permitted automated speed enforcement with strict conditions to ensure they do their job to save lives and are not merely tools to increase revenues. We support our partners in San Jose and San Francisco and look forward to the next session when we hope this idea is revived.

https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/jan2018legislativeupdate.jpg 630 1200 Zac https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/calbike-logo.png Zac2018-01-19 21:30:552018-08-11 22:07:22Jan 2018 Legislative Update

Governor’s 2018-19 Budget Proposal Delivers Over $20 billion for Transportation, Disappoints On Equity and Sustainability Goals

January 17, 2018/by Zac

Sacramento, CA — This week, Governor Brown released his 2018-19 State Budget proposal, which Brian Kelly, the Secretary of the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA), has described as “the SB 1 budget.” And it certainly is. New revenue from Senate Bill 1 ($4.6 billion) enlarged the transportation pie for 2018-19 with the majority of it directed towards maintaining state highways and local roads and improving the state’s trade corridors. Additionally, other funds will go to some meaningful—but relatively small—increases to a variety of other road, transit, and active transportation programs that will help put California on a path toward meeting sustainability goals.

Certainly, doubling the ATP, creating a new program to support multi-modal travel corridors, and using non-Cap and Trade funds for expanding a Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) program like theTransit and Intercity Rail Capital Program (TIRCP) pushes us onto the path. However, and not unlike our reasons from almost a year ago when CalBike and 80-plus other organizations suggested improvements for SB 1, the budget proposal and its new large sums come nowhere close to redressing transportation injustices Californians currently face, and instead cements many documented and embedded inequities and unsustainable practices. Just as SB 1 implementation failed to show us the past 6 months, both transportation policies and transportation funding plans need to be consistent with current state policies and goals related to social equity, climate, and health–before we call any new funding a success.

Beyond not addressing equity regarding transportation, the proposal also makes no strong connection between transportation funding and climate change. Despite the Governor’s groundbreaking achievements in this area, the state’s transportation sector continues to be a major blind spot. The vast majority of new transportation revenue still short-sightedly enables highway widening, auto travel and sprawl—all of which have proven to further increase our vulnerability to climate change. The Governor’s proposal, per SB 1, includes additional funds for new projects in the State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP). Any additional funding to programs like the STIP should include clear accountability measures to ensure it is spent on projects that reduce driving and promote social equity, or it will ultimately hinder the state from meeting its climate change reduction targets.

We are watching three areas most closely to ensure the final budget and its implementation reflect our commitment to transportation equity.

  • The Commuter Corridors program (also known as Solutions to Congested Corridors) does not match up with statute OR what we closely followed the past six months. Instead of focusing on multi-modal investments, including biking, the Governor’s budget  office has characterized it as increasing capacity projects including highway widening as one of the first solutions.
  • Trade corridors are often described as the lifeblood of California’s robust economy. Per SB 1, $306 million will fund new freight projects. However, this does not include the billions more that will directly and indirectly benefit freight movement by advancing “fix-it-first” projects on trade corridors. Most funds will go to bridge projects, highway widening, railroad grade separations, port improvements and other common freight industry desires. Also what is not mentioned by policymakers nor in this proposal, is that the lifeblood often gets poisoned, with disproportionate impacts across the state. Once we start talking about improving freight facilities without serious climate, air quality, and equity considerations in mind, largely the set of benefits goes one way (i.e. subsidizing goods movement industry profits), and the burdens another way (hitting low-income communities of color – often walk-, bike-, or transit-dependent – first and worst).
  • The State Transit Assistance Program pot of funds got a significant boost in the proposal – these funds go to supporting public transit across the state and of course largely complement walking and biking. $355 million will go to the Public Transportation Account to local transit agencies for operations and capital costs. We will work to ensure operations (and not just capital projects) gets its adequate share since this part is what removes obstacles of service cuts and fare hikes that negatively impacts low-income residents the most.

If we want to achieve our state’s ambitious climate and equity goals, we need coordinated, holistic state action. The Budget will continue to potentially provide significant direction on reducing climate change, improving air quality, and achieving social, economic, and environmental justice. We look forward to contributing our experiences and expertise in the coming year to the decision-making process to get there.

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Equity, the CTC, & the Need for Reform in Transportation Decisionmaking

November 6, 2017/by Zac

To advocate for more equitable, inclusive and prosperous communities, we “follow the money” and that means we engage intensely with the CTC.

At the state level, the California Transportation Commission (CTC) controls most of the federal and state sources of the transportation budget—a whopping $18 billion a year—and therefore the priorities of our state’s transportation agencies. 

Reforming our state’s transportation system to address the failures of the past must include reforming our transportation decisionmaking bodies at all levels of government.

We attend public meetings across the state, pursue critical meetings with staff and commissioners, work with partner organizations to influence Commission policy implementation to better serve all Californians, and generally provide guidance to their operations and actions while simultaneously keeping a close eye for problematic or promising policies in order to share with mobility groups on the ground at the local level.

While our work is helping our members, constituents, and allies who don’t have the capacity to engage with state policymakers get better results from the CTC, we are also working to improve the  CTC. This year’s AB 179, signed into law by Governor Brown last week, called for the Governor to “make every effort” to ensure the Commission has “a diverse membership with expertise in transportation issues,” and to consider “socioeconomic background and professional experience, which may include experience working in, or representing, disadvantaged communities.” 

AB 179 is part of a series of efforts to reform the powerful California Transportation Commission, an executive body with far-reaching impact. Transportation investments affect all Californians, and they often disproportionately burden our lowest-income communities. But the CTC currently has no requirements that its appointed commissioners have any experience with important issues like pollution impacts, sustainable and active transportation, or public health.

This particular bill initially proposed a mandate that the CTC must include representation from experts who live and work in underserved and environmental justice communities and eventually evolved that mandate into a mere suggestion—despite the fact that almost two-thirds of the Assembly voted for the mandate. Once it arrived in the Senate, Chairman of the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee Senator Beall (D-Campbell) forcefully acknowledged that “we need to have a more diverse state transportation commission.” His call reflects an encouraging shift away from the status quo in transportation decision-making. CalBike will be holding Beall and our other leaders accountable when the next opportunity to appoint diverse representation to the Commission comes up. 

In the meantime, we are fiercely urging to the Brown Administration to heed AB 179’s suggestion, and reverse the long history of the CTC operating with zero accountability to the people of California. Relying on AB 179, however, is not enough. In fact, the new law may have unintended consequences by stifling more direct and transformative reform and/or allowing decision makers to use it as an escape clause to pacify growing legitimate dissent. It’s our job to not let that happen.

We’ll never be afraid to stand by our values and will always refuse to give a free pass to unsustainable, unsafe, or inequitable transportation policy decisions. CalBike will continue to pressure the CTC to continue to engage with transportation and environmental justice advocates, residents, and communities.

Photo Credit: David De la Cruz/EYCEJ

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How Many California Cities and Counties have a Bike or Pedestrian Plan?

September 2, 2017/by Zac

CalBike’s policy team is often asked this question—how many jurisdictions across the state have invested in robust community planning for walk and bike facilities? And the follow up—how much would it cost to build all the high priority projects that cities and counties have identified in those plans? A sum of the total cost statewide to build out bike and walk networks in every neighborhood would be very powerful, and would demonstrate the shortfall of current funding streams dedicated to walking and bicycling.

In early 2017 our policy intern Lydia Davenport set out on a massive project to help answer these questions, and the result is our newly-released California Bicycle & Pedestrian Plan Inventory. Lydia spent six months doing online searches, emailing, and calling the 58 counties and 482 cities in California to identify which had plans, how recently they were adopted or updated, and whether the plans included cost estimates for what it would take to build out all the projects in the plan. Lydia then catalogued all this information in a database. Here’s a few highlights:

  • 276 out of the 482 cities have active transportation plans, with 16 more currently in the draft or planning stages.
    • 146 of those city plans have been adopted or updated in the last 5 years.
    • 194 city plans include a complete cost estimate for building out the projects in the plan.
  • 46 out of 58 counties have plans, and 4 are currently in the draft or planning stages.
    • 30 of those county plans have been adopted or updated in the last 5 years.
    • Only 28 of the county plans include a cost estimate for building out the plan. 

This analysis clearly shows that there is a significant need for more and better planning. Robust planning that is informed by local residents is critical for developing good, effective projects that people will embrace and use once they are built. When cities and counties adopt a bike and pedestrian plan they often show a strong commitment to funding and building the identified projects, and to increasing walking and bicycling. Planning is also a requirement to be eligible for many competitive grant programs, so jurisdictions that haven’t developed a plan will struggle to find funding when their residents demand better facilities.

Here at CalBike we are particularly concerned about identifying those planning gaps, and finding ways to help underserved cities and neighborhoods that don’t have plans. Now that we have this inventory of communities with and without plans, we can support local advocacy efforts where they are needed most to develop, update, and build out a plan.

It’s also very important that the plans are current and not outdated. Local support for a project will shift if too many years pass between planning and building a project, and facility design standards are evolving and improving rapidly as more cities expand their bike networks. For example, Class IV bikeways—also called “protected bike lanes”—weren’t a legal facility based on Caltrans standards until 2014. Plans that pre-date 2014 more than likely don’t include any protected bike lanes, even though we know today that they are preferred by the average person bicycling on high speed and high volume streets because they provide a physical buffer from traffic.

Unfortunately this project did not help us answer the question about the total statewide need for funding to build out walk and bike networks in every neighborhood. Fewer than half of the plans that exist contain cost estimates that are accurate or current enough to be useful in estimating the funding need. However, we are working on other creative methods to estimate the statewide need, such as by looking at cities that do have accurate up-to-date cost estimates in their plans and using those as a basis for cities of comparable size. Stay tuned for more on this work in the near future.

We’re excited to release our California Bicycle & Pedestrian Plan Inventory. As a living resource, it will need to be updated regularly as new plans are created and existing plans are revised. With your help, we can keep the inventory current and accurate. Please check that we have current and accurate information for your city and county, and let us know when we should update it.

https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Relax.jpg 628 1200 Zac https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/calbike-logo.png Zac2017-09-02 21:31:502018-10-05 17:03:52How Many California Cities and Counties have a Bike or Pedestrian Plan?

As the State Legislature Heads Out on Summer Recess, What’s Next for Key CalBike-Supported Bills?

August 10, 2017/by Zac

The legislature may be on summer break, but CalBike is hard at work preparing for the next round of opportunities to advocate for a better California for all. Read on for an update on key legislation we’re sponsoring or tracking, and keep up with our blog for opportunities to get involved.

Get State Employees Rolling: SB 702 (Stern)

This CalBike-sponsored bill expands California’s state employee bike share program, currently limited to just under 100 bikes; SB 702 passed the Senate Committee on Accountability and Administrative Review and is headed to the Appropriations Committee. While the bill was amended to say the state is required to expand bikeshare wherever it’s both feasible and “reasonable” rather than just feasible, we’re excited about the potential expansion of this program.

CalBike is sponsoring this bill because we know that expanding access to bicycles for California’s hundreds of thousands of state employees means getting more cars off the road, promoting bicycling, and helping our neighbors to make healthier choices. Increasing bicycling and reducing fossil fuel use and traffic congestion are critical priorities for our state and bike shares can help to meet those needs. This is an opportunity to help our state’s employees to be part of the transportation system of the future, and CalBike is ready to keep up the fight for a sustainable state vehicle fleet.

Require Qualified Representation: AB 179 (Cervantes)

AB 179 is part of a series of efforts to reform the powerful California Transportation Commission, an executive body with far-reaching impact. Transportation investments affect all Californians, and they often disproportionately burden our lowest-income communities-but the CTC currently has no requirements that it’s appointed commissioners have any experience with important issues like pollution impacts, sustainable and active transportation, or public health. Legislation like AB 179 aims to change that.

This particular bill has evolved from a mandate that the CTC must include representation from experts that live and work in underserved and environmental justice communities to a guideline suggesting that the governor should “use every effort” to ensure diverse and experienced appointments, but CalBike still sees AB 179, now headed to the Senate Appropriations Committee, as a step in the right direction. The fact that Chairman of the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee Senator Beall (D-Campbell) forcefully acknowledged that “We need to have a more diverse state transportation commission” is representative of an encouraging shift away from the status quo in transportation decision-making. CalBike agrees and we plan to hold him to ensuring the state follows through on that statement when the next opportunity to appoint diverse representation to the commission comes up.

Free Transit for Students: AB 17 (Holden)

AB 17 creates a free transit pass program for low-income students in middle school through university, enabling students all over the state to get to and stay in school. Investing in student transit programs is an investment in our future. Besides elevating the lifelong potential of our students, these programs can help to improve our transit systems, create lifelong transit users, reduce carbon emissions and traffic congestion, and reduce strain on low-income families.

The bill passed the Senate Transportation & Housing Committee and is headed into the Committee on Appropriations, where it faces a tough fight for funding. The concept of a free transit program is extremely popular but finding a consistent funding source for it is the real challenge.

Hold Cities Accountable: SB 150 (Allen)

The state’s regional planning authorities are required to set climate goals for reducing carbon emissions largely through more efficient transportation and land use development that reduces miles traveled in personal vehicles—but as of right now there is no mechanism for holding our regional agencies accountable to these requirements. SB 150 challenges metropolitan regions to set regional targets that align with the state’s climate change targets, by reducing driving and making it easier to walk, bike, and take transit.

SB 150 passed out of the Transportation and Natural Resources Committees of the Assembly and is headed to Appropriations-but not without being amended to remove references to specific targets for reducing driving. There is still much work to be done in holding regional authorities and their member local jurisdictions accountable to the goals we set as a state.

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2017 California Dream Ride Preview: Day 4

August 8, 2017/by Zac

During the past couple of months, the Dream Ride staff has been wrapping up the reconnaissance and most of the planning for year’s tour. Except for a few more tweaks, the route and overnight hotels are set! However, please be aware that some details may change between now and October, so stay tuned to this blog or contact ride director Debbie Brubaker (debbie@calbike.org) for the latest details.

Day 4 of the 2017 California Dream Ride begins with a descent from the redwood forest that surrounds the overnight stop in Occidental, through Valley Ford, and then on to a rest stop in the crossroads town of Tomales. The vineyard countryside of Days 2 and 3 gives way to rolling green pasturelands, where cows, sheep and goats are raised on protected farmlands, their organic milk processed into the artisanal cheeses that are increasingly popular and pair well with the wines produced by the vineyards of the Napa and Sonoma valleys.

Just south from there on Highway 1, at a wide spot in the road known as Ocean Roar, the route vectors south and a little east to the shores of Tomales Bay. Contrary to the Ocean Roar’s name, the Pacific Ocean can’t be heard (or seen) from here, but almost. The salt air and breezes off the water will be part of the cycling experience for the next dozen or so miles along the Bay, past numerous eateries that serve fresh-from-the-bay oysters, crab and other seafood.

After a midday break in Point Reyes Station (with lunch at Cowgirl Creamery, a purveyor of some of those locally-made cheeses and other tasty treats), the Dream Ride hits the California Redwoods again as it passes through Samuel P. Taylor State Park. Through these big trees, the tour will use the Sir Francis Drake Bikeway/Cross-Marin Trail, a quiet, shaded bike and pedestrian path winding through forest, open spaces, and across streams on wood and steel truss bridges. This bikeway is another one of California’s rails to trails projects—this one using the old roadbed of the North Pacific Coast Railroad that once connected Larkspur on the San Francisco Bay with Occidental and Cazadero.

The final segment of Day 4 follows Sir Francis Drake Boulevard east through Lagunitas (named after a ruthlessly delicious IPA), San Rafael, and finally Corte Madera. Along the way, the Tour will have an extended rest stop at the Marin Museum of Bicycling and Mountain Bike Hall of Fame. This is a must-see for those passionate about cycling. The Museum documents the birth and the many Golden Ages of bicycling. As its name indicates, the building also houses the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame. Among its inductees are Joe Breeze, Tom Ritchey, Gary Fisher, and many more. These are the men and women who pioneered mountain biking on Mount Tamalpais (“Mt. Tam”), in Larkspur Canyon, Repack, and other settings in Marin County. From the Museum, it is a short urban ride to the overnight hotel in Corte Madera.

The California Dream Ride was conceived of by CalBike’s Dave Snyder and brought to life by Debbie Brubaker, our ride director. It is a fundraiser to support the California Bicycle Coalition’s statewide advocacy efforts and to raise awareness by showcasing the successes of statewide and local efforts to enhance bicycle infrastructure and to increase bicycle safety. The tour is fully supported—all riders do is ride! This year’s Dream Ride begins in Folsom on October 8th (rendezvous and meet ‘n greet) and ends on October 13th in Oakland (last day of riding and end-of-ride festivities).

Cyclists of all levels are encouraged to take part in the Dream Ride. Stay tuned to this blog, CalBike’s Facebook page, and the Dream Ride website for more details and overviews of each day’s riding.

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California’s New Program to Improve Alternatives to Driving in Congested Corridors

August 4, 2017/by Zac

The Solutions for Congested Corridors Program (SCCP) is a new $250 million (per year) competitive state grant program created under Senate Bill 1 to improve travel in traffic-choked corridors by providing more transportation choices that get people out of their cars. CalBike and our partners are leading advocacy efforts to ensure this program meets its true aim of multimodality.

The language in SB 1 that enacts the SCCP contains strong requirements for projects that encourage land use decisions that support compact infill development and reduce vehicle miles traveled. It also contains the goal of preserving the character of the local communities and creating opportunities for neighborhood enhancement projects. Coupled with the restrictions against use of program funds for “general purpose lane expansion” (i.e. your average new freeway lane), and a set of strong scoring criteria for projects, the SCCP provides a new opportunity for regions to tackle their most congested corridors. The SCCP requires regions to move beyond the business-as-usual strategy of building our way out of congestion with more lane-miles of highway, and instead incentivizes sustainable and efficient solutions to congestion that will benefit communities long overburdened by large, dangerous, and unhealthy freeway projects.

However, even though the objectives of the SCCP sound great, smart growth and sustainable communities’ advocates like CalBike cannot just sit back and relax through the implementation phase. The SCCP was designed for interested and affected stakeholders to improve it through the California Transportation Commission (CTC) program development process. Fortunately, CTC staff are poised to lead with a clear intent to promote sustainability in transportation investments. So far, CTC staff have held two SCCP workshops and have set a firm foundation for improving accessibility (people’s overall ability to reach desired services and activities)—rather than just increasing travel speed (mobility)—in our most backed-up corridors.

In particular, advocates have a critical opportunity during this pivotal program development process to ensure the program successfully addresses transportation justice. Disadvantaged and low-income communities of color who are more likely to be non-drivers will be shortchanged if all the SCCP funds go directly into the expansion of freeways (i.e. toll lanes, carpool lanes, managed lanes, freight lanes, etc.) for personal vehicles. The SCCP also needs to avoid any negative community impacts on neighborhoods adjacent to congested corridors that have suffered from pollution, dangerous and crowded streets, and blight while commuters from other parts of the region zoom past.

Overall, the SCCP is a major positive step in the slow transformation of transportation planning.California planners are finally beginning to institutionalize more sustainable and efficient practices to address traffic congestion. And it’s not just our planners that are changing their tune and approaches—several of our elected officials are pushing this change from the policy side. State Assembly Transportation Committee Member Laura Friedman (D-Glendale) stated candidly during a bill hearing in April that adding freeway capacity is a “20th century solution to a 21st century problem”. Her assertion reflects a growing understanding in transportation research and planning that “adding capacity does not decrease congestion—getting people out of their cars decreases congestion”–another of Assemblymember Friedman’s signature remarks.

Draft guidelines for the SCCP are expected to be released by the CTC in mid-October and be finalized by December 2017. Two more workshops will be held in Oakland and Sacramento before the Guidelines are published. As in all SB 1 programs, broad public participation is sorely needed. Community residents, commuters, advocates, and anybody who endures maddening traffic or is impacted by it has a stake in this program. With your help, we can ensure state policy decisions reflect not only Assemblymember Friedman’s visionary comments, but also the broad support of California’s residents and voters for a truly multi-modal transportation system.

https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/I-80_congestion-NB_news_release_crop.jpg 630 1200 Zac https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/calbike-logo.png Zac2017-08-04 21:32:352018-08-11 22:17:02California’s New Program to Improve Alternatives to Driving in Congested Corridors

Boost to State Walking and Biking Funding – Now Let’s Make it Transformational

July 27, 2017/by Zac

Senate Bill 1 (SB 1) will boost the Active Transportation Program (ATP) by $100 million per year. That means $100 million more for walking and bicycling projects across the state to help make our cities, towns, and neighborhoods comfortable, attractive, and convenient places to get around on foot and on bike.

The first two years and $200 million of this new funding is being awarded to projects as quickly as possible this summer. Projects that had already applied for funds last year in the third cycle of ATP grant applications are first in line for this funding, and only in a few metro regions will there be opportunities for agencies to submit new applications for planning or education and encouragement program grants (for example, in the Southern California region). CalBike and our allies support this approach to getting more funding to shovel-ready projects right away, since demand for these funds has far exceeded the amount available every round by as much as four to one, leaving many great projects unfunded.

The rush to get the first $200 million out the door and into projects on the ground is spurred by urgency from our state leaders to start demonstrating the benefits of SB 1 funding to taxpayers as soon as the gas tax goes up in November. The billions in new transportation revenue raised through SB 1 come primarily from increases to gas and diesel fuel taxes, which early polling reveals to be very unpopular with voters. Just a small fraction of this funding is guaranteed to walking and biking projects through the ATP, but we know those projects are very popular. In fact, polling commissioned by CalBike in May showed that 8 in 10 California voters want transportation agencies to change the way they design our streets to make them complete streets that are safe and attractive for walking and bicycling.

Looking beyond the rush to get some ATP funding out to projects quickly, CalBike and our allies are pushing for this funding to be used to build more transformational projects in future rounds. We are working with the California Transportation Commission and Caltrans on criteria for the fourth grant cycle, which will be awarded in 2018, to incentivize projects like connected networks of protected bike lanes and safe walking and bicycling routes to transit. We envision large grants that could be the catalytic investment for communities to spur a big jump in walking and bicycling.

Stay tuned for more details about how next year’s program will create transformational walk and bike investments.

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SB 1, Goods Movement, Healthy Air, and Bikes

July 13, 2017/by Zac

The slogan of Senate Bill 1, the act passed in April to increase California’s gas tax, was “fix-our-potholes-first”. However, the freight and goods movement industries—whose heavy trucks are most culpable for said potholes—quietly and indirectly received an approximate $3.3 billion for more than just fixing pavement over the next ten years. Will these billions contribute to making the air cleaner near ports and freeways, reducing carbon emissions from freight, or even repairing damaged roads from heavy-duty trucks near our most polluted low-income communities? Or will the funds continue expanding heavily congested freeways and increasing the output of lethal emissions?

For our state’s decision-makers, it comes down to how to prioritize conflicting concerns and which interests are most vocal. Also, we’re concerned that many decision-makers still have a fundamental misunderstanding that highway expansion will decrease congestion and pollution. Past investment in freeways that are major goods movement corridors have prioritized attempts to relieve congestion and move more trucks over clean, breathable air. From the perspective of CalBike and our allies, it is not an either/or situation. We do not have to trade-off moving goods more efficiently for social equity and pollution reduction. Instead, achieving equitable economic growth of the freight sector while protecting the health of vulnerable communities is possible through comprehensive and innovative solutions.

CalBike is taking an active role in ensuring these new freight funds–a program called the Trade Corridor Enhancement Account–go to healthy, sustainable, equitable, and efficient freight projects. As we discussed on our blog, the dirty air emitted by dirty freight trucks creates a major barrier to safe biking and walking, especially for young children with growing lungs. In fact, most of our transportation system is designed to facilitate goods movement and the wide, fast roadways that result are dangerous or impossible to navigate on foot or bike. This type of transportation and land use planning systematically results in damage, disinvestment, pollution, and safety risks to many communities.

CalBike is leading a coalition to advocate for implementation of the many programs supported by SB 1that prioritizes benefits to vulnerable communities, improves health and clean air, and reduces driving and carbon emissions. This advocacy is nowhere more important than in implementation of the Trade Corridor Program. For the past month, along with our fellow California Cleaner Freight partner Coalition for Clean Air, we wrestled with the difficult legislative process to define the terms of this new trade corridor enhancement program to restrict highway expansion and avoid negative community and environmental impacts on low-income communities of color.

Though we didn’t win everything we were pushing for in the law, we can still influence the process. Next, the California Transportation Commission (CTC) has some power to decide how to use this $3.3 billion. The CTC will be leading workshops across the state over the next few months that are important venues to make sure our state and local decision-makers hear and incorporate community needs.

But these workshops aren’t enough to engage broad public participation in shaping the guidelines for SB 1 programs, so in addition to participating in the CTC workshops CalBike and our allies are planning additional outreach to community-based groups, especially representing low-income communities of color, to solicit input.

Please contact Jared@CalBike.org if you or your organization is interested in organizing or attending a local convening so that we can ensure state policy decisions clean up the damage to our air and communities caused by the growing power and profits of freight-based industries.

https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/image_post.jpg 487 1014 Zac https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/calbike-logo.png Zac2017-07-13 21:33:022018-08-11 22:18:44SB 1, Goods Movement, Healthy Air, and Bikes

SB 1 – How Can the New Gas Tax Improve Bicycling and Build Healthy Communities in California?

June 30, 2017/by Zac

Senate Bill 1 passed in April and was signed by Governor Brown, raising the gas tax in California for the first time since 1994 to raise $54 billion in new transportation revenue over the next ten years. Advocacy by CalBike and our allies resulted in some critical changes to SB 1—increased funding for public transit, walking, and bicycling projects, as well as stronger provisions to ensure that road repair projects would build complete streets and mitigate environmental impacts. Ultimately however, our coalition opposed the bill because of some toxic language that gave the trucking industry a pass to pollute the communities of Californians who live near ports and along freight corridors.

Our coalition is now engaging deeply in the massive task of advocating to make sure the new billions will be spent effectively. We need your support to pressure the California Transportation Commission and local transportation agencies to invest in the community improvements California wants instead of simply rebuilding and repaving dangerous roads. See below for opportunities to learn more and get involved…

Here are some of the most exciting pieces of SB 1 for bicycling, walking, fighting climate change, and improving livability and public health in communities across the state:

  • $100 million more per year will exclusively support walking and biking projects
  • $3 billion per year–the majority of the funding–will go to repairing state- and locally-owned roads, which provides a key opportunity to build safer, complete streets
  • $750 million per year will support improving service and expanding public transit
  • $250 million per year is for a new program aimed at increasing transportation choices in highly traveled, congested corridors
  • $25 million per year for planning grants to support smart growth and development of better projects in the future

For more details, we’re compiling a full analysis of SB 1 funding and programs on our website.

Even though the new tax increase won’t go into effect until November, transportation agencies across the state have begun implementation of the new funding in earnest. As soon as Californians see gas prices go up, policymakers want to be able to point to roads being repaired with that money to justify the extra expense to taxpayers. Applying even more pressure to the urgency policymakers are feeling is the threat of a potential measure on the 2018 ballot to repeal SB 1. A recent poll revealed that a majority of voters are opposed to the gas tax increase.

However, with that urgency to start putting the SB 1 money to work in mind, transportation officials would be wise to ensure that we’re using the new money cost-effectively to make our transportation system safer, cleaner, more sustainable, and more efficient at moving people. If we’re just filling cracks and potholes and rebuilding the same congested roads and bridges–i.e. business as usual–without providing taxpayers other benefits and options for getting around, Californians are unlikely to be totally satisfied with the work. Eighty percent of Californians support a “complete streets” approachwhen repaving roads according to a recent poll by David Binder Research.

Our coalition has come up with 10 guiding principles for transportation officials to embrace as they are deciding how to spend new funds, which we submitted in a letter to the California Transportation Commission earlier this month. The guiding principles call out key needs that support state goals including, among other things: prioritizing social equity with investment; protecting vulnerable communities from air quality, climate, safety, and housing displacement impacts; meaningfully engaging community-based groups in program and project development; promoting mode shift to walking, biking, and transit; and building complete streets on all projects.

The California Transportation Commission is leading a series of workshops over the next few months which are already underway and will define guidelines for the bulk of the funding. Fourteen full- and half-day workshops are on the calendar between now and December.

But these workshops aren’t enough to engage broad public participation in shaping the guidelines for SB 1 programs, so in addition to participating in the CTC workshops CalBike and our allies are planning to do some additional outreach to community-based groups, especially representing underserved communities, to solicit input.

Feel passionate about getting involved? We could use your help!

  1. Join our upcoming webinar SB 1: Maximizing Accessibility and Community Benefits to learn more about SB 1 funding and programs and opportunities to influence how funds are spent.
  2. Contact Jeanie@calbike.org to share your ideas, concerns, and feedback on what you would like to see from this new funding, either at the statewide level or in your local community.
  3. Help our coalition organize a local convening in your area to discuss leveraging SB 1 funds to address local needs, contact Jeanie@calbike.org.
  4. Finally, sign up on CTC’s website to get updates directly from the state on any of the programs.
  5. Support our work – join CalBike today.
https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/post_image.jpg 628 1200 Zac https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/calbike-logo.png Zac2017-06-30 21:33:142018-08-11 22:19:51SB 1 – How Can the New Gas Tax Improve Bicycling and Build Healthy Communities in California?
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