After some delay, Caltrans recently released its draft Director’s Transit Policy, as required by the Complete Streets Law, SB 960, which CalBike helped pass in 2024. This internal policy is similar in form and function to DP-37, the Director’s Policy for Complete Streets, released in 2021.
As we know from DP-37, these policies are a major commitment on paper, but implementation can be lackluster, and Caltrans often balks at actually committing state transportation funds to alternative modes of mobility (walking, biking, transit, etc.). Internal director’s policies are a great first step, but to actually move the behemoth of Caltrans will take dedicated follow-up to ensure the greener infrastructure is being built. The first step is reviewing the draft policy and providing public comment; CalBike is working on that.
Seeking feedback on transit priority policies on state routes
The Caltrans Director’s Transit Policy will serve as a high-level guide that outlines the department’s commitment to supporting public transit on the state highway system. The policy encourages flexible, context-sensitive solutions to better connect and improve transit options for people of all ages and abilities. Where feasible, Caltrans will integrate public transit features within highway projects to strengthen transit networks across the state. To put the policy into action, Caltrans is also developing an implementation plan with specific steps and strategies. This plan will be informed by input from partners and stakeholders and is expected to be released in summer 2026.
Caltrans is currently seeking public feedback on the draft policy. Comments are due Monday, August 18, 2025. We encourage our members to pay attention to this policy so that it can be substantively used to advance more transit options on the state highway system. Caltrans is also having a workshop on Wednesday, August 6, 2025, from 10 a.m.-12 p.m., for the public to engage directly. Register here to attend.
Transit struggles
The fate of public transit continues to be a significant political and policy issue, as advocates attempt to secure more funds for transit in the state budget. Despite stopgap funding measures, transit is still not sustainably funded and receives a small amount of the total transportation budget.
Since the pandemic, many transit operators have been struggling to cover operating costs as they work to reclaim ridership. In 2023, SB 125 established the Transit Transformation Task Force led by the California State Transportation Agency to develop policy recommendations to grow transit ridership, improve the transit experience, and address long-term operational needs. This task force continues to meet to develop its final recommendations.
Without transit, California’s urban centers would be nearly impassible, with gridlocked freeways and local streets and more traffic carnage for vulnerable road users. CalBike supports robust transit systems, which are a vital component of safe streets for everyone.
Getting bikeways, crosswalks, or other Complete Streets elements into a Caltrans project can be challenging. Convincing Caltrans to alter a previously approved project to add bikeways is an even bigger lift, but local advocates in the East Bay did just that. We spoke with Robert Prinz, Bike East Bay’s advocacy director, and Drew Dara-Abrams, who sits on the City of Alameda Transportation Commission, about what worked to get Caltrans to change its plans.
The project: SR 61 from San Leandro to Alameda
The project, approved in the 2020 State Highway Operation and Protection Program (SHOPP), would repave State Route 61 from Davis Street in San Leandro, where it’s named Doolittle Drive with a 45-50 mph speed limit through Oakland, and across a bridge to become Otis Drive in Alameda, then move over to Encinal Avenue, bisecting the island city.
The most cost-effective time to build new bikeways is during repaving or repair work. CalBike’s Complete Streets bills all called for including Complete Streets in SHOPP projects. Yet getting Caltrans to take the infrastructure needs of people biking and walking seriously when planning projects that impact local streets has been a challenge. CalBike’s Incomplete Streets Report highlighted some of the excuses the agency has used to shortchange active transportation. With the passage of SB 960, the Complete Streets Bill, we are optimistic that Caltrans will do better on future projects.
But that doesn’t solve the problem of SHOPP projects approved in the past, some of which are only now being constructed. With SR 61, advocates faced the challenge of getting present-day Caltrans to honor Complete Streets obligations in a project initiated by past Caltrans. Here’s how they did it.
San Leandro to Oakland: Bike East Bay
Bike East Bay’s Robert Prinz worked mainly on the San Leandro and Oakland segments of the project, while local advocates in Alameda took the lead on the segment running through that city. The Project Initiation Document (PID), completed in 2020, failed to reference local bike plans from Oakland and San Leandro calling for protected bikeways on Doolittle Drive, even though the bike plans predated the PID. Bike East Bay pointed this out to Caltrans; Prinz has email threads going back to 2020. It took until 2024 for Caltrans to agree to reconsider the plan.
This segment covers a gap in the Bay Trail, a biking and walking trail that is envisioned to one day provide an unbroken route around the San Francisco Bay. While a future Bay Trail segment is planned to connect to Alameda, a protected bikeway on Doolittle closes a “gap between where one part of the Bay Trail ends and another begins,” Prinz said, noting that there’s no room for a Class I separated path in this area, so a Class IV protected bikeway is critical.
Prinz noted that some SHOPP projects do a good job with active transportation infrastructure, but the process could use more transparency. “We’ve had some good SHOPP projects funded, and it’s just a mystery as to why,” he said, citing a $40 million Complete Streets project in Union City and Fremont that he didn’t know was in the pipeline.
The breakthrough for Prinz was getting Caltrans to come to a meeting of the Infrastructure Committee he chairs on Oakland’s Bike/Ped Advisory Commission. It was hard for Caltrans staffers to refuse — their office is just two blocks from OakDOT’s. “Later we learned that Oakland DOT staff had been saying the same thing to Caltrans,” he said, noting that “ultimately I think it was Caltrans hearing from a lot of different partners” that got them to add a bikeway to the plan.
Prinz also cited the local bike plans as essential to the process with Caltrans. “Plans matter,” he said. “Very often, plans get overruled, but it does still help if you can point to something in one or more adopted plans to back up your requests.” He added, “Individual design details are important, and I wish we could spend more time working on that.” Making sure the bikeway is usable and “not just a line on a map,” he said, is just as important as the bikeway class, noting that some of Oakland’s bike lanes have had to be upgraded multiple times as design standards change.
He also cited the value of having more pools of advocates when working on a cross-jurisdictional project like this one. He hopes to see more advocates looking across borders and joining forces to work on projects that span multiple cities because “most people don’t bike in only one city.”
Alameda: Drew Dara-Abrams
Drew Dara-Abrams describes the four-lane state route that cuts across Alameda as running next to a city park, an elementary school, and houses with minimal setbacks. It’s the kind of roadway where cities like Alameda have consistently added bulbouts and other traffic calming features.
Not so with the Caltrans project. “Caltrans is stuck in the past of auto throughput, auto throughput, auto throughput,” he said. “Compared with all the design aspects we can expect to be part of a process for locally controlled roads, it’s just a black box.” When he first reached out to Caltrans to ask why project plans didn’t reflect statewide Complete Streets policies adopted in 2021, district staff said certain project documents were filed internally in 2019 and therefore avoided all subsequent requirements — including policies requiring sign-off on Complete Streets reviews by their district leadership.
Photos of Otis Drive in Alameda courtesy of Drew Dara-Abrams.
Like Prinz, Dara-Abrams also found that getting Caltrans staff to a public meeting was crucial. Holding a City of Alameda Transportation Commission meeting on the project “enabled residents to write in and attend and speak,” he said. “That really brought some light to the project.” They got 40 pages of emailed comments, including a letter from the principal of the neighboring elementary school. Public awareness and input didn’t move Caltrans, but it moved local leaders to meet with Caltrans staff, which was an important part of the process.
Dara-Abrams began writing about the project on his blog in 2023 and describes his advocacy as “pingponging back and forth between different groups and local leaders, which helped elevate this and make the local Caltrans district care at a leadership level.” Involving Caltrans leadership was crucial. “It turned out city staff and Caltrans staff had been going back and forth about the project for years,” he said. “The impetus for change has to come from the leadership level to give them permission to do things that might take a little more time or a little more budget.” With public scrutiny, Caltrans could no longer ignore local staff.
He said getting to know local staff was crucial because they know what projects are coming up. He’s learned from them and given himself an education in reading complex Caltrans and CTC documents.
In the short run, the changes make Caltrans staffers’ jobs harder, Dara-Abrams says, but “in the long run, this is in Caltrans’ interest — getting these details right.”
CalBike: Support from the statewide bike coalition
While local advocates took the lead in working with Caltrans on the SR 61 project, CalBike played a supporting role. We wrote letters of support and helped open lines of communication with Caltrans staff, while continuing to put pressure on district and headquarters regarding their CS policies and SB 960, which was signed into law during this time.
Hearing a similar message from a number of organizations let Caltrans know that people were paying attention and helped elevate the message up the chain of command to key decision-makers. This included an official response letter from then-District 4 Caltrans Director Dina El-Tawansy, who has since been promoted to Caltrans director at headquarters in Sacramento.
“The work Robert and Drew did on this project shows what’s possible if you’re persistent in working with Caltrans,” said Jared Sanchez, CalBike policy director. “I hope to have the opportunity to support more local advocates in finding the right levers to apply pressure to improve local projects.”
Results and takeaways
For both segments of the project, the advocates didn’t get everything they wanted. On Doolittle Drive, the bike facility won’t be very wide and doesn’t provide separation as robust as many other new East Bay bikeways. But, Prinz said, “It’s all iterative. We want Caltrans staff to get more experience with this kind of stuff, and we’ll get them to beef it up at some point.” And, once complete, this will be one of the longest Class IV bikeways in Oakland, and the only one east of Fruitvale Avenue.
In the Alameda segment, there will be small but targeted additions of pedestrian refuge islands and curb extensions at popular intersections, which fell short of the lane reductions local advocates wanted. But they got a promise from Caltrans District 4 to study a road diet and potentially implement lane reductions. That project is expected to get programmed into the 2028 SHOPP with construction in 2032, moving at the normal, glacial pace of Caltrans projects. CalBike’s Quick-Build Bill could provide more momentum, especially for projects that address safety hazards for vulnerable road users. The bill would allow Caltrans districts to use quick-build methods, when warranted, to swiftly address dangerous roadways.
“The fact that Caltrans was willing to update their plans at all is progress,” Prinz said. “It’s been a long process, but thanks, Caltrans, for listening.”
Key takeaways from this project:
Take your concerns to district leadership, and also reach out to staff at Caltrans headquarters and the California Transportation Commission, which provides funding for SHOPP projects.
Hold public meetings with Caltrans staffers present to hear comments and answer questions.
Ask Caltrans staff for project initiation documents, traffic analyses, and engineering plans. Use these materials to ask targeted questions and propose specific improvements.
Be persistent. Working with Caltrans is a long-term project.
Find your allies. Work with city staffers, elected officials, other advocacy groups, and people who live in adjacent cities or neighborhoods toward your shared goal of safer streets and connected bike routes.
CalBike continues to work at the state level to implement better policies on our state-controlled streets. Those policies pave the way for more transparency at Caltrans and a greater role for local communities in shaping the roads that run through their neighborhoods.
https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/SR-61-bike-riders.jpg14752617Laura McCamyhttps://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/calbike-logo.pngLaura McCamy2025-07-23 02:06:102025-07-23 02:06:11Adding Bikeways to State Routes: Two Local Advocates Share Strategies for Change
CalBike does a lot of behind-the-scenes work to encourage state agencies to develop better policies and to follow up on the implementation of bills passed in prior years. One law we’re following closely is SB 960, the Complete Streets Bill. CalBike worked tirelessly for almost a decade to pass a Complete Streets requirement on state roads; now that it’s law, we continue to work with Caltrans to ensure that it’s properly implemented.
The devil is in the details
At our meeting with Caltrans on June 4, 2025, we were encouraged by the staff’s willingness to work with us and the progress made on several fronts in improving the agency’s Complete Streets implementation.
However, there are two areas where we’re not seeing much movement, so we followed up with a letter to California State Transportation Secretary Toks Omishakin and Caltrans leadership outlining our concerns.
Transit priority
One of the requirements in the 2024 Complete Streets Bill is that Caltrans prioritize projects and project elements that improve the speed and efficiency of public transit. Transit is a vital element of California’s sustainable transportation transformation, providing connections that allow people biking and walking to go farther.
We are concerned that Caltrans doesn’t yet have a director’s policy or design guidance for transit priority facilities. These are essential first steps needed for planners and engineers to include transit features in upcoming Caltrans projects. We urge the agency to move quickly to put these elements in place.
Encroachment permits
One of the roadblocks to safe biking and walking infrastructure is the agonizingly slow pace at which Caltrans approves encroachment permits. Local communities need these permits from Caltrans when a project on local streets crosses or overlaps with a state-controlled right-of-way. Many state routes serve as local streets, and freeway on and off ramps dot urban landscapes, often creating safety hazards for people using active transportation. Slow permitting can hold up projects or discourage local governments from planning infrastructure upgrades that touch Caltrans roads.
The Complete Streets Bill calls for faster permitting for Complete Streets projects that intersect state routes. So far, Caltrans has not taken the necessary steps to implement this high-priority element of the new law. We hope to see the agency act with urgency to put staff in place to make this happen in the very near future.
https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/CalBike-Insider-Image4.png7201280Jared Sanchezhttps://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/calbike-logo.pngJared Sanchez2025-06-26 15:00:392025-06-26 15:00:40CalBike Insider: Following Up on the Complete Streets Bill
In 2024, with help from our allies and thousands of CalBike supporters, we passed the Complete Streets Bill, SB 960, requiring Caltrans to add or upgrade facilities for people biking and walking when they repair state routes that serve those travel modes. Passing the bill was just the first step; as we’ve seen with the rollout of California’s new daylighting law, lack of implementation, based on so-called lack of funding, can get in the way of the effectiveness of new safety regulations. So, CalBike is working with Caltrans to ensure the agency takes active transportation safety seriously and better implements Complete Streets on its highways.
Sitting down with Caltrans
Last week, we met with Caltrans’ leadership, including Acting Complete Streets Lead Advisor Susan Lindsay and other key executives, to discuss progress toward implementing SB 960.
Every project in Caltrans’ State Highway Operation and Protection Program (SHOPP) that isn’t on a limited-access freeway should be evaluated for active transportation and transit infrastructure needs. In fact, many state routes run through neighborhoods and serve as local streets where people walk, bike, and take the bus.
Caltrans outlined some plans to implement its Complete Streets policy during projects on those routes and comply with SB 960. These include transparency: Caltrans will post justifications for recommended Complete Streets elements included or excluded from projects online. Caltrans has a form to document this for each project, but it hasn’t been available to the public. In 2023 and 2024, CalBike had to make public records requests to obtain the project records we reviewed for our Incomplete Streets report. We commend Caltrans for taking this step.
There will also be more accountability within Caltrans. Rather than district personnel making the final decision about new bikeways or sidewalks, leading to large variations in implementation among Caltrans districts, high-level staff from headquarters will review cases where district staff have not included recommended Complete Streets elements in SHOPP projects. This formalization of the exception to the Complete Streets policy is meant to narrow allowable exceptions and streamline application across districts. Caltrans will also report on this to the California Transportation Commission, which oversees funding for the program.
Caltrans reporting
In addition to these reporting and transparency steps, as well as several other new policies, Caltrans is undertaking a review of the 2026 SHOPP projects that had recommended Complete Streets elements. This is similar to the analysis CalBike did of the 2024 projects, and the agency has promised to share its findings with us. When CalBike released our Incomplete Streets report, we had statistics that Caltrans hadn’t compiled internally, and we’re glad to see the agency take up the practice.
CalBike plans to keep reviewing and analyzing Caltrans SHOPP project documents to double-check its progress on Complete Streets. Caltrans has offered quarterly meetings with CalBike to share information and input on the process to provide Complete Streets for all users.
Working with Caltrans has always been part of CalBike’s mission. Our agency work is less visible than our legislative advocacy, but it’s no less important. So, when you see a new crosswalk or protected bikeway on a Caltrans-maintained road in your neighborhood, you can thank the Complete Streets Bill and CalBike’s advocacy for Caltrans to step up since 2008, as well as tireless advocacy from local partners, that brings the changes to the street level.
https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/thumb-scaled.jpg17032560Jared Sanchezhttps://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/calbike-logo.pngJared Sanchez2025-06-11 14:48:482025-06-11 14:48:50CalBike Works with Caltrans to Move Complete Streets Forward
Caltrans issues Design Information Bulletins (DIBs) that set the parameters for specific types of facilities on the state highway network. DIB-89 provides guidance on how to build Class IV bikeways. Class IV lanes are on-street bikeways separated from car traffic by some type of physical barrier. CalBike’s analysis of Caltrans data found that, although protected bikeways have been legal in California since 2015, Caltrans added almost no Class IV lane miles between 2018 and 2023.
Caltrans first issued DIB-89 in 2018 and updated it in 2022. It’s now preparing to do another update of this design guidance. Later this month, the California Walk and Bike Technical Advisory Committee (CWBTAC), which advises Caltrans on matters related to active transportation, will have an opportunity to provide feedback on DIB-89 to inform revision later this year. Kendra Ramsey, CalBike’s executive director, sits on the CWBTAC, so we will be able to comment. We are working on our own comments, but want our supporters to have an opportunity to weigh in as well.
DIB-89 is important because it will govern how Caltrans implements Class IV bikeways, which are the safest on-street bikeways and proven to reduce injuries for all road users. Often, local agencies also look to Caltrans guidance to inform how they construct facilities on local roads. The design guidance could encourage or discourage the use of Class IV lanes, depending on how it’s written. This is very deep in the weeds, but we don’t think that only traffic engineers should weigh in on something that could have a profound impact on how we all get around. We’ve put the current version of DIB-89 into our Google Drive and opened it for comments. We invite you to read it and add comments by June 23 so we can read them before the meeting. CalBike wants to bring as much feedback as possible to the CWBTAC meeting at the end of this month, so we are happy to hear what you think should be changed.
https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/CalBike-Insider-Image4.png7201280Laura McCamyhttps://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/calbike-logo.pngLaura McCamy2025-06-09 15:38:052025-06-09 16:57:43CalBike Insider: Design Guidance on Class IV Bikeways
The State Highway System Management Plan (SHSMP) “presents a performance-driven and integrated management plan for the State Highway System (SHS) in California,” according to its webpage. Every other year, Caltrans presents the SHSMP to the California Transportation Commission. CalBike dug into the sections on bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure and submitted comments, part of our ongoing efforts to ensure that Caltrans adheres to the requirement to build Complete Streets passed in SB 960.
Good news and bad news for biking and walking
The 2025 draft SHSMP outlines the 2026 State Highway Operation and Protection Program (SHOPP) performance targets for biking and walking infrastructure on the state highway system, which includes many local routes that double as community streets used by all travel modes. The clarity in this reporting gives CalBike and other advocates an opportunity to speak up in advance to pressure Caltrans to better serve people using active transportation.
For sidewalks, the report shows 31 miles of repair for existing sidewalks and 38 miles of new sidewalks in 2026. That’s a decent amount of sidewalk work, and we’re glad to see Caltrans prioritizing the safety and comfort of pedestrians.
The 2026 SHOPP target is to repair 5 miles of existing Class I bikeways, which are off-road bike paths. The agency also plans to fix 20 miles of existing Class II bike lanes, which are designated by paint only. There’s no plan to rehab Class III (shared bike/car lanes, which are no longer recommended in Caltrans guidance) or Class IV protected on-street bikeways.
Caltrans plans to build 210 miles of bikeways, a significant number. Of those, 15 miles will be Class I and 44 will be Class IV. The Class IV bikeways are particularly significant: CalBike’s research found that Caltrans has rarely included Class IV bikeways in its projects, often downgrading to Class II when Class IV is recommended, so this is a welcome goal.
Unfortunately, 75% of the planned new bikeways on state-controlled streets are Class II. Class II lanes, particularly next to the high-speed vehicular traffic often found on state routes, do not provide adequate protection for people on bikes and won’t encourage people to choose bike riding over driving a car. Plus, although the SHSMP doesn’t include any Class III lanes, Caltrans will still add them to its projects.
More questions for Caltrans
We see this SHSMP showing signs of progress while demonstrating that Caltrans needs to do more to prioritize the safety of people who get around by bike. We are interested in how Caltrans will allocate these statewide targets to the districts to implement. The devil is in the details for SHOPP projects.
We are concerned that the level of funding projected for the 10-year SHOPP investment has not increased significantly since the 2023 SHSMP ($2.45 billion in 2025 compared to $2.37 billion in 2023). It’s also not clear why the performance need decreased so much between the 2023 and 2025 SHSMPs for bike/ped infrastructure ($10.6 billion in 2025 compared to $14.6 billion in 2023).
CalBike looks forward to working with Caltrans and getting more details on how the 10-year need and investment were determined and what the differences were between 2023 and 2025.
The 2026 SHOPP programming is just around the corner. Transportation officials are assembling the program of projects now, and we’ll learn what sort of recommendations align with these new goals in the winter.
https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/CalBike-Insider-Image4.png7201280Jared Sanchezhttps://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/calbike-logo.pngJared Sanchez2025-04-16 15:50:062025-05-08 17:46:16CalBike Insider: Digging into the State Highway System Management Plan
CalBike supported the Caltrans Data Bill, SB 695, in 2023. Starting January 1, 2026, the bill requires Caltrans to post information about projects from the prior fiscal year. But first, the new law tasked Caltrans with releasing project stats going back to 2018. CalBike has reviewed the data, which showed Caltrans was reluctant to install protected bikeways while installing more paint-only bikeways.
Caltrans built 554 new highway miles over the period covered by this data, at a time when California needs to reduce, not increase, vehicle miles traveled. At the same time, the agency built just 160 miles of bikeways, more than half of which were Class 3 lanes where bike riders share the lane with motor vehicle traffic.
While the SB 695 data doesn’t provide enough detail to fully understand Complete Streets projects on state routes, this first release of data shows that Caltrans isn’t doing enough to meet California’s goals to increase biking and walking.
Caltrans bikeways prioritized paint over protection
From the 2018/19 fiscal year through 2022/23, Caltrans added 160.37 miles of bikeways on state-controlled roads. Every Caltrans district and every California county saw some amount of Caltrans bike infrastructure, though in some cases, the amount was very small.
The total number of miles is less impressive when you break it down by class. More than half — 93 miles — was Class 3 bikeways. Class 3 bikeways are lanes with shared bicycle/car traffic, often delineated by sharrows. Caltrans also counts shoulder widening as building Class 3 bikeways; it’s hard to know how much of the 93 miles were wider shoulders on rural routes or simply regular travel lanes to be shared with bicyclists.
Another 53.2 miles were Class 2 bike lanes: lanes marked by paint. While reviewing project files for our Incomplete Streets report, we discovered that Caltrans counted the repainting of existing Class 2 bike lanes as adding Complete Streets to a project. We don’t know what percentage of the 53.2 miles were new lanes and what was simply repainting existing lanes.
Class 1 bikeways are off-road paths completely separated from vehicular traffic. Caltrans reported 11.97 miles, or a little less than 3 miles per year in the whole state of California, over the four-year period.
Caltrans built just 2.2 miles of Class 4 bikeways — separated on-street bikeways with physical protection from car traffic. That’s about half a mile per year. Many local governments in our state built more protected bikeway miles during this period.
Bikeway trends over time and space
The pandemic appears to have taken a bite out of Caltrans bike projects. It built a little more than 50 miles of bikeways in 2019 but just 4.4 miles in 2020. By 2023, that number had crept back up to 44.4 miles. The percentage of different classes of bikeway fluctuated over the covered time period, but 71% of the total bikeway miles added in 2023 were Class 3, only slightly less than in 2019.
The geographic distribution of bicycle infrastructure was also uneven. More than half of the Class 3 bikeways were added in just two counties: 37.7 miles in Kings County and 30 miles in San Bernardino County. San Diego County had 14 miles of Class 3. These three counties accounted for 81 of the 93 miles of Class 3 bikeways, likely reflecting specific projects underway during the years in question.
Caltrans added the least bike infrastructure in Merced County over this four-year period: just 0.04 miles of Class 1 path. That’s about 211 feet. The Caltrans District with the fewest miles of bikeway installed was Caltrans District 12, which covers Orange County: 1.1 miles. That included 0.1 miles of Class 1, 0.9 miles of Class 2, 0.1 miles of Class 3, and no Class 4 bikeways.
It’s not possible to draw definitive conclusions from this data, especially without knowing more about the specifics of the projects and what the bikeways actually look like. What is clear from the information we have is that Caltrans rarely built protected bikeways while installing many more miles of paint-only bikeways.
Uneven sidewalks
The data also included sidewalk construction and reconstruction. Over the four-year period of this reporting, Caltrans built 47.9 miles of new sidewalks and reconstructed another 28.9. The pandemic didn’t seem to have as big an effect on sidewalk construction; it went up in 2020 and has bounced up and down in the years since.
There was sidewalk work in every district, with some notable highs and lows. District 12, once again, built the fewest sidewalks, with 0.1 miles of new sidewalks and 1.5 miles reconstructed. Amador County had the fewest sidewalk improvements, just 0.03 miles of new sidewalk. Santa Clara and Solano Counties had no new sidewalks and less than a mile of reconstructed sidewalks.
At the other end of the scale, Los Angeles County got 17.68 miles of new sidewalks and 5.73 miles reconstructed. LA alone accounted for almost a third of the sidewalk construction on state-controlled routes.
Again, it’s hard to draw too many conclusions without reviewing the original project documents, which are not available online. And the report doesn’t quantify other pedestrian elements that may be vital during road repair projects, such as new crosswalks or protected intersections.
Highways keep on truckin’
Caltrans built 554 miles of new highways during this four-year window, a time when major climate disasters were accumulating across California. It’s past time to stop building new highways and spend our transportation resources on other travel modes.
While some of the new miles were ramps and interchanges, almost 40% — 214 miles — were general purpose lanes that will add more vehicle miles traveled, more pollution, and more climate stress.
Almost a quarter of all the new highway building was done in LA County, though the majority of that road building was High Occupancy Vehicles (HOV) and toll lanes rather than general purpose lanes. San Bernardino County built the most new general purpose roadway: 62 miles.
More data = good
There are additional tables with information about buildings moved and planned and pending projects. You can find it all at https://dot.ca.gov/programs/asset-management/select-state-highway-system-project-outcomes.
As we get more data from Caltrans, more trends and avenues for improvement will become apparent. The SB 695 reports should, over time, become a helpful resource to track Caltrans’ progress toward focusing on projects that serve all road users.
https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Car-priority-on-Beach-Boulevard.jpg588627Laura McCamyhttps://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/calbike-logo.pngLaura McCamy2025-04-01 15:47:222025-04-01 15:47:23New Data Sheds Light on Caltrans Projects
For Immediate Release: 10/9/23 Contact: Jared Sanchez, CalBike (714) 262-0921, Jared@CalBike.org
Gov. Newsom Signs Caltrans Freeway Data Bill into Law
SACRAMENTO – Governor Newsom has signed SB 695 (Gonzalez) into law. This bill, supported by CalBike, will increase data transparency by adding requirements to the CA Vehicle Code that Caltrans must prepare and make available information and data about activities on the state highway system on a public website.
Specifically, SB 695 will require Caltrans, beginning January 1, 2026, to annually prepare and make available on its internet website information and data about projects on the state highway system from the prior fiscal year, as specified, and to present this information and data to the California Transportation Commission at a regularly scheduled commission meeting on or before April 1 of each year.
Public oversight of Caltrans projects is crucial for Californians. Caltrans has a history of ignoring the wishes of state legislators and the public. The recent firing of Caltrans deputy director Jeanie Ward-Waller as she was preparing to make a whistleblower complaint shows that SB 695 is a necessary step to reigning in a rogue agency.
“Recent staffing controversies have shown Caltrans’ resistance to adapting California transportation to address the climate crisis,” said Jared Sanchez, policy director of CalBike. “This new public data portal will help Californians understand where our money is going and enable the public oversight needed to help the old Department of Highways become the modern transportation agency California needs.”
Data to be required on the Caltrans Freeway Data portal:
Total lane miles in the state highway system.
New total lane miles added to the state highway system.
Breakdown of the number of miles added by type, including, but not limited to, general purpose lanes, auxiliary lanes, managed lanes, including high-occupancy vehicle lanes, and interchanges, as well as information on improvements to interchanges.
A project description of each project that added lane miles to the state highway system.
The number of miles of the state highway system that were relinquished.
The number of miles of the state highway system that were converted from a general purpose lane to a managed lane, including a high-occupancy vehicle lane, and a high-occupancy vehicle lane to a high-occupancy toll lane or other type of lane.
The number of homes and businesses that were relocated due to the acquisition of rights-of-way for the new lane miles on the state highway system.
The number of new bike lane miles added to state highways, broken down by Class I, Class II, Class III, and Class IV.
The number of new sidewalk miles added to state highways and the number of existing sidewalks that were reconstructed to improve accessibility and the safety of pedestrians.
https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/I-80_congestion-NB_news_release_crop.jpg6301200Brian Smithhttps://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/calbike-logo.pngBrian Smith2023-10-09 18:07:482023-10-09 18:49:58Governor Signs Bill to Bring Transparency to Caltrans
SACRAMENTO – In her role as Deputy Director of Planning and Modal Programs, former CalBike policy director Jeanie Ward-Waller was instrumental in moving Caltrans toward investments in transportation infrastructure that supports low-carbon mobility options for all Californians, and divesting from traffic-inducing practices and infrastructure. CalBike is disappointed that Caltrans removed Ward-Waller from this post, despite her record of positive achievements, including helping the agency draft its Complete Streets policy.
“Jeanie is a tireless advocate for better biking and walking infrastructure,” said CalBike executive director Kendra Ramsey. “Her firing is a huge loss for Caltrans, for climate justice, and for anyone who cares about creating safer roadways in California.”
As the agency responsible for 50,000 miles of roadways–almost 20% of which serve as local streets–Caltrans plays an enormous role in making roads in California safe places for people to bike and walk. The agency is also tasked with moving our transportation network away from car dependency to support the state’s climate change goals. But as the recent firing of the person responsible for keeping Caltrans on track with those goals shows, the agency that used to be called the Department of Highways still sees its primary role as increasing California’s highway capacity, working against the transition to a green transportation future.
California Must Invest in Complete Streets
It is a critical time for transportation in California; vulnerable road users are subject to an epidemic of traffic violence, and our state is not advancing quickly enough toward viable low-carbon transportation options. Now more than ever, Caltrans must be a leader in fostering Complete Streets throughout the state and rebuilding our transportation networks to support safe, accessible, and convenient options for walking, bicycling, and taking transit.
At the same time, it’s critical to stop expanding freeways. Decades of research confirm that increased highway capacity induces more driving, and California and the world must invest in alternatives to transport goods and people and divest from polluting roadways that fracture communities and habitats. Caltrans removed Ward-Waller from her post after she raised concerns that pavement rehabilitation funds were being used for roadway widening. This underscores the disconnect between Caltrans practices and California’s stated commitment to climate-friendly transportation policies.
What CalBike is Doing
CalBike worked to institutionalize a commitment to supporting active transportation at Caltrans when it sponsored the Complete Streets Bill in 2019, which would have mandated a more transparent process at the agency and more Complete Streets. Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed the bill citing the direction of new leadership, and Caltrans vowed to do better. While we have seen some improvement, Ward-Waller’s firing is an ominous sign that the agency’s priorities and vision remain car-centric.
CalBike is digging into how well Caltrans has lived up to its promises to consider the needs of people who bike and walk, and we expect to start releasing data this winter as we prepare a full report.
CalBike is also working with our partners in local and regional agencies as well as local and regional advocates to demand that Caltrans interchanges be subject to new Complete Streets design guidance under Design Information Bulletin (DIB) 94. We applaud the governor for signing SB 695, which will bring more transparency to Caltrans projects, but that’s just the first step.
CalBike remains committed to holding Caltrans accountable for honoring the will of the legislature to protect the climate and the safety of people biking and walking. California needs a moratorium on highway expansions and a strong commitment to creating Complete Streets that make biking and walking safe and appealing.
https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Jeanie_addressing_advocates.jpg10241024Brian Smithhttps://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/calbike-logo.pngBrian Smith2023-10-09 12:31:142023-10-09 18:09:46Response to Caltrans Firing Jeanie Ward-Waller