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Last Chance to Influence Caltrans Complete Streets Priorities

August 28, 2020/by Kevin Claxton

Now is your last chance to influence how Caltrans spends $100 million on bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure. The funding comes from an unprecedented set-aside that Caltrans director Toks Omishakin ordered, to add bicycle and pedestrian safety elements to projects in the 2020 State Highway Operation and Protection Program (SHOPP).

The SHOPP contains 920 projects. The projects will be constructed over the next four years. Many of them already include complete streets elements, but some projects don’t include critical safety improvements despite the multimillion dollar investment. Caltrans Headquarters has already identified 22 of those projects which will require less than $50 million of the $100 million set-aside.

Now, Caltrans district directors are identifying more projects to receive the funding that remains in the set-aside. They will submit those projects to Caltrans Headquarters for evaluation on September 25.

Caltrans staff has shared with CalBike and others on the California Walk Bike Technical Advisory Committee the criteria they will use to evaluate the projects proposed by the district directors. The criteria are excellent, with an emphasis on projects that will help marginalized communities. These are neighborhoods that have been historically divided by racist freeway construction and harmed by neglect to their infrastructure.

However, the criteria only apply to projects submitted for evaluation. Some projects that may need safety improvements could be overlooked and never submitted for evaluation. This is where you come in.

Help highlight Complete Streets priorities in your community

We want you to help us figure out which Caltrans projects need Complete Streets. We have provided a link to the project summary document below. Don’t be put off by the length of the document. Project summaries are broken out by county, so you can focus on the ones near you. If you’d like more information, CalBike has copies of the Project Initiation Documents (PIDs). If you’d like to see the PID for any of the projects, email Jared Sanchez.

2020 Caltrans SHOPP Projects Summary

Let us know as soon as possible if you see projects that need Complete Streets funding in your community. CalBike will communicate your requests to the Caltrans regional offices and will advocate for them when the proposals are reviewed at the California Transportation Commission meeting in November.

CalBike Heralds a Victory for Bike Sharing in California

August 27, 2020/by Kevin Claxton

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Dave Snyder dave@calbike.org 916-251-9433

Sacramento, August 27, 2020: The California Bicycle Coalition (CalBike) announced a victory today in its campaign to protect bike share systems from a threat from the California State Senate. An amendment to Assembly Bill 1286 removed a provision that would have transferred all liability for any impact onto providers of shared bikes and scooters. The provision would have made it impossible for shared mobility systems to get insurance and likely forced the removal of such systems throughout the state.

In a letter to the legislature, CalBike’s Executive Director Dave Snyder thanked the author of the bill, Assembly Member Al Muratsuchi (D-South Bay), for “his support of this low-cost, low-impact form of transportation.” Snyder said that his organization wants to see expansion of shared micromobility through greater public support of the services and integration with public transit. AB 1286 threatened that expansion until the removal of the liability provision, a change that was made at the very last hour that amendments were allowed.

“Shared bikes and scooters are fun, affordable, and eco-friendly ways to get around, reducing car trips and air pollution,” said Assembly Member Muratsuchi. “AB 1286 will make these devices safer for both users and the general public, with basic consumer protections for users.”

“In a matter of days we put together a coalition of local bicycling advocacy organizations and environmental groups that helped to convince the Assembly Member to pull that provision,” said Snyder. “We’re strong when we act together,” added Eli Akira Kaufman, Executive Director of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition.

CalBike had objected to other aspects of the bill, as well. One provision will increase the amount of insurance a provider must carry. Snyder said this will drive up the cost of providing shared mobility but isn’t a reason to oppose the bill because it has its benefits for users. Another mandates that a provider acquire a permit before operating. CalBike supports the intent of this provision but is concerned that some cities may use it disingenuously to effectively ban shared mobility. Snyder said that “we can deal with that if and when it happens.”

Floor Alert – AB 1286 neutrality

Bike Parking Bill Killed by COVID-19

August 14, 2020/by Kevin Claxton

Add one more item to the (loooong) list of legislative priorities that have been derailed by the coronavirus pandemic: Assembly Member Robert Rivas’s bike parking incentive bill. It is the last of many bills that CalBike was working on in 2020 to improve the policy environment for biking.

CalBike now has more capacity to plan and campaign for bills in the next session which starts in December. We also have more capacity to invest in a handful of close races for Assembly and Senate. More bike-friendly legislators can make a huge difference.

CalBike started this year with a full docket of bills in the Legislature. Our priority bill would have given the same purchase incentives for e-bikes that California gives for electric cars. Another would add the Dutch Reach to California driver’s education manuals. We were working on changes in how speed limits were set. All those bills were pulled by their authors in March as the legislative session got upended by the pandemic.

The Bike Parking Bill

One key bill was not pulled. Assembly Member Robert Rivas proposed a fantastic statewide incentive for bike parking and car-sharing: incentives to build bike parking in new housing. AB 3153 would have allowed housing builders to reduce the amount of car parking they would be required to build if they built a certain amount of bike parking or car-sharing spaces instead. Thanks to hundreds of CalBike supporters who called and emailed in support of this measure, it made it through the Assembly and into the Senate. Even with that outpouring of support, however, this pandemic year created too great a headwind in Sacramento.

The bill would not have made a huge impact on California’s housing stock, because it provided an optional incentive (instead of a mandate) and would only have impacted new housing in some counties. But where it applied, it would have overridden local zoning laws, making an incredibly bold statement on behalf of sustainable transportation. Housing builders could have used this law to build less car parking and more bike parking than local regulations require, and local officials could not have prevented it. It would have encouraged new local ordinances to reduce car parking requirements and increase bike parking requirements in the name of local control.

CalBike’s bike parking campaign continues

Minimum parking requirements are among the worst zoning laws. By forcing developers to add the cost of car parking to new homes, parking requirements add to the already high cost of housing construction. In addition, these laws increase inequality and impede sustainable transportation. Unfortunately, legislators are extremely unlikely to change minimum parking requirements at a statewide level.

However, legislators are happy to impose a new statewide building code. For example, as of January 1 2020, all new residential buildings must have solar panels.

Thanks to your tremendous show of support for the Bike Parking Bill, we are looking forward to positive developments in 2021. Senator Mike McGuire (SD 2) has committed to working with us to bring a bill about bike parking in next year’s session and has already reached out to CalBike to discuss it.

In the next legislative session, CalBike will launch a campaign to change the state’s mandatory residential building code to require bike parking in all new residential buildings. While such an initiative would not have the benefit of incentivizing a reduction in subsidized car parking, it would have a much more dramatic impact on the availability of secure bike parking in new residential buildings.

Are you interested in supporting a campaign for mandatory bike parking in new California residential construction? Add your name to the form below to join the movement for better bike parking.

CalBike Launches Central Valley Community Bikeways Survey

July 27, 2020/by Laura McCamy

For Immediate Release

Contact:

Fresno/Merced: Jared Sanchez, jared@calbike.org | 714-262-0921
Bakersfield: Asha Chandy, asha@calbike.org | 661-376-0248
Bakersfield: Forest Barnes, forest@calbike.org | 415-484-3143

CalBike Launches Central Valley Community Bikeways Survey

Bakersfield, July 23, 2020: CalBike is excited to announce the release of a community survey to help guide our Central Valley Bikeways Project. This survey asks respondents to identify both barriers to biking and their most visited destinations in Fresno, Merced, and Bakersfield.

This survey will inform our work and add to existing community-led work to ensure that the Central Valley residents can get around safely by bicycle. We welcome feedback from all residents of Bakersfield, Fresno, or Merced.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the Central Valley Bikeways Project to retool our outreach plans and rely primarily on digital strategies. This electronic survey is one of our main community engagement and outreach tools. We will be conducting additional outreach, primarily through our local partners. Additional outreach will include community focus groups and other forms of on-the-ground engagement with paid incentives to participate.

For those with access to a smartphone or computer, the survey is available online in both English and Spanish. For those without online access, we will be partnering with local community organizations to distribute printed surveys.

The survey responses will guide our project analysis. Community input will be central to our final recommendations to city, county, and state decision-makers about Central Valley bikeways.

If you’re a resident of the Bakersfield, Fresno, or Merced area we want to hear from you. Please see our project website and take our electronic survey. If you have trouble viewing the survey, please use this link.

The Central Valley Bikeways Project is a partnership between CalBike and the Kern Council of Governments. The project is funded by a grant to develop plans for a complete, low-stress bike network in central Bakersfield, central Fresno, and Merced. The project will also focus on improving walkability in Downtown Bakersfield and along planned bus rapid transit corridors.

The California Bicycle Coalition Seeks to Demystify Building Protected Bike Lanes for Californian Cities

August 26, 2016/by CalBike Staff

In 2016, CalBike rolled out a campaign to demystify and promote a type of bike lane that was, at the time, still relatively new to the United States but rapidly gaining favor across the country: the protected bike lane, officially called a “Separated Bikeway.” Cities around California and across the world are building these new, safer bike lanes that protect bicycle traffic from car traffic with physical barriers such as planter boxes or parked cars.

These “Separated Bikeways” have been standard procedure in European countries for decades but are still rare here. While California actually leads in the number of protected bike lanes built (tracked in reporting by People for Bikes), the state is far from having enough of these protected bikeways as networked systems. The California Bicycle Coalition wants to rectify that by making it clear that this infrastructure is not only vetted and approved by Caltrans, but is also compliant with both CA HDM (CA Highway Design Manual) and MUTCD (Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices).

“Protected bike lanes are a key reason why it’s so safe, comfortable and convenient to ride a bike in cities like Amsterdam and Copenhagen,” said Dave Snyder, the Executive Director of CalBike. “We can have that here too, but first we need to build them.”

The following California cities from North to South had already built separated bikeways by 2016: Davis, Emeryville, Oakland, San Francisco, Alameda, Modesto, Palo Alto, San Jose, Santa Cruz, Carpenteria, Oxnard, Temple City, Santa Monica, Los Angeles, Redondo Beach, Long Beach, San Jacinto, Murrieta, and Carlsbad. Since then, many more cities have adopted this safe infrastructure.

To call attention to the tremendous opportunity to create safer streets for everyone across the Golden State, CalBike contacted elected officials and Public Works Directors in the 50 largest cities across the state and distributed a concise 4-page brochure developed in collaboration with Alta Planning & Design.

CalBike_Class_IV_Bikeways_Brochure_Final_-_Web Download

The brochure demystifies the process of creating a protected bike lane, showing that Caltrans has approved the design and that it can be inexpensive to build. Any city can build them. Santa Ana partnered with youth at a local KidWorks nonprofit to successfully apply for grant funding for their first separated lane in an area where it’s very dangerous for kids to bike to school. The city was so inspired it went on to successfully apply for further separated bikeway funding.

“In our work planning, designing, and implementing Separated Bikeways across the country, we have seen the many positive benefits including economic, health, and safety firsthand,” said Bryan Jones, Principal of Alta Planning + Design, who helped develop the brochure. “Implementation of separated bikeways in cities throughout California will be key to the success of achieving Caltrans’ vision of tripling ridership on bicycles.”

Tag Archive for: featured

Last Chance to Influence Caltrans Complete Streets Priorities

Help highlight Complete Streets priorities in your community

Bike Parking Bill Killed by COVID-19

The Bike Parking Bill

CalBike’s bike parking campaign continues

CalBike Launches Central Valley Community Bikeways Survey

CalBike Launches Central Valley Community Bikeways Survey

The California Bicycle Coalition Seeks to Demystify Building Protected Bike Lanes for Californian Cities

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