The Presumption of Durability, and the Future of SB 569
SB 569, the Preserving Safe Bikeways bill from Senator Catherine Blakespear, will not move forward this year, but there is an important takeaway from the bill’s journey through the Legislature. The Legislature included within a separate budget bill the main provision in SB 569 that a bikeway constructed with General Fund dollars should not be removed without ensuring the resulting facility provides a safe and accessible environment for bicyclists. The budget bill limits the applicability to the Santa Fe Drive project in Encinitas, which sparked the idea for SB 569 in the first place. In doing so, the underlying principle behind the bill has now been validated by the Legislature: public investment in safe bikeways should have the same presumption of durability we expect from other roadway investments, especially if we expect people to shift how they travel.
The concept underlying SB 569 is bigger than protecting any particular strip of pavement. At CalBike, we see it as protecting the integrity of public investment. A bikeway is part of a network, so removing one segment can cause damage well beyond that block: a comfortable route to a school can suddenly have a dangerous gap, a connection to transit can become inaccessible to many riders, and a network that took years to assemble is often only as strong as its weakest link. When faced with such gaps, many would-be bike riders find the risk intolerable and opt into more car trips.
California asks a lot of communities before a bikeway gets built. Projects go through planning processes, engineering review, public hearings, funding, environmental analysis, and years of advocacy. Taxpayer dollars are committed because the state and local governments have determined that the project serves a public purpose well beyond the ribbon cutting and opening day photo opportunities. A future city council should be able to improve a street, respond to new conditions as they emerge, and redesign infrastructure when necessary. However, removing a piece of a publicly funded safe transportation network rises to a different level and should receive commensurate public scrutiny.
This premise survived the legislative process as long as it did because it makes sense: when Californians invest public money in safer streets, those investments should have staying power. While this year’s legislative success only applies to Santa Fe Drive in Encinitas, the broader principle that public investment in safer streets must be upheld stands.
The response we heard from CalBike supporters and like-minded organizations has reinforced the potential here as well. For years, bicycle advocates have understandably concentrated on getting projects built. California still has enormous work ahead of us on that front, and we will need far more funding for safe walking and biking infrastructure. We will increasingly need to protect these nascent systems as they grow into the connected networks that communities have been promised.
We are grateful to Senator Blakespear for authoring SB 569 and continuing to push this idea forward, and to everyone who contacted legislators, signed on in support, and helped demonstrate that protecting California’s safe streets investments matters.
SB 569 will not become law this year, but we don’t think this is the end of the idea. As we begin looking toward 2027, preserving safe bikeways could be a natural component of a broader legislative effort: a collection of practical, bike-friendly policies that move California toward safer, more connected communities.
