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Bicycle advocacy news from Sacramento and around California

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CalBike Insider: Following Up on the Complete Streets Bill

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 […]

California Cities with the Best and Worst Bike Networks

PeopleForBikes has released its 2025 City Ratings, assessing the connectedness and stress level of the bike networks in over 2,500 cities worldwide, including many in the U.S. The survey rated 305 California cities, with three placing in the national top 10 for their city size.  As CalBike works to pass the Bike Highways Bill, AB […]

Traffic blur

What is the 85th Percentile Rule?

And why it belongs in the dustbin of transportation history. In 2021, CalBike helped pass the Slower Speeds Save Lives Bill, AB 43, authored by former California Assemblymember (and current U.S. Representative) Laura Friedman. The bill gives communities limited relief from the 85th percentile rule, allowing them more leeway to lower speed limits. This year, […]

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CalBike’s Legislative Agenda at the Halfway Point

On June 6, bills with any chance of becoming law this year left their house of origin. Senate bills had to pass a vote of the full Senate and move to Assembly committees for review, and vice versa. We’re happy to report that our two priority bills made it past the midway point, though one […]

Complete Streets bill passes

CalBike Works with Caltrans to Move Complete Streets Forward

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 […]

California highway boondoggles

California’s Budget Prioritizes Freeway Expansion Over Safe Streets

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 9, 2025 Contact: Jared Sanchez, jared@calbike.org, (714)262-0921 Sacramento — CalBike and other advocates had a modest ask from California’s nearly $20 billion 2025 transportation budget: give back the $400 million that was stripped from the Active Transportation Program (ATP) in 2024, as the legislature promised to do in last year’s budget. […]

This Is What a Bike Highway Could Look Like

The Bike Highways Bill, AB 954, passed the Assembly by a wide margin, showing strong support for protected, connected bikeway networks. CalBike is sponsoring this bill, authored by Assemblymember Steve Bennett, which will create a pilot project pathway to create bike highway networks in two regions.  The networks could be planned using existing segments of […]

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CalBike Insider: Design Guidance on Class IV Bikeways

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 […]

Central Valley Bikeways Project - Bakersfield

Bakersfield Convenes Grand Jury to Investigate Bike Lanes

On May 27, 2025, the Kern County Grand Jury released a preliminary report titled The Proliferation of Bike Lanes: Whose Road Is It? The grand jury had been asked to “examine the impact of bike lanes in Bakersfield.” It returned findings that questioned the value of installing bike lanes in Bakersfield and accused the consulting […]

Quick-Build Designs Improve Street Safety

Photo: Anne Thomas riding the “mousehole” bike lane through underpass on State Route 273. Quick-build methods are a cost-effective way to reconfigure streets for greater safety for people walking and biking. Placing parked cars or planter boxes between moving cars and bike riders is less expensive to design and install than a raised curb. Quick-build […]