California Bicycle Coalition

Great progress by our friends across the pond

Our Executive Director Kendra Ramsey, AICP shares her thoughts on the high points of this legislative session!

We just released Incomplete Streets: Aligning Practice with Promise in Caltrans Projects, a detailed look at how Caltrans addresses active transportation. Our report offers a path forward for safer, more inclusive streets. https://lnkd.in/eF-KruxS

🚨 Great news! 🚨 Governor Newsom has signed the Complete Streets Bill, SB 960, authored by Senator Scott Wiener and sponsored by CalBike, SPUR, AARP California, and others.The bill will require Caltrans to consider the needs of people riding bikes, walking, and taking transit on our state roadways, many of which serve as local streets. Caltrans policy mandates this, but the agency often doesn’t follow through. SB 960 will increase #accountability by requiring the agency to set targets for active transportation improvements in State Highway Operation and Protection Program (SHOPP) projects and add elements for people biking, walking, and taking transit when it repairs roadways. It will also establish a transit priority policy, placing greater emphasis on transit improvements on state roadways. #CompleteStreets

CalBike attended our first meeting of the eTRUC Community First Technology Advisory Committee on September 4, where we provided feedback to this program which is formulating California's approach to electrifying goods movement. CalBike is participating as a community partner, providing insight on how goods movement electrification can incorporate the needs of people in disadvantaged and pollution-burdened communities and people bicycling. At the September meeting, we provided comments on equity metrics that the program should be considering both in relation to goods movement corridors, and in relation to making siting decisions for charging infrastructure. 

Thank you for your support and partnership toward safer streets!

BIG ROAD SAFETY NEWS: Our bill requiring new cars to alert drivers when they’re going >10MPH above speed limit (SB 961) passed last night & is on its way to the Governor! Roads deaths are spiking in California & speed is a big factor. This technology is proven to slow people down & save lives. SB 961 is backed by a huge coalition of road safety advocates, including families of people who’ve been killed on our streets. So many people are dying & being severely injured & it’s getting worse. SB 961 will help, which is why AAA & NTSB are supporting it.

Lifting up this opportunity in the bike world!

This year, CalBike has sought to understand how well Caltrans is delivering on promises to create Complete Streets on state owned roadways. We have spent the last several months reviewing Caltrans documents received under the California Public Records Act. Our review has found patterns of downgrading and eliminating Complete Streets facilities in road repair projects. We also gathered survey responses about user experience on state routes that double as local streets and reviewed crash data. We plan to release the full report, Incomplete Streets: Caltrans Fails to Protect Vulnerable Road Users, in August. In the meantime, we will publish a series of excerpts from our research, starting with an example of Caltrans shortchanging pedestrians and doing the bare minimum for vulnerable road users. Read the first installment here: https://lnkd.in/eQaDKMpK