May is bike month in Orange County, pledge to ride a bike and win an eBike! OCTA sponsored check this out.
The Pledge is here.
Cosponsored by AVENTON, JAX BICYCLE CENTER and SPECTRUMOTION
-LS
Complete Street Policy unencumbered by political process. Walk-bike-skate-bus or rail, give street access to people, not just cars.
The Pledge is here.
Cosponsored by AVENTON, JAX BICYCLE CENTER and SPECTRUMOTION
-LS
FYI Folks:
GVWR is the maximum weight of the vehicle including occupants and cargo.
GCWR is the maximum including occupants cargo and trailer.
courtesy of TFL Truck.
Just in-time for Earth Day.
-LS
On 25 March 2024 Streetsblog posted " How Car Ownership is Keeping Americans from Financial Security" and reference supporting data from a study conducted by the US government Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
In the government study the cost of U.S. transportation includes the different modes of transportation like rail, transit, ferry, taxi, and private automobiles. These costs represent the total amount households spend on transportation.
Transportation cost is a measure of transportation affordability compared to other household expenditures. A transportation cost burden measures the percentage a household budget spends on transportation after taxes. After taxes is a better measure of what a household has available to spend on transportation.
Households are divided into five groups (quintiles) by household annual gross income. The groups are Highest > $245,000 and Lowest < $25,000.
In 2022, transportation was the second largest household expenditure behind housing, accounting for 15% of average household spending. The cost burden fell hardest on households in the lowest group, the household making less than $25,000 spent 30% of their after-tax income on transportation while those in the highest fifth spent 12%, see the chart.
More take-aways from the study:
-LS
CICLO Irvine Open Streets
CicloIrvine, Irvine's first-ever Open Streets Event, will take place Saturday, May 4th, from 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM. It will temporarily close streets to cars and open them up to people on foot, bikes, skateboards, wheelchairs, and other active transportation modes to repurpose them into a temporary re-imagined public space. On Barranka from Harvard to Creek Road, see map.
-LS
Show your support with a one-click (finished) letter to the Senate Transportation Committee or add your comments. Here's a letter sample:
I join with CalBike in asking you to support SB-960, the Complete Streets Bill before the Transportation Committee. My community Laguna Beach is separated by two major CALTRANS highways with no provisions for other mobility modes; walkers, bikers, and transit. At the same time our community ranks the most dangerous in 103 similar communities due to these Caltrans highways. SB-960 would address these issues.
Here's the link to SB-960.
Here's the CalBike link to send your letter.
-LS
Webinar broadcast now:
Given the allocated funding Calbike will push Caltrans to implement the projects more aggressively.
Webinar ID: 851 8963 0258
CALTRANS got a new gig.
Caltrans is no longer exclusively about moving cars, a new Director’s Policy for Complete Streets (DP-37) addresses moving pedestrians, cyclists, transit and private automobiles. Their new 2022 directive provides technical input and strategic direction on policies and guidance related to walking, biking, and transit.
Since 2022 Caltrans supports a new department dedicated to multi-modal transportation planning, The Caltrans Complete Streets Action Plan is a planning guide for the Caltrans new Directive 37 to build Complete Streets including policy and procedures, standards, funding data collection and promotion.
The CASP identifies key high-priority efforts needed to implement the new Director’s Policy starting 2022.
We can now say "Complete Streets" and "CALTRANS " in the same sentence, so let's embrace the positive changes Caltrans can bring to Laguna Beach.
https://dot.ca.gov/programs/esta/complete-streets
-LS
Calbike sponsored legislation agenda |
California's roadway population is changing, our roads and streets are showing signs of obsolescence, they are becoming Stoads. In Laguna Beach too our roadway users are changing from car-only to mixed-use: a blend of walkers, active transportation, transit and cars.
Complete Streets are safe streets, comfortable for people
who walk, bike, and take transit as well as driving motor vehicles. In 2020 Laguna Beach ranked by OTS as the most dangerous
city in 103 California cities for 1-speed related injuries and fatalities 2-alcohol
related collisions. Laguna Beach demands Complete Streets.
All roadway users demand equal access to our streets and highways, these demands are driven by affordable housing, congestion, economics, trip distance, and parking. Complete Streets are a remedy for a new mobility plan as mandated in LB General Plan Policy and the LB Vision 2030 Strategic Plan, and consistent with climate action policy in the LB Climate Protection Action Plan.
In 2017, a CalBike-commissioned poll showed that Californians across the state, political and demographic groups support building Complete Streets.
In 2019 CalBike sponsored SB 127,
the Complete Streets for Active Living Bill. The bill would
have required Caltrans to follow its own Complete Streets Policy and
prioritize the safety of everyone using our roads. Despite overwhelming support in the legislature and from constituents,
Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed the Bill.
In 2023, CalBike joined 100 mobility, climate justice, and transportation organizations
to write Governor Gavin Newsom, urging an independent
investigation of Caltrans, better oversight and a moratorium on freeway expansion.
In 2024 CalBike and co-sponsors are once again sponsoring a Complete Streets bill introduced by Senator Wiener, SB 960.
The result of the co-sponsors persistence and hard work are a new legislative agenda for 2024. A brief introduction to the new legislation follows.
SB 960, authored by Senator Scott Wiener, would require Caltrans to implement safe infrastructure for people bicycling and walking when it repaves a state route that serves as a local street. CalBike invites you to join their Complete Streets Campaign.
SB 961 another part of Senator Wiener’s safer streets package. This bill consists of two measures; the first part requires trucks to provide side-guards to protect people riding bikes or walking from being
pulled under the rear wheels of a truck. Trucking companies oppose the
measure. The second part requires speed limiters on passenger cars to a maximum 10 mph above the posted speed limit, starting with 2027 models.
AB 2290 the Better Bikeways Bill limits state funding for Class III bikeways (or bike
routes) to streets with speed limits under 20 mph. These are the least
safe bicycle infrastructure, which typically include only Sharrows
marking a lane shared by car drivers and people on bikes. The bill removes loopholes and strengthens requirements for Complete Streets on state and local street projects already funded by the Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Program.
The bill’s final provision creates a quick-build pilot at Caltrans. Quick-build adds safety elements for people bicycling and walking in months rather than years.
AB 2535, sponsored by the Charge Ahead California coalition, limits highway expansions for freight traffic, a critical step toward reducing our freeway dependence and triggeriing induced demand from freeway expansions.
-LS
The Act would streamline FHWA (Federal Highway Administration) road
design practices, require the FHWA to publish new guidance to help
develop multimodal streets work in local contexts, and would no
longer allow a time metric to displace safety and increase dangerous speeds when evaluating
project benefits.
Pedestrian Fatalities Nationally -SmartGrowthAmerica |