The Collector
May 19, 2023
Editor’s Note: The Collector is on a break for the next two weeks. See you in June!
Bike Month Celebration and Expo Tomorrow
Celebrate Bike Month with a wide variety of bike-loving folks on Saturday from 11 am to 2 pm at the Jefferson Community Center in Eureka. CRTP will be providing bike valet, and we look forward to watching your bike while you enjoy the event!
And while you’re in Eureka, you can also visit the new Broadway Pop-up Demonstration Project. This project, which will stay up for about a month, demonstrates several options for protected bike lanes and pedestrian safety improvements on Broadway. Check it out and fill out the survey to give Caltrans your feedback. Results will help inform the design choices for the permanent Broadway safety improvements that CRTP has been advocating for years.
Bay Trail South Is Officially Under Construction!
It has taken decades to reach this point, but when construction is complete, Arcata and Eureka will finally be linked by a safe, comfortable facility for people walking, biking and rolling.
In other groundbreaking news (pun intended), Cal Poly Humboldt has begun construction on the big student housing project at the Craftsman Mall site in Arcata. This project will provide desperately needed housing for hundreds of students within walking distance of campus and downtown. And it will be built right on the future Annie & Mary Trail, which will soon provide connections north through Valley West and south all the way through Eureka (via the new Bay Trail South).
Proposals for Possible Transit Service Changes
A consultant for the Humboldt County Association of Governments recently published a memo laying out several proposals for changes to Humboldt County’s transit systems. Next Tuesday, you can attend a public workshop to give your feedback on the proposals (click here to register).
CRTP supports all-day transit service which is as frequent as financially feasible, bearing in mind the need for more local transit funding. Specifically, we continue to support calls for buses every 15 minutes between McKinleyville and College of the Redwoods, a major service upgrade which was not explicitly addressed in the latest memo.
However, we also support several of the service changes which are considered in the memo, including: adding express service from McKinleyville to College of the Redwoods; redesigning Eureka Transit System routes to a more efficient “hub and spoke” system; implementing microtransit services in McKinleyville and on the Samoa peninsula; and adding a new “Green Route” to the Arcata & Mad River Transit System.
Humboldt Supervisors Discuss Impact Fees, River Access
If properly designed, development impact fees could provide a more steady and predictable revenue source for public transit, bike and pedestrian infrastructure (among many other things) – or they could just support more car and truck infrastructure. On Tuesday, the Supervisors directed county staff to investigate the possibilities and report back.
The Supervisors also discussed Fisher Road in Carlotta, a public access route to the Van Duzen River which has been threatened recently by the actions of private property owners. CRTP and other trail supporters are advocating to maintain public access as an important amenity for users of the future Great Redwood Trail.
Keep on Making Those Street Story Reports!
Reports of hazards on the street, as well as near-misses and even actual collisions, help CRTP advocate for safety improvements and help local governments get safety grants. The more reports we have, the harder it is for decision-makers to ignore. You can even review reports other people have made if you want to advocate for safety improvements yourself! So make reporting on Street Story part of your routine. La versión de Street Story en español está disponible aquí.
News from Beyond the North Coast
Free Student Transit Pass Bill Moves Forward
AB 620, which would create a fund for free youth and college student transit pass programs, passed out of the Assembly Appropriations Committee this week. Another notable transportation bill which passed out of Appropriations and escaped the dreaded “suspense file” (where many bills go to die in Sacramento) was SB 50, which would prohibit police officers from stopping cars or bikes for low-level infractions and authorize unarmed civilian enforcement of traffic laws, a move CRTP strongly supports.
Who Wants to Go Back to the Office When the Commute Is So Bad?
A big part of the reason many people want to keep working remotely is that they hate long drives to and from the office. Building more compact, walkable and bikeable communities would help.
The Collector is CRTP’s weekly transportation news roundup, published every Friday. We focus on North Coast news, but we also include relevant state, national and international transportation news – plus other items that we just find kind of interesting! To submit items for consideration, email colin@transportationpriorities.org.