The Collector
April 26, 2024
Bike Month Starts Next Week!
May is Bike Month, and as always the Bike Month Humboldt Coalition is coordinating a number of events including fun group rides and the annual Bike Celebration at Jefferson Community Center in Eureka. Next week’s events include a First Friday ride and a Bike Rodeo and Clinic at Mad River Brewing in Blue Lake on Saturday, May 4th. Then on Sunday, May 5th, CRTP will be leading a Street Story-themed ride, starting at 11 am in front of the Creamery Building in Arcata. Check out the whole Bike Month calendar here. And don’t forget to register for the Love to Ride challenge, where you can register your rides and encourage other people on their rides too!
Public Workshop Next Week on Arcata K & 11th Street Improvements
Next Thursday at 5:30 pm, the City of Arcata is hosting a workshop at Redwood Coast Montessori (793 K Street) to gather public input on safety improvements for K & 11th Streets. Prioritizing near-term safety improvements for bikes & pedestrians on these streets has been a core demand from CRTP for the last several years, and we’re glad to see the city responding. We have specifically called for a “quick build” strategy, which means low-cost, temporary changes that can improve safety almost immediately while funding and plans are refined for more permanent changes. The Planning Commission endorsed this idea at a recent meeting as well. (And non-Arcatans should note that quick-build isn’t just for Arcata: this week, the McKinleyville Municipal Advisory Committee voted to support the concept of a quick-build overhaul of Hiller Road.)
K and 11th Streets are busy streets with frequently high-speed traffic. They have no bike facilities and are dangerous to cross while walking, biking or rolling. If you want to support near-term safety improvements on these streets, please come out next Thursday and show your support for meaningful quick-build changes as part of a longer term design overhaul. You can also provide input through the city’s survey, and of course you should keep making reports on Street Story too.
Support Public Transit as a County Budget Priority
Humboldt County is circulating a survey asking community members for feedback on their budget priorities. The topics include “climate action including transit” – which would mean attracting more riders to transit instead of driving – and “maintaining and expanding bus services” for people who depend on transit. Both of these things mean investing in better transit service, and both are critically important. The county needs to hear that community members prioritize investments in public transit, both for climate action and for transportation equity. If you agree, please take the survey and give top marks to transit.
Will Humboldt County Require Tiny Houses to Have Big Parking Lots?
The Humboldt County Planning Commission recently discussed a draft ordinance to allow tiny house developments, both for long-term residence and for emergency and transitional housing. Unfortunately, the draft ordinance they discussed would require extra-wide driveways and at least one parking space per tiny house, meaning the space required for parking would exceed the size of the houses. These requirements would unnecessarily limit the number of homes that can be built and increase the cost of what is supposed to be affordable housing – despite the fact that many tiny house residents will not even own cars, and some tiny houses will be built where there is plenty of parking already. Mandating new parking spaces for these homes is unfair and counterproductive. CRTP has asked that the requirements be removed.
Street Story is for People Who Use Wheelchairs and Other Mobility Devices, Too!
People using any mode of transportation, including wheelchairs and other mobility devices, can report their experiences of crashes, near-misses, hazards/unsafe or safe locations on Street Story. People using wheelchairs and other mobility devices can face unique hazards like sidewalks that have obstructions, overgrown vegetation encroaching on the sidewalk, intersections with poor visibility, etc. The Street Story platform lists “mobility device” as a transportation mode and provides a variety of device type options: wheelchair, walker or cane, white cane, guide dog, prosthetic, or other. It is important to the Street Story team to make sure the platform is inclusive for all travelers and circumstances. La versión de Street Story en español está disponible aquí.
News from Beyond the North Coast
Caltrans Complete Streets Bill Passes Senate Transportation Committee
If passed and signed by the governor, SB 960 will create a clear mandate for Caltrans to include improved bike, pedestrian and transit facilities in all of its relevant projects. That would make a huge difference in places where state highways pass through local communities, as in most North Coast towns.
Also approved by the committee was a significantly watered down bill requiring speed monitoring systems in new vehicles, and another bill prohibiting state funding for bike “sharrows,” which research has found do not improve safety (and may even make things worse).
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.