The Collector
August 15, 2025
University Offers Free Car Sharing – And More Parking
Cal Poly Humboldt is currently offering free annual Zipcar memberships to students, staff, and faculty! Car-sharing programs like Zipcar allow people to access a vehicle when they need one, without having to bear the full cost of car ownership or find a long-term parking spot. And car-sharing can empower people to take more trips by walking, biking, rolling, and public transit when they don’t need a car.
We applaud Cal Poly for offering this program. However, we are disappointed that at the same time, they are completing plans to build a big off-campus parking lot on Foster Avenue in the Arcata Bottoms. Encouraging students to sign up for a car-share program while at the same time expanding parking for their private vehicles makes no sense. The university is sending mixed messages to students and the community. Cal Poly’s adopted climate action plan includes several important strategies for reducing transportation emissions and encouraging more active transportation and transit use, but it will never be possible to achieve their climate goals if they continue to use the limited land and funding available to them to build big parking lots.
Energy Efficiency & Electrification Fair Next Week
Next Tuesday, August 19th, from 4-7 pm at the Jefferson Community Center in Eureka, 350 Humboldt will be hosting an energy efficiency and electrification fair with information about how to take advantage of federal and state subsidies for building and transportation upgrades – before those subsidies disappear. Topics will include electric vehicles and e-bikes, as well as heat pumps, solar panels, batteries, and energy efficiency upgrades. CRTP is a co-sponsor of this great event.
Planning Commission to Get First Look at McKinleyville Town Center Ordinance
After six years of meetings at the McKinleyville Municipal Advisory Committee (with at least one more meeting still to come), the Humboldt County Planning Commission will finally get its first chance to discuss the McKinleyville Town Center ordinance at a public workshop next Thursday at 6 pm. The Commission won’t take any votes at this meeting, but they will discuss the ordinance and hear public comments. You can attend either in person at the county courthouse or online via Zoom, or email comments in advance. (The official agenda has not been posted as of the time we’re writing this, but it will be posted here soon.) With the crucial decision about a needed safety redesign of Central Avenue still unsettled, it’s important for commissioners to hear from people in support of a lane reduction and protected bike lanes on both sides of the street.
Regional Transportation Plan Update Approaching
Every four years, state law requires regions to update their Regional Transportation Plans. Humboldt County’s new plan is due next January, and the Humboldt County Association of Governments (HCAOG) is preparing for the required update now. The HCAOG Board will hear an update at their meeting next week.
CRTP is a fan of Humboldt County’s current plan, which includes ambitious “Safe and Sustainable Transportation Targets” for cutting climate pollution and increasing transportation safety. CRTP and our supporters worked hard to ensure these targets were included in the current plan, and we’ll be advocating to keep them in the new plan – and to make sure we actually make progress toward meeting those targets, too.
Great Redwood Trail Progress Reported
State Senator Mike McGuire hosted a virtual town hall meeting this week to provide updates on the Great Redwood Trail, which will someday follow old railroad tracks from San Francisco Bay all the way to Humboldt Bay. McGuire and Great Redwood Trail Agency officials reported that a third of the trail is already built, under construction, or in “final planning” stages – including the recently completed Humboldt Bay Trail between Arcata and Eureka!
News from Beyond the North Coast
Analysis of San Francisco Data Shows Policing Hasn’t Improved Traffic Safety
Academic research has long suggested that while concentrated policing in a particular location can temporarily lower traffic speeds, enforcement of traffic laws does not have a sustainable, long-term impact on safety. A new analysis of years of data from San Francisco adds to this body of evidence, finding that the number of traffic tickets issued by police officers had no impact on the number of people killed on the streets.
Safer Roads for Wildlife and People
A bill in the California legislature, AB 902, would require future highway projects in certain areas of the state to include designs that allow safe wildlife crossings, reducing the toll of roadkill on wildlife populations and improving safety for motorists. Click here to express your support for the bill as it approaches some difficult votes in the legislature.
Let’s Eliminate Costly Parking Mandates Nationwide!
Minimum parking mandates for new development raise housing costs, make many new housing projects impossible to build, and encourage car dependency – and they’re not based on any scientific evidence whatsoever. A “People Over Parking” bill in Congress would dramatically reduce these mandates in communities across the country. Click here to sign a petition in support of the bill.
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.