The Collector
November 21, 2025
Dangerous Downtown Streets: Another View of Biking Across 4th and 5th Streets
Imagine you’re cruising down I Street on your bike, heading toward downtown in the new buffered bike lane. Then you get to 6th Street, and suddenly you have to cross two turn lanes and merge with busy car traffic to reach your destination. Click here to watch a video of just this experience. Afterwards, you can also click here to watch all the other point-of-view videos we’ve produced documenting the experiences of pedestrians and bicyclists in the 4th & 5th Street corridor.
After you watch, you can read our full 4th and 5th Street safety report. And if you’d like to report a safety concern in the corridor to Caltrans, click here and scroll down to “Safety Concern” in the “Situation Type” menu. We also encourage everyone to continue making Street Story reports, so that concerns are publicly documented.
Memo to Local Governments: Climate Change is a Crisis
The Board of the Humboldt County Association of Governments (HCAOG) is made up of representatives from the County of Humboldt and all seven of its incorporated cities. At a Board meeting this Thursday, these representatives made several decisions that suggest a troubling lack of urgency in their approach to addressing the climate crisis.
Most prominently, the Board discussed a proposal to completely remove the phrase “climate crisis” from the new version of the Regional Transportation Plan. Some Board members expressed their belief that climate change is in fact a crisis, while others thought the word “crisis” is overused. Apparently those folks didn’t think that one of the biggest existential threats in the history of humanity merits the term. Regardless of the individual views they expressed, Board members voted unanimously to publicly release the new draft plan with the word “crisis” removed.
Scientists and government bodies around the world have identified climate change as a global crisis. At a time when the US government is actively undermining climate action, our local responsibility to act on the crisis is greater than ever. And transportation is our biggest source of climate pollution.
Of course, while language is important, actions speak louder than words. And the new draft Regional Transportation Plan provides more for climate advocates to be worried about. For example, it calls for delaying critical targets for building walkable housing, reducing vehicle miles traveled, and building electric vehicle charging stations. This comes at the same time that HCAOG continues to move forward with a regional housing plan that fails to adequately discourage climate-wrecking sprawl.
Perhaps most troubling of all, HCAOG continues to resist any policy that would hold it accountable to its own climate and safety targets when deciding which local transportation projects to fund. In fact, the draft Regional Transportation Plan the Board voted to release on Thursday eliminates a prior commitment to track the effects of its funded projects on things like climate and safety.
At the same meeting, Board members rebuffed CRTP’s request to adopt a policy to ensure that funded projects are consistent with its own stated goals on issues like the climate crisis. Instead, they approved funding for several projects with no such analysis. And they did so after we explained to the Board in detail that one of the approved projects – a large, complex roundabout in Fortuna – will, as designed, result in increased driving and unsafe conditions for people walking and biking, contrary to HCAOG’s own goals.
Stay tuned for more information about how we are pushing back against these troubling developments. In the meantime, you can take HCAOG’s survey about the Regional Transportation Plan update to express your opinions.
NEW DATE: Family-Friendly Bike Ride This Saturday Using New McKinleyville Protected Bike Lanes!
Last weekend’s planned bike ride in McKinleyville was postponed due to the weather, but we’ve rescheduled it for Saturday (tomorrow!). Join us for a slow-paced, family-friendly bike ride celebrating the new protected bike lanes and beautiful murals on Hiller Road! You can choose either a short ride starting at Hiller Park, or a slightly longer ride starting at the Mad River Trailhead. The current forecast calls for rain on Sunday, but we’ll only be canceling for heavy rain or major stormy conditions. Light rain won’t stop us!
We’ll depart from the Mad River Trailhead at 11:00 am and head toward Hiller Park, using the Hammond Trail. We’ll stop at Hiller Park at around 11:20 am to pick up folks who are starting their ride there, and then head up Hiller toward Central Avenue. After using the new eastbound protected bike lane on Hiller, we’ll stop near Central to check out the new murals, then head back using the westbound protected bike lane. The ride will end around noon at Seagoat Farm Stand with free hot tea and the opportunity to buy some snacks at the farm stand. People of all ages and abilities are welcome.
Whether you can join us for the ride or not, we also encourage all community members to take this county survey to provide feedback about the project.
Walk Audits, Bike Audits, and Community Meetings!
The Humboldt County Association of Governments (HCAOG) does a lot of important work, and CRTP often works with them to advance our priorities for safe, sustainable, equitable transportation. In this edition of The Collector, we’ve strongly criticized what we see as backsliding by HCAOG. CRTP will always call out such problems at local agencies. But we will also always support them when they are trying to do the right thing.
The week after Thanksgiving, HCAOG is bringing internationally recognized experts Dan Burden and Victor Dover to Humboldt for a series of walk audits, bike audits, and community meetings to promote “vibrant, walkable/rollable, livable neighborhoods.” This is an important effort to educate the public and local decision-makers about safe and sustainable transportation.
Monday, December 1st will feature a walk and bike audit in Hoopa. On Tuesday, December 2nd, there will be walk and bike audits in Arcata and Eureka, and a community meeting in McKinleyville. On Wednesday, December 3rd, the visit will conclude with a regional community workshop in Eureka. Check out the full schedule here and mark your calendar for as many events as you can!
Indianola Undercrossing Partially Complete
Local media were buzzing this week about the fact that the Indianola undercrossing on US-101 between Eureka and Arcata opened for car traffic, following decades of planning and development work. If we were in charge, we would have designed a different safety project for this location. Nevertheless, the new undercrossing will undoubtedly improve safety for motorists, and that’s a really good thing. However, bicyclists and pedestrian take note: while the overpass is now carrying car traffic, the part of the project that will provide access under the highway, to and from the new Humboldt Bay Trail, has not yet been completed.
You Can Still Report Your Unmet Transit Needs
Several local agencies – including the City of Arcata – held their annual Unmet Transit Needs hearings this week. But if you missed those meetings, you can still report your unmet needs! Submit your comments by taking HCAOG’s survey or emailing your comments directly to HCAOG.
News from Beyond the North Coast
Trump Administration Proposes to Eliminate Federal Transit Funding
The Trump administration has been slashing previously approved funding for transit projects since it took office in January. Now, the administration is taking its attack on transit to a new level, proposing to completely eliminate the main source of federal funding for transit agencies, while at the same time prohibiting states from using any highway funds for transit. If this proposal is approved by Congress, it would, as Transportation for America says, “annihilate state and local transportation budgets.”
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.