The Collector
April 10, 2026
Join Us for a Solidarity Gathering!
Next Monday, April 13th, join CRTP and our allies at Friends of the Eel River and EPIC for a Solidarity Gathering from 5-7 pm at Humbrews in Arcata. This is an opportunity to learn how to participate in community decision-making and help shape the future of our cities, rivers, and forests. CRTP will share about our campaign for safer local streets, and EPIC will teach you how to get involved in environmental policy-making in our region.
Humbrews is generously donating a portion of sales during the event, so please bring your family out to have dinner and drinks and join the movement to support what our community cares about. There will also be a raffle!
Friends of the Eel River is hosting these gatherings every month to help community members plan creative resistance to the Trump administration’s destructive policies, learn about community initiatives, and take meaningful action to protect the people, creatures, and values we all hold dear. Join us on Monday, and keep an eye out for the next one!
Share Your Transit Story
If you are a transit rider on the North Coast, we want to hear from you about the importance of public transit in your life. We’re looking for a paragraph or two about why you ride, how transit makes your life better, what you couldn’t do without it, how it could be better with more public support, and any other thoughts you want to share. Your story could help build support for more transit investment in our region!
Don’t Forget to Buy Those Raffle Tickets!
CRTP is raffling off a dual-battery BLIX cargo e-bike, and there’s still time to buy tickets. Tickets are $5 each or 5 tickets for $20, and all proceeds benefit CRTP. To buy tickets, email cemone2@reninet.com or contact any CRTP Board Member. The drawing will be May 1st – the first day of Bike Month!
Show Your Support for Fixing Our Most Dangerous Streets
Almost 600 residents of Eureka and other local communities have signed our petition for safer 4th and 5th Streets so far. If you haven’t signed yet, there’s still time!
We are also looking for endorsements from organizations, businesses, and elected officials. If you represent a group that would like to publicly endorse the petition and encourage people to sign, email colin@transportationpriorities.org.
Trail Updates, from Eureka to Cloverdale
The City of Eureka has published a new story map with information about the planned Bay to Zoo Trail. CRTP has advocated for this trail for years and is excited to see progress toward construction. However, we continue to have some concerns about its design.
When designing a trail meant to serve bicyclists of all ages and abilities, it’s crucial that the entire route be comfortable and safe for everyone from kids to seniors. But, despite labeling the entire planned route a “trail,” the city plans to require bicyclists to ride in the street with not even a bike lane from St. Joseph’s Hospital south to the Sequoia Park Zoo. We are also concerned about the design of a new roundabout trail crossing at Myrtle Avenue. Preliminary designs appear to show bicyclists diverted onto sidewalks or into the street, with no safe, dedicated crossing location.
In other trail news, a recent ruling by an obscure federal railroad agency is presenting new challenges for the future of the Great Redwood Trail. The ruling means that the Great Redwood Trail Agency will not be able to convert train tracks from Willits to Cloverdale directly into a trail, but instead will have to preserve the rails alongside this important central piece of the trail. As Humboldt’s trail advocates know from years of experience, this “rails with trails” approach dramatically increases the cost of trail-building and as well as the environmental impact.
News from Beyond the North Coast
Pedestrian Deaths are Down, But Still Too High
A new report from the Governors Highway Safety Association estimates that pedestrian deaths dropped by 11% in the first half of 2025, and deaths in California decreased nearly 32% from the year before. This is incredibly good news, and should be celebrated. However, we must consider these safety gains in context.
Despite the progress, fatalities remain higher than they were before the pandemic, which saw a huge increase in pedestrian deaths. The Trump administration is slashing funding for the kinds of infrastructure upgrades which likely contributed to the recent safety gains. And, if you’re a decision-maker focused more on dollars than deaths, it should be noted that even at this reduced level of deaths, pedestrian fatalities are costing the US economy more than $40 billion every six months.
Stop Doing What Doesn’t Work
There’s no reason to fix a dangerous intersection until someone is killed. A pedestrian who is killed by a driver is to blame for their own death. The real solution to the traffic safety crisis is more police enforcement or pedestrian education.
If you’re a transportation safety advocate, these refrains will sound very familiar to you. They are repeated over and over again by public officials in response to demands for street safety upgrades. But these and other common ideas are all completely wrong, and the safety “solutions” they suggest just don’t work.
Safe Biking Networks Are Both Necessary and Possible
A new study confirms previous findings that building low-stress, protected bike lanes leads to more people biking. But the findings also show that bigger ridership increases come only when communities build complete networks of low-stress facilities, rather than disconnected projects here and there.
A complete network of comfortable bike lanes might sound like a pipe dream, but it’s not! With enough political will, infrastructure can change quickly. The city of El Paso has demonstrated this dramatically, building 1,000 miles of bike lanes over the last 10 years.
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.