The Collector
August 4, 2023
Arcata Council Approves H Street Bike Lane
On Wednesday, the City Council modified plans for a paving project on H Street to include a long-missing stretch of bike lane between 17th and 18th Streets, making one of the city’s main thoroughfares significantly safer for people biking. They also voted to reaffirm their support for the Complete Streets Policy, which requires bike and pedestrian improvements like this to be included automatically in all future projects.
Make no mistake, this happened because of you! CRTP was the first to advocate for this bike lane, and our members and supporters sent in many comments in support of both the bike lane and the Complete Streets Policy. Mayor Sarah Schaefer even thanked us after the vote!
To learn about how other places have become great bike cities, and the importance of designing bike facilities for people of all ages and abilities, check out CRTP’s articles in the latest edition of the Eco News.
A New Bus Route & A New Bus Adventure
A new bus route will start operating during morning and afternoon peak hours in Arcata soon, offering half-hourly service between Valley West and Cal Poly Humboldt. Combined with other existing routes, this will provide buses every 15 minutes between Valley West and central Arcata at some times of day – the first time this kind of frequency has ever been achieved in our region. Research shows that buses generally need to come at least every 15 minutes for people who own cars to choose to ride the bus instead.
If you want to learn more about riding the bus, you can join 350 Humboldt for one of their Bus Adventures! The next Adventure is happening next Thursday at 10 am at the Humboldt Transit Authority depot at 133 V Street in Eureka, where participants will learn how to load bikes onto the bus bike racks. Email cathyck@sbcglobal.net for more information and to RSVP.
Eureka City Council Approves A Few More Downtown Parking Changes
It will cost a little bit more to park in some of the downtown lots soon, although still not enough to cover the cost of maintaining those parking lots – let alone the costs we all bear from more parking and driving, which range from reduced space for downtown housing to deaths and injuries from car crashes to global climate chaos.
Another Gateway Plan Review Session
Concerned that you haven’t heard about the Gateway Plan enough lately? Never fear, even though the Arcata Planning Commission made its formal recommendation to City Council last month, they’ll still be talking more about it next week! CRTP continues to support this bike and pedestrian-friendly infill development plan while advocating for improvements every chance we get.
Street Story Reports Help Us Advocate for Safer Streets
When we are advocating to improve a plan or project, we frequently look at the Street Story map to see what people have reported. Your reports give us better information about the need for safety improvements! So don’t forget to make a report every time you experience a near-miss, a crash, or a hazardous location. La versión de Street Story en español está disponible aquí. 
News from Beyond the North Coast
People Really Love E-Bike Incentives
In a new survey, most bicyclists said they’d actually pick up and move to a new city if it offered them an e-bike.
Taking Away Drivers Licenses Hasn’t Made Our Roads Safer
Although justified as a public safety measure, most license suspensions are really just punishments meted out to low-income people for not being able to pay their debts.
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.