Eureka Transit & Housing Center Moving Forward!

Posted on November 7, 2025 by Colin Fiske

The Collector

October 7, 2025

Dangerous Downtown Streets: Biking Across 4th & 5th Streets

A view from on top of a bike helmet shows an intersection with yellow truncated domes on the sidewalk and a painted ladder-style crosswalk across three lanes of one-way traffic. Cars are approaching in all three lanes. A caption reads: Cars begin pulling out of side streets and parking spaces when there is a gap in cars."

It’s clearly unsafe to bike on 4th and 5th Streets, so few people do. People who need to bike along these streets typically ride on the sidewalk for their own safety. However, lots of people have to cross these streets on their bikes to get to their destinations. To get a sense of that experience, check out this video from the point of view of one bicyclist navigating downtown Eureka. Sometimes there’s a convenient gap in traffic that allows a bicyclist to cross, but visibility is frequently limited, and often you have to wait a long time. 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 4^th & 5^th 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.

Vote for CRTP!

Voting is underway in the North Coast Co-op’s annual contest to choose recipients of the Seeds for Change register round-up program. Organizations selected for the program will receive donations next year from Co-op customers who “round up” their purchases at the register. This is a really important opportunity to support CRTP’s work! If you’re a Co-op member, please click here to vote for CRTP (starting Monday), or vote in person at one of the Co-op stores. We also encourage voting for our friends and allies at EPIC, Humboldt Waterkeeper, Friends of the Eel River, and Affordable Homeless Housing Alternatives. Voting ends Sunday, November 16th.

Family-Friendly Bike Ride Using New McKinleyville Protected Bike Lanes!

Looking down a wide street, a linear strip of blue, green, and yellow geometrically patterned mural recedes into the background, bordering a bike lane with white-striped buffers on both sides. People can be seen in the background working on the mural, protected by traffic cones.

Join CRTP on Sunday, November 16th 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.

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. Heavy rain cancels.

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.

Eureka Transit & Housing Center Moving Forward!

A computer rendering shows a four-story green-and-tan building from the corner view, with wooden awnings above the ground floor. It is fronted by wide sidewalks with a loaded bike rack, a bus shelter, and street trees.

The Eureka Regional Transit and Housing Center (EaRTH Center) will provide a much-needed downtown transit hub to coordinate local and regional bus routes as well as services like bikeshare. It also includes commercial space on the ground floor and 45 new affordable housing units on upper floors. A joint project of the Humboldt Transit Authority (HTA), the City of Eureka, and Danco, the EaRTH Center received all of its regulatory approvals long ago, but has been waiting on crucial tax credit financing to support the affordable housing part of the project. At HTA’s board meeting this week, staff announced that this funding is finally on its way! A formal schedule has not yet been announced, but construction may begin as soon as next spring.

Local E-Bike Voucher Program Out of Cash for Now

The Redwood Coast Energy Authority’s popular e-bike voucher program, which provides $400-$1,000 toward the purchase of a qualifying e-bike, has run out of money again. This is frustrating news for those hoping to purchase an e-bike, but the extremely high level of interest is a good sign for our community! E-bikes enable people to replace more car trips and can increase active mobility for seniors and many others. If you’re interested in getting a voucher from RCEA to help pay for an e-bike, you can still fill out the application to get on the wait list.

Driver Kills Person Walking on Highway 96

We extend our condolences to the family of Jason McCullough, an Arcata resident who was struck and killed by a driver on Highway 96 in Hoopa last week. We do not know many details about this crash or the victim. But we do know that it occurred on the Hoopa Valley Reservation, and that Native people in the US are far more likely than any other group to be killed while walking. This grim statistic is thought to be the combined result of high poverty rates, which result in many people without access to a vehicle, and a lack of safe pedestrian infrastructure in Indian country.

McCullough was killed while walking on a highway that is the only way to get to most destinations in Hoopa, but lacks any kind of pedestrian infrastructure. Given this context, we find it strange and insensitive that the California Highway Patrol press release described McCullough as walking on the highway “for unknown reasons,” and implied that he may have been walking while intoxicated (which, unlike intoxicated driving, is not illegal).

News from Beyond the North Coast

Tell CARB to Permanently Fund E-Bike Vouchers

The California Air Resources Board took years to roll out a small amount of funding for e-bike vouchers to help lower income Californians buy e-bikes. When the vouchers were finally available, they were wildly popular, and the program ran out of vouchers almost immediately. But now, inexplicably, CARB is cancelling the program and transferring the remaining funding to a program that supports purchases of electric cars.

E-bikes are much more affordable and have a much smaller environmental impact than any kind of car. The evidence shows they help people replace car trips with bike trips, and that people are eager to make that change! Tell CARB to permanent fund e-bike incentives rather than canceling this popular and effective program.

Transportation Issues Play Key Role in Mamdani Victory

On Tuesday, New York City voters elected Zohran Mamdani as the city’s next mayor in a historic election that has been the focus of significant national media attention. Mamdani’s promise of “fast and free” buses has grabbed headlines (and received some criticism), but he is also known as a cyclist who has pledged to improve New York’s bike infrastructure. New York is unique among American cities, but transportation innovations there often end up being copied around the country eventually, so we’ll be watching to see how Mamdani follows through on his campaign pledges.

Communities for Kids

Kids make up the biggest share of nondrivers in most communities, but are often forgotten when it comes to transportation planning. Kids benefit greatly from independent mobility and safe places to play, but are extremely vulnerable to being hurt or killed by drivers. And experts point out that designing communities to be safe and fun places for kids also makes them safe and fun for everyone else!

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.

Walking on 4th & 5th Streets at Night

Posted on October 31, 2025 by Colin Fiske

The Collector

October 31, 2025

Dangerous Downtown Streets: 4th & 5th Streets at Night

A nighttime intersection is shown, with visible crosswalks and a few streetlights, but otherwise very dark. A caption with an arrow reads: "Notice the bicyclist riding on the sidewalk..."

If you’ve never walked around Eureka’s 4th and 5th Streets at night, check out this video produced by CRTP. The level of comfort and safety you feel as a pedestrian can change dramatically after dark. 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 4^th & 5^th Street corridor.

Vote for CRTP!

Voting begins Monday in the North Coast Co-op’s annual contest to choose recipients of the Seeds for Change register round-up program – and CRTP is on the ballot! Organizations selected for the program will receive donations for one month next year from all Co-op customers who “round up” their purchases at the register. For CRTP, these donations would go a long way toward covering our annual expenses! If you’re a Co-op member, please click here to vote for CRTP (starting Monday), or vote in person at one of the Co-op stores. Voting ends Sunday, November 16th.

Complete Streets Policies at Work

Long-time readers of The Collector may recall that, several years ago, CRTP worked hard to get the cities of Eureka and Arcata to adopt official Complete Streets policies. These policies require that whenever a construction project affects a city street, it must include accommodations for people walking, biking, and using public transit (along with the typical car infrastructure). Since these policies were adopted, they haven’t always been implemented perfectly. But there’s no denying they’re having an effect!

This year, for example, in order to comply with its Complete Streets policy, the City of Eureka added new striping, signage, sidewalks, curb ramps, and other bike and pedestrian improvements to its annual pavement rehabilitation project – all without any need for advocacy from CRTP. The improvements covered by Complete Streets policies aren’t big, flashy projects, and we often have disagreements about how they are designed and implemented. But collectively, over time, they can make a big difference.

A Life Is More Important Than a Traffic Jam

This week, another life was lost on a local highway, this time in a crash near Rio Dell. We are disturbed that headline writers commonly focus on the traffic implications of such crashes, rather than the life that was lost. We understand that drivers want to know about conditions on the road. But when the media present the loss of life as a second-tier concern, it only perpetuates cultural apathy around preventable traffic deaths.

Holiday Card Art Contest!

A computer rendering shows a snowman in a snowy landscape. The snowman is wearing a red coat and sitting in a wheelchair, and has two crutches leaning on either side.

CRTP’s friends over at Tri-County Independent Living have launched their 2025 Holiday Card Competition. Individuals with disabilities are invited to send in their entries by November 21st to be entered in the competition for cash prizes. The first place winner will receive $100! All entries will also be entered into the larger grand prize drawing with a prize of either a chromebook or a tablet. This year TCIL will be opening the competition to all age groups, with a youth category for kids 12 and under. Click here to enter the contest, or contact jessica@tilinet.org for more information.

News from Beyond the North Coast

Something Really Scary for Halloween

For generations, urban legends have abounded about the supposed dangers of kids accepting dangerous candy from malicious strangers. While there is no factual basis for these legends, that doesn’t mean Halloween is totally safe for kids. In fact, Halloween is by far the most dangerous day of the year for young pedestrians, with one 2018 study finding that 4- to 8-year-old kids are 10 times more likely to be hit and killed by drivers on Halloween than any other day of the year. The risk to kids is heightened when, as this year, Halloween falls on a weekend, since drivers are more likely to be intoxicated.

Threats to Freedom of Movement in Indian Country

The crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) isn’t commonly thought of as a transportation problem, but advocates point out that transportation plays a role. For example, the lack of safe places to walk, bike, or ride public transit can sometimes trap women and girls in dangerous situations.

Climate Pollution Keeps Rising

New data from the United Nations shows that 2024 was both the hottest year on record and also marked the highest levels of greenhouse gas emissions on record. In the United States, transportation is the leading source of climate-changing pollution.

McKinleyville Town Center Ordinance Approved!

Posted on October 24, 2025 by Colin Fiske

The Collector

October 24, 2025

Dangerous Downtown Streets: Accessibility Expert Crosses 4th Street

A point-of-view camera shot shows the front of a large white vehicle parked along a curb, with the sidewalk to the left blocked by a chain-link fence. To the right is a three-lane, one-way street.

Recently, accessibility expert and CRTP Board member Peggy Martinez was kind enough to put on a camera and document a little bit of what it’s like to navigate Eureka’s 4th and 5th Streets (US-101) as a blind person. One of the results is this video, which begins at 4th & B Streets and lasts for the full ten minutes it took just to get to a safe crossing point and get across the street! 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 4^th & 5^th Street corridor.

After you watch, click here to 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.

McKinleyville Town Center Ordinance Approved!

A diagram shows a typical cross-section design for Central Avenue, including wide sidewalks with landscaped buffers, bike lanes protected by hardscaped areas or planters, and three lanes of traffic - one in each direction and a central turn lane.

On Monday, the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors approved the McKinleyville Town Center ordinance, including a Central Avenue safety redesign! We’re grateful to the McKinleyville Municipal Advisory Committee and many others for their hard work on this ordinance over the last 6 years.

We’re especially grateful to all of CRTP’s members and supporters who participated in this process. Our collective education and advocacy efforts ensured that the future Town Center will be more walkable and bikeable in all sorts of ways, including:

Future homes will be built more densely and mixed with commercial and civic space, putting more destinations within walking distance.
Instead of buildings set back behind massive parking lots, parking will be limited and located in shared lots behind buildings, and buildings will feature pedestrian-friendly frontage designs.
A transit center will eventually be built, along with a network of paved trails and car-free spaces.
Two lanes of Central Avenue will be repurposed for protected bike lanes, dramatically increasing safety and comfort for people walking, biking, and rolling. New sidewalks, landscaping, and traffic calming features will also be added.
Protected bikeways, sidewalks, landscaping, and traffic calming features will be added to Hiller Road.

This is a major milestone in the history of Humboldt County’s third largest community. We’re excited to see the Town Center take shape in the years to come!

Hiller Road Quick-Build Safety Improvements Taking Shape

Three women are painting a strip of asphalt with blue and white paint. Two are bent over their work, while a third is smiling at the camera. Traffic cones and trees are visible in the background.

The Hiller Road quick-build safety project is under way, with protected bike lanes almost complete between Central Avenue and McKinleyville Avenue. Last weekend, local mural artists and community volunteers created beautiful asphalt art in the bike lane buffers and other available spaces. Changes to the intersection of McKinleyville Avenue and Hiller Road are expected soon, along with another mural.

While the county is paying for the road improvements, the mural expenses are being funded entirely from crowdfunded donations. Money is still needed to make sure the mural artists are compensated fairly for their work! Click here to donate.

Obscure But Important Rule Adopted by Humboldt Supervisors

The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires the transportation impacts of new development projects to be assessed in terms of how much they increase or decrease people’s driving, a measurement transportation nerds call vehicle miles traveled, or VMT. But until this week, Humboldt County had no standard for determining when a change in VMT was “significant.” On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors adopted an official rule: transportation impacts of a development will be deemed significant if future residents or employees can be expected to drive 85% or more of the current average for all other county residents.

CRTP had asked for a significance threshold set at 75% of average, because California’s statewide climate plan requires a 25% reduction in VMT. We also advocated for setting separate baselines for urban and rural parts of the county, because people have such different driving habits in these areas. We’re disappointed the Supervisors didn’t take up these suggestions. But we’re grateful that they rejected the other option under consideration, which was to exclude residents of the county’s towns and cities – who generally drive less – from the calculation. Doing that would have resulted in an artificially high threshold.

If your eyes have glazed over at this point, here’s why this is important: When an impact is “significant” under CEQA, the law requires a project to adopt mitigation measures to reduce the impact. And when it comes to VMT, mitigation measures include things like bike and pedestrian infrastructure and improved transit service. In other words, the new significance threshold will have a big impact on future funding for safe, sustainable, and equitable transportation improvements in the county.

Eureka C Street Bike Boulevard Getting Closer to Completion

This week, the City of Eureka took the next steps toward completion of the C Street Bike Boulevard by designating certain blocks as one-way and changing some intersection configurations. The new bike boulevard features pairs of one-way streets in opposite directions, but allows two-way bike travel the whole way. The opposing one-way streets are an important design feature that reduces the amount and speed of car traffic, making biking safer while still preserving local car access.

The bike boulevard was funded by a $2.2 million state grant from the highly competitive and chronically underfunded Action Transportation Program. Meanwhile, Caltrans just announced more than a hundred million dollars in new state and federal funding for repairs and other projects on the state highway system on the North Coast. We’d never suggest that there aren’t urgently needed repairs on the state highway system, but there is an ongoing and striking funding discrepancy between safety projects – especially for people walking and biking – and projects to maintain and enhance highways for vehicles.

More Reflections on the Week Without Driving

The latest episode of the EcoNews Report features EPIC Executive Director Tom Wheeler, CRTP Executive Director Colin Fiske, and Humboldt County Supervisor Natalie Arroyo reflecting on experiences during this year’s Week Without Driving. Check it out!

News from Beyond the North Coast

CalBike Tackles the E-Bike Controversy

Here at CRTP, we’re big fans of e-bikes. They get people on bikes who otherwise wouldn’t or couldn’t bike, and they make it easier for people to replace car trips with bike trips. But just like any technology, e-bikes can be misused, and unfortunately a moral panic has developed in recent years about the supposed threats posed by speeding e-bikes. CalBike has now convened a statewide working group to study the issues around e-bikes and other electric mobility devices and make recommendations for policy solutions.

Why Do Fire Departments Block Street Safety Improvements?

It is all too common in the United States for fire departments to object to basic street safety interventions, from speed bumps to bike lanes. That’s despite the fact that car and truck crashes account for the large majority of incidents fire departments respond to in most areas. A new study reviews the reasons for these conflicts, and suggests some solutions.

McKinleyville Town Center Faces Final Vote Monday

Posted on October 17, 2025 by Colin Fiske

The Collector

October 17, 2025

Dangerous Downtown Streets: A 6-Year-Old’s Perspective

A video screen shot shows a pickup truck looming large next to a sidewalk, with an intersection and traffic light visible in the background. Text reads "Would the driver even e able to see the child in front of or behind their truck?" and a caption says "[child making sounds]".

In conjunction with the release of CRTP’s new report on safety on Eureka’s 4th & 5th Streets (US-101), CRTP also produced point-of-view videos using wearable cameras, documenting the experiences of pedestrians and bicyclists in the 4^th & 5^th Street corridor. One of these videos features the perspective of a 6-year-old navigating the streets with his parent. If it’s been a while since you thought about how a kid might navigate a street like this, it’s worth a watch.

After you watch, click here to read our full 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.

Supervisors to Decide McKinleyville Town Center Ordinance on Monday

The new zoning rules for the future McKinleyville Town Center have been scheduled for a final hearing before the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors on Monday at 9 am. Opponents are working hard to block key elements of the ordinance, especially the Central Avenue lane reduction that is so important for community safety and for the Town Center’s success.

If you live, work, shop, or play in McKinleyville, please consider attending Monday’s meeting if you can. If you can’t attend the meeting, you can email the Board of Supervisors today and ask them to adopt the Town Center ordinance as written, including the Central Avenue lane reduction. Even if you’ve contacted the Board about this issue before, please consider emailing them again! They need to hear that there is broad support for these changes in the community.

Help Paint Murals on Hiller Road This Weekend!

The Hiller Road quick-build safety project is under way, and this weekend local mural artists will be adding beautiful asphalt art to the bike lane buffers and other areas. Click here for more information on the mural art and artists.

On Sunday, there’s even an opportunity for community members to contribute a small amount ($15) to the project and take part in the painting! Sign up here to participate.

Supervisor Steve Madrone Named 2025 Responsible Transportation Champion

Two men stand in front of a tall wooden fence. The man on the left is white, has short hair, and is wearing a gray sweater and orange pants. The man on the right is white, has long braided hair, and is wearing a multi-colored shirt and jeans and holding a plaque.

CRTP has named Humboldt County District 5 Supervisor Steve Madrone as the 2025 North Coast Responsible Transportation Champion. The annual award is given to local people who further CRTP’s mission of “promoting transportation solutions that protect and support a healthy environment, healthy people, healthy communities and a healthy economy on the North Coast.”

Madrone is being recognized for his decades-long commitment to safe, functional infrastructure for people walking, biking, and rolling, as well as for his work to support improved public transit, increased transit investment, and transit-friendly development, including the McKinleyville Town Center. Madrone is especially well known for his tireless work over the course of many years to build the popular Hammond Trail.

Regional Climate Action Plan Heading to Supervisors

A pie chart shows 73% of emissions coming from on-road transportation, with a variety of smaller pie slices representing other sources of emissions

Thursday evening, the Humboldt County Planning Commission recommended approval of the Regional Climate Action Plan, which covers the county and all of its incorporated cities. Thanks to the advocacy of CRTP and our members and supporters, the commissioners made a key change to the plan, applying transit-friendly infill development standards countywide.

Almost three-quarters of the climate pollution covered by the plan comes from transportation. That means that upgrading our local infrastructure and services, and changing our land use rules, to make low-carbon options like walking, biking, rolling, and riding the bus safer, easier, and more appealing are keys to the plan’s success.

CRTP has been advocating for almost 8 years to get a plan adopted that is robust and ambitious enough to meet the urgent challenge of climate action. The current plan is far from perfect, but we are relieved to see it finally moving toward adoption. After it is adopted, a regional climate action committee will be set up and new staff will be hired, setting the stage for more focused and ambitious climate action than we have seen in the past.

Weigh in on the Future of Humboldt County Transportation

Every four years, state law requires regions to update their long-term Regional Transportation Plans. Humboldt County’s new plan is due next January, and the Humboldt County Association of Governments (HCAOG) is preparing now. On Monday evening at 5:30 pm, HCAOG will be holding a public workshop in McKinleyville to gather input on the plan. You can also provide your input by clicking here and taking a brief survey.

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.

Where We Build Housing Matters

The Humboldt County region is about to make a big decision about where we should plan for future housing to be built in the next 8 years – in cities like Eureka and Arcata, or in lower-density areas like the unincorporated county. The decision will help determine whether we see sprawl or walkable development, and it has big implications for affordability, public health, economic development, and the climate. Check out a new op-ed by CRTP and other local environmental groups about this issue, then click here to learn more and get ready for upcoming public hearings.

News from Beyond the North Coast

Newsom Signs Important Transportation Bills

Monday was the last day for the governor to sign or veto bills passed by the California legislature, and he waited until the last minute to sign several important transportation bills. Among the bills which will now become law are: AB 382, which allows local governments to lower school zone speed limits to 20 mph, or even 15 mph in some cases; SB 71, which exempts most bike, pedestrian, and transit projects from environmental review, as long as they are built in existing rights-of-way; AB 266, which will keep breathalyzers installed indefinitely in the cars of people convicted of two DUIs; SB 720, which will modernize red light camera rules; and AB 289, which will allow Caltrans to deploy a limited number of speed cameras in work zones.

New Technology Could Help Prevent Drunk Driving

In 2021, Congress directed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to require technology that prevents drunk driving in all new cars. The agency has not yet followed through on that mandate. However, newly developed technology that makes it much easier to detect driver intoxication is now commercially available and being shared with automakers, and at least one influential organization has said it will start incorporating anti-drunk driving technology in its vehicle safety ratings. Drunk drivers are responsible for a large share of fatal and serious injury crashes in the United States.

More Driveways Result in More Dangerous Streets

A new study has found that on urban streets, a higher number of driveways accessing buildings and parking lots is associated with a higher number of crashes, especially crashes involving bicyclists and pedestrians. The finding is important but not surprising, as driveways introduce conflict points for people on sidewalks and in bike lanes, and drivers entering and exiting them are often distracted.

Dangerous Downtown Streets

Posted on October 10, 2025 by Colin Fiske

The Collector

October 10, 2025

Dangerous Downtown Streets

A person in a motorized wheelchair crosses a three-lane, one-way street in a marked crosswalk. A car is visible approaching in the far lane.

This week, CRTP published a new report entitled “Dangerous Downtown Streets: Safety Problems and Solutions for Eureka’s 4^th & 5^th Street Corridor (US-101).” The report identifies safety hazards for pedestrians, bicyclists, bus riders, and motorists by reviewing official police-reported crash data, Street Story reports, and the findings from our recent walk and bike audits in the corridor.

Despite representing only about 0.2% of the county’s road miles, the corridor has been the site of 18% of the county’s pedestrian fatalities and serious injuries in the last decade, meaning the rate of pedestrian fatalities and serious injuries per mile is 90 times the county average. The corridor also sees 4% of all bicyclist serious injuries (20 times the county average) and 3% of motorist serious injuries and fatalities (15 times the county average). The walk and bike audits and Street Story reports confirm that, along with Broadway, this is one of the most dangerous corridors in the region, especially for people walking and biking.

In conjunction with the release of the report, CRTP has also produced point-of-view videos using wearable cameras, documenting the experiences of pedestrians and bicyclists in the 4^th & 5^th Street corridor. These include videos from perspectives that are often underrepresented, including a child and people with disabilities.

The South Broadway Complete Streets Project currently under construction is a good start toward making the US-101 corridor in Eureka safer for everyone. At CRTP, we continue to advocate for Caltrans to fund and build the other two planned safety projects that will improve the rest of Broadway right away. But this other part of the corridor—4^th and 5^th Streets—is also very dangerous, and can’t be ignored.

Click here to read the full report. 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.

First Hearing Next Week for Regional Climate Action Plan

Humboldt County officially began work on its Regional Climate Action Plan way back in 2018. After numerous delays, mistakes, and false starts, the plan is finally scheduled for its first formal adoption hearing before the county’s Planning Commission next Thursday.

At CRTP, we have been advocating all along to make sure the plan is robust and ambitious enough to meet the urgent need, and there are still changes we think should be made to improve it. But we are also relieved to see it finally moving toward adoption and implementation, and looking forward to having an official regional committee and dedicated local government staff devoted solely to climate action.

McKinleyville Town Center Ordinance Heads to Supervisors

The new zoning rules for the future McKinleyville Town Center have been scheduled for a final hearing before the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors on Monday, October 20th at 9 am. While the hearing is still more than a week away, written comments must be sent to the county by next Wednesday to be officially included in the agenda packet.

Opponents are still trying to block key elements of the ordinance, especially the Central Avenue lane reduction that is so important for community safety and for the Town Center’s success. But this ordinance is the result of six years of public meetings and community engagement, and shouldn’t be changed at the last minute because of a few loud voices. We’ll be working hard to ensure the Central Avenue safety overhaul and other key provisions remain in the ordinance when it’s adopted.

What Did Local Leaders Learn from the Week Without Driving?

The Week Without Driving is over, but many of the lessons learned will stick with participants for a long time. 66 people officially participated in Humboldt County, including elected officials, public agency staff, and other community leaders. Click here to read some of the reflections they shared from their experiences.

People Are Using the Humboldt Bay Trail!

The first numbers are in from trail counters along the newly opened Humboldt Bay Trail, and it’s official: a lot people are using it! County data show hundreds of bicyclists and dozens of pedestrians using the trail every day, and Arcata trail counts show that bicyclist usage more than tripled between May and July on the city’s part of the trail. It all goes to show: when you give them half a chance, people really want to bike, walk, and roll more!

News from Beyond the North Coast

Republican Funding Bill “Not So Clean” for Transportation

Since before the federal government shutdown began, Congressional Republicans have been calling their funding bill “clean,” meaning it continues existing funding levels without making any policy changes. But transportation advocates point out that official funding and policies don’t mean much as the Trump administration continues to eliminate safety, bike, pedestrian, and transit programs it doesn’t like, and ignores funding already appropriated by Congress for these purposes.

Caltrans Can Now Lower Speed Limits More Easily

The traditional method for setting speed limits in the United States relies on measuring existing driving speeds, and rewards speeders by increasing the limit when people drive faster. Thankfully, several new California laws in recent years have made it somewhat easier to lower speed limits in certain situations. Until now, though, these laws have applied only on local streets and roads. A bill authored by the North Coast’s own Assemblymember Chris Rogers and just signed by Governor Newsom will extend this flexibility to state highways, allowing Caltrans to lower some speed limits, especially on surface streets like Broadway, 4th and 5th Streets in Eureka.

Federal Government Delays Pedestrian Safety Rules for Vehicles

The official “five-star” safety rating system in the United States has only ever considered the safety of vehicle occupants – never the safety of pedestrians, bicyclists, or even the occupants of other vehicles a driver might hit. A change to that system initiated under the Biden administration would finally incorporate some pedestrian safety testing into the rating system. But the auto industry complained and asked for a delay, and the Trump administration has now given it to them.

Self-Driving? Really?

Should a car company be able to say its vehicles are “self-driving” when they still require a human driver for safety? And when they can’t recognize and respond safely to a bicyclist? We don’t think so, and neither does CalBike.

Safe Routes to School Funding Eliminated

Posted on October 3, 2025 by Colin Fiske

The Collector

October 3, 2025

We’re In the Middle of the Week Without Driving!

Two people sit and talk to each other on a bench in a bus shelter on a sunny day, one wearing a pink jacket and hat, the other a sun hat.

The national Week Without Driving started on Monday and continues through the weekend. Locally, the Week Without Driving is brought to you by CRTP, Tri-County Independent Living, the Humboldt Transit Authority, and the Humboldt County Association of Governments.

More than 60 people in Humboldt County have signed up to participate in the Week Without Driving this year, including many elected officials, public agency staff, and other community leaders. You can hear from some of those participants in daily posts about their experiences on the Lost Coast Outpost.

Meanwhile, a new national analysis has found that more than 36% of Americans over the age of 10 either can’t drive or lack reliable access to a vehicle. That means that well over 100 million people – including adults and kids old enough to have some independent mobility – are not well served by our country’s obsession with cars and car-based communities and infrastructure.

Safe Routes to School Funding Eliminated

Two yellow crosswalks approach a corner with a yellow pedestrian sign and beacon on a corner with a low building. The building has a sign reading "Redwood Coast Montessori 7-12 High School."

This week, the Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services released a list of public health programs which lost their funding as of October 1st, thanks to the “Big Beautiful Bill” passed by Republicans in Congress and signed by President Trump. One of the programs which will no longer be funded is the long-running, and traditionally bipartisan, Safe Routes to School program.

For many years, this program has supported education, planning, and infrastructure improvements to make it safer for kids to walk or bike to school. While the program was always under-funded, its complete elimination is a major blow to efforts to improve the health and safety of school kids – and everyone else, because it’s not just kids who benefit from safer bike and pedestrian infrastructure.

Don’t Forget to Take These Surveys!

As we mentioned last week, there are currently two important opportunities for you to weigh in on the future of transportation in Humboldt County: One survey on the long-term Regional Transportation Plan that is currently being updated, and a second survey on the development of a plan to eliminate traffic fatalities and serious injuries in the county. Please take these quick surveys and speak up for safe, equitable, and sustainable transportation!

Can Arcata’s Neighborhoods Be Reconnected?

A street map of Arcata shows certain areas highlighted in green, including the Samoa Boulevard corridor, US-101 in the downtown area, and highway crossings in the Valley West area.

Last year, the city of Arcata was one of three communities in California to be selected by the state to receive tens of millions of dollars for projects to reconnect neighborhoods long separated by highways. The headline item in Arcata’s proposal was a “highway cap” – an enormous land bridge over US-101 connecting downtown with the Cal Poly Humboldt campus. But the highway cap, while exciting, is a long-term, speculative approach, and has always been only one of several potential strategies for bridging the gaps created by Highways 101, 299, and 255.

In the eighteen months since that funding was announced, the state has scaled back its promises, and now it’s unclear if the city will receive any money for the project. Nevertheless, the Arcata City Council this week approved spending $300,000 of its own money to hire a consultant to start the planning process. The hope is to leverage this initial investment to improve the odds of receiving more state or federal funding in the future.

Like many Arcatans, CRTP is excited about the possibilities a highway cap could create. Nevertheless, we strongly believe that the city shouldn’t bet everything on a cap, and instead should also plan for other, lower-cost bike and pedestrian access improvements that have a higher chance of being built in the foreseeable future. That includes improvements that could be quickly made to existing overpasses without expensive structural changes. We also agree with Councilmembers who argued that the Valley West neighborhood, home to many low-income residents and isolated by highways on two sides, should be a top priority for reconnection.

Get Information About Cleaner Mobility Options

On Saturday, several local organizations are hosting a “North Coast Ride & Drive” event at Redwood Acres Fairground in Eureka. While most of the available information focuses on state subsidies for zero-emission vehicles under the Driving Clean Assistance Program, people interested in reducing their transportation emissions should know that a different subsidy, known as the Clean Mobility Option, is also available through the program. This option allows a participant to scrap an older vehicle and receive $7,500 toward bus passes, an e-bike, or car-share or bike-share expenses. If you can’t make it to Saturday’s event, you can check your eligibility here, keeping in mind that the Clean Mobility Option is only available under the Clean Cars 4 All pathway.

If you are considering buying an electric vehicle – and we think anyone looking to buy a car should be – it’s particularly important to be aware of the Driving Clean Assistance Program now. The better-known federal incentives for EVs just ended (another senseless casualty of that “Big Beautiful Bill”), and Governor Newsom walked back his promise to replace that federal tax credit with a state equivalent.

News from Beyond the North Coast

Trump Targets Transit During Shutdown

President Trump has made no secret of his intention to use the excuse of the federal government shutdown to freeze or eliminate programs supported by his political opponents. Public transit seems to be a particular focus for these attacks, as the administration first froze billions in funding for New York City transit projects, then billions more for Chicago transit.

Watch Out for That Robot

Residents of some communities have gotten used to seeing delivery robots on sidewalks in recent years. We have a lot of misgivings about these robots, and we question the assumption of the companies that operate them that they have the right to take up precious sidewalk space. But at least most of these robots have been relatively small and slow-moving.

That is changing with a new robot just announced by DoorDash. The new machine weighs 350 pounds, is almost 5 feet tall, and travels at speeds up to 20 mph. The company announced that the new robot will operate wherever it wants, including sidewalks and bike lanes. The fact that vulnerable road users already compete with big, heavy vehicles for street space, and might not feel safe sharing the few spaces specifically reserved for them with big, heavy automatons, apparently did not occur to the tech gurus over at DoorDash.

The Week Without Driving Starts on Monday!

Posted on September 26, 2025 by Colin Fiske

The Collector

September 26, 2025

The Week Without Driving Starts on Monday!

Next week, September 29 through October 5, 2025, CRTP, Tri-County Independent Living, the Humboldt Transit Authority, and the Humboldt County Association of Governments are organizing the annual Week Without Driving on the North Coast. The Week Without Driving is an invitation for anyone who wants to participate – but particularly for elected and appointed officials, transportation planners and engineers, and other decision-makers – to get some first-hand experience of what it is like to live without the option of driving, here in our local communities.

Nondrivers include many people with disabilities, kids, older people, immigrants, people with suspended licenses, and people who can’t afford to own or operate a vehicle. Humboldt County’s nondrivers include at least 36,000 people without a driver’s license, as well as an unknown number of people who have a license but can’t drive for financial or other reasons.

A person in tan pants and a camouflage patterned sweater steps onto a bus from the sidewalk.

For participants in the Week Without Driving, the challenge is to not drive themselves in any car. If participants do end up driving during the week, they are encouraged to reflect on why they ended up driving, and what they would have done if they didn’t have that option. Local decision-makers who sign up to participate in the Week Without Driving are also invited to ride along with a local transit rider on one of their regular routes to gain additional first-hand insights into using the local transit system.

As of this writing, 55 local residents in Humboldt County have signed up to participate in the Week Without Driving, including elected officials and other local leaders. And there’s still time to sign up! Everyone is invited to participate, and public officials and transportation decision-makers are particularly encouraged to take part. Click here to learn more and sign up to participate.

Two Opportunities to Weigh In On Humboldt’s Transportation Future

Every four years, state law requires regions to update their long-term Regional Transportation Plans. Humboldt County’s new plan is due next January, and the Humboldt County Association of Governments (HCAOG) is preparing now. You can provide your input on the new plan by clicking here and taking a brief survey.

HCAOG is also developing an official regional Vision Zero Action Plan, which is intended to lay out the steps necessary to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries throughout the county. You can provide input by taking a 10-minute survey about your safety concerns and priorities.

The Bus Stops Here

Do you have a business next to an existing bus stop in Humboldt County? The Humboldt Transit Authority is now offering static cling signs reading “The Bus Stops Here” for businesses by bus stops to place in a window. The signs help educate the public about our local transit system – and HTA will even feature your business on social media if you share a photo! For more information and to get your sign, email marketing@hta.org.

Hiller Road Safety Project Needs Your Support!

Regular readers of The Collector may recall that the region’s first major quick-build project, a Humboldt County bike and pedestrian safety upgrade on Hiller Road in McKinleyville, is scheduled to be built very soon – in fact, we expect it to be done within the next week or two! This project involves a significant public art component, but the county won’t be paying for that part, and donations are still needed. Click here to join CRTP in sponsoring beautiful, traffic-calming asphalt art in McKinleyville!

To learn more about the quick-build process and the potential for other local quick-build projects, listen to this episode of the EcoNews Report and check out CRTP’s Quick-Build Toolkit.

Tragedy Narrowly Avoided During High-Speed Chase

This week, according to the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office, two officers were injured and a driver “narrowly miss[ed] pedestrians” during a high-speed chase. High-speed police chases are notorious for resulting in injuries or deaths, often involving innocent bystanders. Many jurisdictions across the country have banned or restricted them as a result.

News from Beyond the North Coast

It Wasn’t A Great Year for New Bike Laws

The legislative session just wrapped up in Sacramento, and bills approved by the legislature are now awaiting the signature (or veto) of the governor. Most of the top bills for bike advocates, however, didn’t make it that far. Bills establishing a Caltrans quick-build program and a bike highway pilot program both failed to pass. Legislators also failed to restore funding following last year’s draconian cuts to the Active Transportation Program, which funds most major bike and pedestrian safety projects in the state and is always short of money.

Congress Needs to Keep Its Funding Promises

CRTP recently signed onto a national letter urging Congress to fight the Trump administration’s actions to withhold or claw back money already approved by Congress for bike, pedestrian, and other safety programs. It’s hard to see how any future financial decisions by Congress can be taken seriously if agreed and approved funding can be unilaterally withdrawn later at the whim of the president or the party in power.

Bike, Housing, and Parking Progress in Eureka

Posted on September 19, 2025 by Colin Fiske

The Collector

September 19, 2025

Bike, Housing, and Parking Progress in Eureka

A plan-view computer rendering of an intersection shows brick curb extensions on every corner, flashing pedestrian beacons, and a one-way street with two-way bike travel on one side of the intersection turning into a two-way street with shared lanes on the other.

The City of Eureka began the next phase of construction on the long-awaited C Street Bike Boulevard project this week. The project extends from Henderson Street to Waterfront Drive. It includes traffic-calming curb extensions, median islands, and flashing beacons at key intersections, and other measures to reduce traffic speeds. Crucially, it also includes measures to reduce the volume of traffic: although vehicles will still have access to every block, alternating one-way designations will prevent drivers from using the street as a cut-through, while continuing to allow two-way bike travel throughout.

Meanwhile, construction continues on the three downtown Linc Housing projects, replacing underutilized city parking lots. And the Wiyot Tribe’s Laqilh Hou Daqh housing project for elders, which also replaces an old city parking lot, will go before the city’s Design Review Committee for approval next week.

A computer rendering shows a four-story building with lots of windows, gray and brown walls with a large yellow mural, a second-story garden patio, and a ground-story circular entrance.

While some have bemoaned the loss of parking spaces to these new walkable, transit-oriented housing projects, the evidence suggests that downtown Eureka doesn’t have a parking supply problem. Instead, it has a parking management problem. That’s why we’re glad to see the city continue to modernize its parking management program, including adopting resident and employee permit systems, setting new meter rates, and planning to extend metering from lots to curb spaces. Setting meter rates at the right level encourages efficient use of parking spaces while ensuring that some spots are open at all times, which reduces “cruising for parking.” Plus, it begins to address one of the enormous subsidies that hide the true cost of driving!

McKinleyville Town Center Plans Clear Another Hurdle

This Thursday, the Humboldt County Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend approval of the McKinleyville Town Center ordinance, including the repurposing of two lanes of Central Avenue for protected bike lanes, dramatically increasing safety and comfort for people walking, biking, and rolling.

A diagrams shows a typical cross-section design for Central Avenue, including wide sidewalks with landscaped buffers, bike lanes protected by hardscaped areas or planters, and three lanes of traffic - one in each direction and a central turn lane.

The Planning Commission added a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors for a comprehensive McKinleyville transportation to accompany the Central Avenue redesign. CRTP supports this idea, but will ask the Supervisors not to make Central Avenue improvements contingent on this new plan being completed, given significant uncertainties around timelines and funding.

Bike to the Fair – and Volunteer for Bike Valet!

A bicycle leans against a table under an awning with a sign that reads "Free Bike Valet." Behind the table many bikes are parked and enclosed in orange temporary fencing.

CRTP is providing bike valet for the North Country Fair this weekend and next week’s Arcata Friday Night Market. We encourage everyone who can to bike to these events and leave their bikes with us for safekeeping!

We also still need volunteers for these events! If you’d like to help out with bike valet, please email CRTP Bike Valet Coordinator Jerry Von Dohlen at jvondohlen@humboldt.edu.

Crosswalks Restored!

An intersection has four ladder-style crosswalks across a three-lane, one-way street and a smaller cross-street. There is a curb extension in the foreground and a three-story apartment building in the background.

Back in 2018, as part of what was called a pedestrian safety project, Caltrans removed a number of crosswalk markings on 4th Street in Eureka. A few years later, when the City of Arcata repaved part of G Street, they did the same thing. And just this month, after repaving part of H Street, Arcata again removed crosswalk markings from several intersections.

Because many drivers may (incorrectly and unsafely) look only in the direction of approaching traffic way when turning onto a one-way street, some people believed that these changes would make it safer for pedestrians by directing them to cross on the side of the intersection where drivers were more likely to be looking. But that belief is mistaken.

The path between sidewalks at an intersection is a legal crosswalk in California, whether painted or not. Failure to paint them will not stop people from crossing there. It will just make it more dangerous to do so, because drivers will be even less likely to look for pedestrians or yield to them. Moreover, even if pedestrians go out of their way to follow the markings, their crossings are likely to be more dangerous, because crossing three streets when you only need to cross one increases your exposure and risk of being hit.

We are happy to report that, following advocacy from CRTP, both Caltrans and the City of Arcata are now in the process of correcting these past mistakes and re-painting high-visibility crosswalks across all sides of these important intersections. That’s a major win for safety!

The Week Without Driving Is Almost Here

The third national Week Without Driving begins in just over a week! From September 29th to October 5th, thousands of people around the country and dozens of people in Humboldt County will try to get around without driving a car. The Week Without Driving provides first-hand insights into what it’s like for the many people in our communities who can’t drive due to age, disability, income, or for other reasons. Everyone is invited to participate, and public officials and transportation decision-makers are particularly encouraged to take part. Click here to learn more and sign up to participate.

In other mobility and access news, Tri-County Independent Living will be hosting its 2025 Expo next Friday, September 26th, from 10:30 am to 2:30 pm in Eureka. The Expo will focus on supporting the Independent Living of people with disabilities and those who are aging. CRTP will be there, and we hope you can come too!

Join CRTP at Eureka “Sun Day” Event

Sun Day is a national day of action this Sunday, September 21st, celebrating the availability of cheap, abundant renewable energy and other climate solutions. CRTP will be joining 350 Humboldt and other local environmental groups for a family-friendly event at Eureka’s Carson Park from 1 to 4 pm. Join us!

News from Beyond the North Coast

Trump Administration Cancels Funding for Being “Hostile to Motor Vehicles”

The US Department of Transportation this week sent letters to cities, counties, and transportation agencies across the country canceling grants that had previously awarded for safety improvements for people walking, biking, and rolling. In at least some of those letters, the department described such grants as “woke” and “hostile to motor vehicles.” Apparently hostility toward people’s safety is just fine with this administration, as long as we give motor vehicles their due.

What’s It Like to Get Hit and Nearly Killed by a Driver?

The CEO of the San Francisco Standard was hit while biking by the driver of a pick-up truck. He had a lot of advantages most people in that situation don’t have, including a platform to tell his story. But his experiences are still deeply disturbing. Check out his story of being critically injured, victim-blamed, mistreated by his insurance company, and more.

Major Milestone for McKinleyville’s Future Town Center

Posted on September 12, 2025 by Colin Fiske

The Collector

September 12, 2025

Major Milestone for McKinleyville’s Future Town Center

Capping off dozens of public meetings, workshops, and surveys over the last six years, the McKinleyville Municipal Advisory Committee (MMAC) took its final vote on Wednesday to recommend county approval of the McKinleyville Town Center ordinance. Thanks to consistent education and advocacy efforts by CRTP and our members and supporters over the years, the ordinance includes major reforms to improve the walkability and bikeability of the the future Town Center.

Specifically, when the ordinance is adopted, future homes will be built more densely and mixed with commercial and civic spaces. Instead of buildings set back behind massive parking lots, parking will be more limited and located in shared lots behind buildings. Buildings will feature pedestrian-friendly frontages, and a transit center will eventually be built, along with a network of paved trails and car-free spaces. And, following a 4-2 committee vote on Wednesday, two lanes of Central Avenue will be repurposed for protected bike lanes, dramatically increasing safety and comfort for people walking, biking, and rolling.

Before any of this can happen, the ordinance has to be formally adopted by the county, which means a Planning Commission hearing – expected next Thursday – and then a vote by the Board of Supervisors. And even after the ordinance is adopted, it will take many years to see most of the promised changes to the Town Center area. Nevertheless, Wednesday’s vote by the MMAC marks a huge step forward in the years-long process to create a real, functional town center for Humboldt County’s third-largest community.

Volunteer for Bike Valet!

CRTP is providing bike valet for the new Arcata Friday Night Markets and the upcoming North Country Fair. We encourage everyone who can to bike to these events and leave their bikes with us for safekeeping!

We also still need volunteers for these events! If you’d like to help out with bike valet, please email CRTP Bike Valet Coordinator Jerry Von Dohlen at jvondohlen@humboldt.edu.

Sunset Interchange Open House Next Week

An overhead view computer rendering shows the Sunset Avenue interchange converted into two large roundabouts. Text comments have been added pointing out areas where bike lanes are missing, where bikes are expected to ride on the sidewalk with no marked lanes, and where crosswalks should be raised and push-button signals added for blind pedestrians.

The City of Arcata and Caltrans are hosting an open house next Thursday from 5 – 7 pm at Arcata Elementary School to provide information about plans to dramatically redesign the Sunset Avenue Interchange. Current plans call for two large roundabouts to replace the complex and dangerous intersections on either side of the freeway. CRTP has successfully advocated for these roundabouts to include separated bike and pedestrian pathways, and to eliminate dangerous “slip lanes” that let drivers turn without slowing down.

We continue to advocate for raised crosswalks to slow traffic entering the roundabouts, push-button signals to allow blind pedestrians to cross the street safely, added bike facilities in several areas to prevent conflicts with pedestrians, and preservation of the existing bike lanes on H Street and LK Wood Boulevard. Come out on Thursday and ask the city to include these features to make the new intersections even safer!

A flyer provides information about the 2025 Week Without Driving. Click the link to go to a webpage with full text information.

More About That University Parking Lot

The environmental review comment period for Cal Poly Humboldt’s proposed new parking lot in the Arcata Bottoms closed this week, but the proposal continues to stir up controversy. CRTP’s official comment letter highlights the fact that the university can’t “take credit” for the cancellation of plans to build an unrelated parking structure somewhere else, and therefore the project needs to mitigate for the increased driving it will cause. We also argue that the project will increase hazards for bicyclists and pedestrians, and must mitigate those impacts by building better sidewalks and bike lanes.

News from Beyond the North Coast

Housing & Transit Funding (Mostly) Protected in Cap-and-Trade Deal

Governor Newsom and the state legislature have reached a tentative deal to reauthorize the state’s greenhouse gas cap-and-trade program. The deal appears to secure housing and transit funding that has been crucial for local projects including Eureka’s Linc Housing projects and EaRTH Center, Sorrel Place and the Yurok Indian Housing Authority’s 30th Street Commons in Arcata, and numerous bike, pedestrian, and transit projects. However, if funding comes in lower than expected in future years, money could be diverted to the state’s high-speed rail project instead. Meanwhile, apparently intent on canceling out any climate benefits that might be had from the cap-and-trade program, the governor also continues to push the legislature to pass laws promoting oil and gas production as part of the same package.

USDOT Is Still Holding Back Grant Funding

Despite court orders requiring the Trump administration to release already awarded grant funding for transportation safety and sustainability projects, the US Department of Transportation appears to be intentionally delaying paperwork until projects are no longer eligible. Many of those deadlines come as soon as the end of this month.

Why Are National Safety Data So Limited?

The only transportation safety data collected by the federal government is about traffic fatalities, and the information collected is extremely limited and often misleading. When people survive a crash, even if their injuries are extremely serious and long-lasting, the federal government doesn’t require that the crash be reported at all. If transportation officials really put safety first, wouldn’t they be more serious about understanding the nature of the problem?

Quick-Build Projects Are Coming!

Posted on September 5, 2025 by Colin Fiske

The Collector

September 5, 2025

Quick-Build Projects Are Coming!

A photograph from the middle of an intersection looks down a street bordered by a gas station sign and a low building, with trees in the background. A computer-generated image has been superimposed on the road showing one lane in each direction, a turn lane, and bike lanes with painted, striped buffers.

Quick-build projects use paint and other low-cost materials and techniques to improve streets quickly, typically without expensive groundbreaking or paving work. Quick-builds can take months to go from concept to construction, instead of the years or decades that are often required for conventional street improvements.

The region’s first major quick-build project, involving bike and pedestrian safety upgrades on Hiller Road in McKinleyville, is scheduled to be built later this month. This project involves a significant public art component, but the county won’t be paying for that part, so donations are needed. Click here to join CRTP in sponsoring beautiful, traffic-calming asphalt art in McKinleyville!

To learn more about the quick-build process and the potential for other local quick-build projects, listen to the latest episode of the EcoNews Report and check out CRTP’s Quick-Build Toolkit.

Transportation Safety Is Having a Moment in Humboldt

This week, we learned about a Eureka resident’s petition to improve pedestrian safety after her 8-year-old son was nearly hit by a driver on Myrtle Avenue, and a Hydesville Girl Scout who successfully advocated for Caltrans to upgrade pedestrian crossings of Highway 36. We are heartened by these grassroots safety efforts, and encourage other community members to offer their support to these and other local initiatives to address the safety crisis on local streets and roads.

A computer-modified aerial image of the 255-101 interchange in Arcata shows roundabouts on both sides of the highway, with a continuous bike and pedestrian trail along the north side.

Meanwhile, the Humboldt County Association of Governments is coordinating an official regional Vision Zero Action Plan, which is intended to lay out the steps necessary to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries throughout the county. You can provide input on the initial planning stages by taking a 10-minute survey about your safety concerns and priorities.

We are happy to report that several other significant local safety plans and projects are proceeding as well, including Arcata’s plan to overhaul the Samoa Boulevard/US-101 interchange and dramatically improve bike and pedestrian safety on Samoa and South G Street, and the Annie & Mary Trail Connectivity Project, which will begin construction near Cal Poly Humboldt’s new dorms this month.

Local E-Bike Voucher Program Is Back!

The Redwood Coast Energy Authority’s e-bike voucher program, which provides vouchers ranging from $400 to $1,000 for energy authority customers to purchase an e-bike, is back. The last time the vouchers were available, back in April 2024, the program was extremely popular, and funding ran out fast. Click here to learn more and apply for a voucher.

Orleans-Willow Creek Transit Service Canceled

The Humboldt Transit Authority announced at its Board of Directors meeting this week that Yurok Tribal Transit has canceled the two-year-old Orleans-Weitchpec-Willow Creek bus route. The service, which replaced the old KT-NET bus, provided crucial mobility for non-drivers in the remote northeastern parts of Humboldt County, allowing them to connect to HTA’s Willow Creek bus and access important destinations on the coast. We do not yet know why the service was canceled, but we hope that some kind of lifeline transit for the area can be revived.

Student Parking Grabs Attention

About half of the rooms in Cal Poly Humboldt’s new Hinarr Hu Moulik dorms are newly occupied by students (the other half are still under construction), and some neighbors are upset that students are parking on nearby streets. For reasons we don’t fully understand, parking is one of the most reliably emotional issues in transportation, so we’re never surprised when people get worked up about a parking issue. However, we think it’s important to point out that nobody has so far reported illegal or dangerous parking. Rather, students are parking vehicles on public streets in spaces that were previously mostly empty. Nevertheless, parking complaints from other neighborhoods near the main campus led to a residential parking permit system that has worked well for years, and we expect that system will eventually be extended to this neighborhood as well.

In more exciting transportation news about the new dorms, the Humboldt Transit Authority reports that it is carrying 600 students every day on frequent shuttles to campus, the City of Arcata reports that the Annie & Mary Trail connection to the dorms may be built before the end of the year, and Hinarr Hu Moulik includes much more extensive and secure bike parking than any other current Cal Poly dorm.

News from Beyond the North Coast

Protect Crucial Funding for Affordable Housing & Transit

Three state grant programs which have collectively awarded tens of millions of dollars to North Coast projects in recent years may be at risk. The grants have been funded through revenues from California’s greenhouse gas “cap-and-trade” program, and the legislature is currently debating legislation to redesign and reauthorize that program. Local projects that have been funded by these grants include Eureka’s Linc Housing projects and EaRTH Center, Sorrel Place and the Yurok Indian Housing Authority’s 30th Street Commons in Arcata, and numerous bike, pedestrian, and transit projects. Click here to ask legislators to protect these critical grant programs when they reauthorize cap-and-trade.

Why Are US Roads So Much More Dangerous Than Canada’s?

The US and Canada are both wealthy countries with a lot of sprawling, car-dependent communities. But Canadians drive less, leading to fewer traffic deaths. Other factors explaining Canada’s superior safety record likely include bigger American cars and different legal and regulatory approaches. The American system of letting speeders set speed limits, for example, and resistance by many public officials to simple traffic calming measures like speed humps, certainly don’t help. Nor will the Trump administration’s current campaign against proven safety strategies like road diets, part of its broader rejection of scientific evidence in policy making.

Wealthier People Produce More Climate Pollution – Mostly from Transportation

A new analysis by the International Energy Agency finds huge disparities in energy use and climate pollution, both between rich and poor nations and between richer and poorer people within nations. The biggest disparities in emissions come from differences in personal transportation, including wealthier people driving and flying more.