The Collector

March 13, 2026

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The Impacts of High Gas Prices

Gas prices are spiking across the country, and are especially high in Humboldt, as war rages in one of the globe’s key fossil fuel-producing regions. In some ways, high gas prices are not a bad thing. Some progressive economists and environmentalists have long argued that US gas prices are too low, partially as a result of massive government subsidies, and that prices should increase in order to reflect the true cost of burning gasoline on public health, the economy, and the planet.

Nevertheless, we can’t overlook the fact that most Americans rely on fossil-powered cars to get around. For many of them, it’s difficult to switch to other modes of transportation, because of the car-centric way we’ve built many of our communities, and because of our collective failure to invest adequately in public transit and pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure. But increased fuel costs will still put driving out of reach for more low-income people and families.

So if the high prices continue, expect to see more people riding local buses and walking and biking on local streets. Some of them will discover a comfortable and pleasant new way to get around, but many will be forced to confront dangerous road conditions and inconvenient new travel schedules. It’s a stark reminder of the work that needs to be done to give people true freedom of mobility by providing options beyond the automobile.

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Eureka Safety Petition Gaining Momentum

CRTP’s petition to Caltrans for safer 4th and 5th Streets in Eureka has nearly 400 individual signatures as of this writing. It’s also been endorsed by groups including EPIC, Tri-County Independent Living, and the Caltrans District 1 Pedestrian and Bicycle Advisory Committee, as well as Eureka City Councilmembers Leslie Castellano and Renée Contreras-DeLoach. Several businesses in the corridor have posted flyers or have copies of the petition for customers to sign.

We are reminded every day of the need for these safety improvements. This week, a driver was arrested after speeding down 4th Street at 74 mph. It’s lucky that no one was hurt or killed.

The more people and organizations who sign onto this petition, the stronger the message to Caltrans will be. If you know an organization, business, or public official who should endorse our petition, please share it with them. And if you haven’t signed it yet yourself, sign it today!

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Appeal of Housing Allocation to Be Heard Next Week

As we previously reported, the Eureka City Council has filed what we believe to be a misguided appeal of its allocation of affordable housing through the state-mandated Regional Housing Needs Assessment. The city objects to the use of vehicle miles traveled (VMT) as a major factor in allocating lower-income homes throughout the county, which results in Eureka – as the county’s most walkable community – having to plan for more affordable housing. That appeal will be heard by the Humboldt County Association of Governments at a board meeting next Thursday.

CRTP believes that all communities need affordable housing, but concentrating such housing in car-dependent areas rather than walkable communities like Eureka penalizes people who can’t afford to own or operate a vehicle. Groups like Legal Service of Northern California devoted to ensuring fair housing in our region agree that locating new affordable housing in low-VMT areas like Eureka improves access to resources and lowers household cost burdens. Moreover, when we pushed for more housing at all income levels to be built in non-car-dependent areas, the city objected to that, too – a history which undermines the moral case they are trying to make against “concentrating poverty” in Eureka. The city has done a good job of getting walkable, affordable housing built in recent years. It shouldn’t turn back now.

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Open House on Potential Samoa Roundabout Next Week

Caltrans is proposing to install a roundabout at the intersection of Highway 255 and New Navy Base Road, and they’re holding a public open house about the plan next Thursday from 6:00 to 7:30 pm at the Manila Community Center. The existing intersection is confusing and dangerous, especially for bicyclists. We’re cautiously optimistic that a roundabout could improve the situation. However, as usual, the details matter. Despite the lack of bike infrastructure, this area is well-used by bicyclists riding on highway shoulders to access homes, jobs, and the beach. To be truly safe for bicyclists, the roundabout should provide a way for them to navigate it without mixing with cars and heavy truck traffic.

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What Safety Projects Should Arcata Prioritize?

Next Tuesday, Arcata’s Transportation Safety Committee will recommend a list of five low-cost safety improvement projects for the city to focus on in the coming year. Got an opinion about what should be on that list? Show up to the meeting and have your say!

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Bike to the Seed, Plant, and Scion Exchange!

The Humboldt Permaculture Guild’s 25th Annual Seed, Plant, and Scion Exchange is this Saturday from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm at the Arcata Community Center. CRTP will be there providing free bike valet, so you can pedal on over to swap seeds without any worry about finding a place to secure your bike!

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News from Beyond the North Coast

Support a Fee for Heavy Vehicles!

The California Transportation Commission has complete a Vehicle Weight Safety Study draft report to the state legislature on the relationship between vehicle weight and pedestrian and bicycle safety. The legislature requested the report to inform a decision on whether to implement some kind of weight-based fee for heavier passenger vehicles. Unfortunately, the draft report does not recommend a fee.

The Commission tries to justify this decision by claiming that any fee large enough to discourage people from buying bigger vehicles would just be too big (in whose judgement is not made clear), and by skirting around the indisputable fact that heavier vehicles are more likely to kill a pedestrian or bicyclist in a crash.

CRTP thinks a weight-based fee is needed, both to discourage the purchase of unnecessarily large and dangerous vehicles and to help fund better bike and pedestrian safety infrastructure. You can weigh in on the report and its recommendations by emailing Cayla.McDonell@catc.ca.gov.

Draconian State & Local Laws Are Taking Away the Freedom to Ride

This commentary in the Washington Post says it clearly: “Bicycles offer genuine freedom of movement in a world that offers less of it every year. E-bikes extend that freedom…But policymakers are hard at work designing regulations that curtail this freedom.”

Speaking of Draconian E-Bike Laws…

Streetsblog has a new roundup of transportation-related bills recently introduced in the California legislature. Some are good, some bad. Among the bad bills is AB 1942, which would require many e-bike owners to register with the DMV, display a license plate, and carry ownership papers with them at all times. If you want to discourage e-bikes and get more people back in their cars, this would be a good way to do it.

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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.

The Collector

March 6, 2026

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Two Big Wins for Responsible Transportation

On February 19th, the Humboldt County Association of Governments (HCAOG) adopted its updated Regional Transportation Plan. Thanks to advocacy from CRTP and our members and supporters, the HCAOG Board first voted to fix the three big problems we had identified with the updated plan: (1) they included a financial consistency policy, requiring that HCAOG prioritize funding projects that best promote goals of safety, sustainability, and equity; (2) they restored the policy for 80% of new housing to be non-car-dependent; (3) they restored use of the phrase “climate crisis” throughout the plan to reflect the urgent need for action on climate change.

CRTP is also celebrating the updated plan’s designation of new “major transit stops” at busy bus stops throughout the county. This designation helps encourage transit-friendly infill development, because state law prohibits local governments from imposing costly and arbitrary parking mandates on new buildings within half a mile of a major transit stop.

In another big win, the Eureka City Council this week adopted significant updates to its zoning code which will also promote walkable, bikeable, transit-friendly development. Among the code improvements are more stringent bike parking requirements (including provisions for larger bikes and e-bikes, thanks to CRTP’s advocacy), more pedestrian-friendly building designs, and streamlined approval for infill development that meets the city’s standards. Plus, at CRTP’s urging, the council directed staff to return next year with a proposal to finally remove one-size-fits-all parking mandates for new development citywide.

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Traffic Violence Is a Leading Cause of Death in Humboldt

Humboldt County has an unusually high rate of motor vehicle deaths. Among people aged 55 and under, it is one of the top 4 causes of death. And all this carnage is most concentrated on the US 101 corridor in Eureka.

We need to make these streets safe for everyone before more people are killed. If you haven’t signed the petition to make Broadway, 4th & 5th Streets safer, click here to sign now. If you have already signed, please share the petition with friends and family and ask them to sign too.

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“I’m proud to live in a community that values alternative transportation”

Testimonial from Eureka resident Alyssa O’Keefe

“I moved here just over a year ago with my husband and we decided to share one car. 

“We made this decision because I am able to ride my bike here safely. I ride my bike every day to work, rain or shine.

“I take C st all the time, I know when I take that route I’m safe to do so. I’ve lived closer to work before but had to drive because the route would have been too dangerous.

“A cop actually yelled at me not too long ago for riding my bike on 4th st when I was trying to go from I st to H st. He said no riding your bike on the 101, get on the sidewalk. 

“I’m proud to live in a community that values alternative transportation to cars and it would be a disappointment to not continue progress.”

You can join Alyssa and share your personal appreciation for recent bike infrastructure improvements with CRTP by emailing kelsey@transportationpriorities.org. Then, we’ll help share it with the whole community. While we know we have a long way to go, it’s important to celebrate the progress we’ve already made!

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Where’s All That Transit Funding We Were Promised?

It’s been more than a year since the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors directed that 15% of revenues from the new Measure O sales tax go to support public transit. Bus riders and others may be wondering how much revenue has come in, and what it’s been spent on. This week, we got some of the answers.

The Humboldt Transit Authority (HTA) has proposed its spending plan for Measure O revenues next year. We’re pleased to see that some of the funding will be spent on increasing frequency on the well-used Redwood Transit Service. But we’re dismayed that, due to increasing costs and reduced state revenue, much of the funding will have to be spent just to maintain existing bus services.

We are also dismayed that, according to public comments from HTA officials this week, none of the Measure O revenue the county has received so far has actually been provided to HTA. Instead, HTA has been forced to spend money on its promised Measure O investments for nearly a year without any reimbursement. Apparently, nearly a year after the tax money started coming in, county staff are still haggling with HTA over the terms of the funding contract.

Additionally, at another meeting this week, Humboldt County Public Works Director Tom Mattson explained that the county is prioritizing spending the other 85% of Measure O funds on paving and other road projects, rather than paying down the negative balance of its Roads Fund. Here’s why that’s a problem: when approving 15% of projected revenues for transit, county supervisors were so concerned about that negative Roads Fund balance that they decreed that no revenue above current projections would go to transit until the fund balance was positive. If the county makes no effort to pay down its fund balance, transit could be cheated out of millions of dollars in potential revenues over the next several years. We’ll be watching closely as the situation unfolds.

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We’ll Say It Again: Enforcement Isn’t the Solution

The Eureka Police Department this week announced “Operation Gateway 101,” which combines a continuation of the department’s recent and dramatic increase in traffic stops with a new focus on combating blight on the US 101 corridor. However, as we’ve noted before, this approach has not done anything to reduce traffic violence. Traffic stops in the city were up 241% last year, but there was essentially no change in the number of collisions. We pointed this out to the city council, emphasizing that there is ample evidence of solutions that do actually work to improve safety – most of which involve changing the infrastructure.

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Show Up for Richardson Grove!

Our friends at EPIC are still battling Caltrans in court over the highway expansion project in Richardson Grove State Park, and we are eternally grateful for their efforts. In just over a week, they’ll be back in a courtroom in San Francisco, and they need supporters to show up and pack the room! Click here for more details.

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Support for Local EV Drivers Available

The Redwood Coast Energy Authority has launched a program offering discounted charging for low-income EV drivers at the agency’s network of public chargers. Find out more about this and other aspects of owning an EV in Humboldt in this handy myth-busting article.

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News from Beyond the North Coast

Demand More Responsible Projects from Caltrans!

The California Transportation Commission is about to adopt a new State Highway Operations and Protection Program (SHOPP), a biannual process that involves committing billions of dollars to state highway projects across California. Unfortunately, the projects proposed by Caltrans are missing the mark. According to CalBike: “Only 25% of projects include meaningful bike, pedestrian, or transit infrastructure. The plan funds just 11% of the bikeway miles California’s own targets require. And 62% of projects claim exemptions to [complete streets law] SB 960 with no public documentation explaining why.” Click here to send the commission a message asking them to demand better from Caltrans.

American Streets and Highways Appear to Be Getting a Little Bit Safer

New data from the National Safety Council estimate a 12% drop in traffic deaths nationwide in 2025 – including a 40% drop in California! Experts are divided about what’s behind the trend, and whether it will last. One theory is that the big Biden-era investments in proven safety projects across the country are starting to pay off. Another is that the reduction in serious crashes is the result of increasing congestion following the pandemic, because cars caught in traffic usually aren’t going fast enough to kill someone. Either way, it’s good news.

Senators Introduce Bill to Increase Rural Transit Funding

A bipartisan group of US senators this week introduced the “Investments in Rural Transit” Act, which among other things would increase funding for rural transit operations. Operational funding is usually the hardest thing for transit agencies to get, and the bill has the potential to make a big difference to agencies on the North Coast. We’ll be keeping a close eye on the bill’s progress.

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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.

The Collector

February 20, 2026

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Another Driver Kills A Pedestrian on Broadway

A driver in an RV hit and killed an 83-year-old man crossing Broadway with his dog last Friday. The man and his dog were in the crosswalk, and the driver hit the man with the RV while turning onto Broadway from Wabash Avenue.

You’d never know those key facts from the initial reporting on the crash, though. Following the familiar pattern of casting blame on the pedestrian victim and exonerating the driver before all the facts are known, the Eureka Police Department initially emphasized that the driver was “traumatized” by the crash and wasn’t believed to have been speeding or driving under the influence – all while lecturing pedestrians to “look both ways before crossing the street.”

Contrary to the narratives commonly promoted by police, the media, and many members of the public, most pedestrian victims are hit while crossing the street legally in a crosswalk. On dangerous streets like Broadway, 4th and 5th Streets (US-101), no amount of situational awareness or rule-following will keep pedestrians and bicyclists (or even drivers) safe. In just the last ten years, US-101 in Eureka has claimed 20 lives and brutally affected many more.

We need to make these streets safe for everyone before more people are killed. If you haven’t signed the petition to make Broadway, 4th & 5th Streets safer, click here to sign now. If you have already signed, please share the petition with friends and family and ask them to sign too.

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“I have felt substantially safer”

Testimonial from Eureka resident Will Kluger

“As an avid bicyclist in Eureka, I want to express my appreciation for the significant improvements to Eureka’s bike infrastructure. Navigating the streets is always a dangerous endeavor, especially when the road is shared with cars; in fact, I was unfortunately involved in a minor hit-and-run accident before the recent improvements. Since the expansion of these lanes, I have felt substantially safer, and it has transformed my commute into a more sustainable and reliable transportation option.

“I particularly want to praise the Humboldt Bay Trail and the C Street bike lanes. The design and implementation of those stretches have made a noticeable difference in the flow of vehicle and bicycle traffic and my overall sense of security on the road. Riding on the side of the highway was rough, to say the least. This kind of investment in our cycling network not only protects residents like me but also encourages others to choose greener ways of getting around our community. I’ve noticed so many more bikers on our roads, something that is undeniably good for those that choose to bike.” 

You can join Will and share your personal appreciation for recent bike infrastructure improvements with CRTP by emailing kelsey@transportationpriorities.org. Then, we’ll help share it with the whole community. While we know we have a long way to go, it’s important to celebrate the progress we’ve already made!

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EaRTH Center Takes Another Step Closer to Construction

This week, the Eureka City Council formally approved the last piece of funding for the Eureka Regional Transit and Housing Center (EaRTH Center). The long-awaited and much-needed downtown transit hub will also have space for local businesses on the ground floor with affordable homes above. It’s expected to begin construction this year. CRTP has advocated for this project for many years, and we can’t wait to see it built!

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Why We Need Wildlife Crossings

It’s not only pedestrians and bicyclists who are threatened by dangerous street designs. Cars and trucks are a major threat for many species of wildlife too. Check out the latest EcoNews Report for a discussion about wildlife crossings with Tom Wheeler of EPIC and Steve Blackledge of Environment America.

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No Fish Farm on Humboldt Bay

A land-based fish farm may sound like it has nothing to do with transportation, but the facility proposed by Nordic Aquafarms would have been huge, and would have had major impacts. Together with our allies in the local environmental community, CRTP had negotiated several big improvements to the project, including commitments to adopt an evidence-based sustainable commuting program for workers and to purchase 100% renewable energy. We hope whatever project is proposed next, the developer will also be willing to work with the community to address transportation safety and sustainability concerns.

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News from Beyond the North Coast

E-Motos Are the Problem, Not E-Bikes

Amid a growing moral panic about the dangers supposedly posed by e-bikes, advocates are pointing out that the vehicles that are the subject of all the public hand-wringing are not actually e-bikes at all. CalBike is currently hosting a petition calling on state leaders to crack down on retailers illegally selling “e-motos” as e-bikes. Meanwhile, dangerous state legislation has been introduced to require riders of many e-bikes to have a license and registration. If enacted, the bill would crush much of the e-bike market without meaningfully improving safety. You can express your opposition to e-bike licensing requirements by filling out this survey.

Know Any Local Leaders Who Could Use a Safe Streets Training?

America Walks is currently accepting registrations for a series of workshops for elected and government leaders called “Making Streets for Everyone.” The workshops will provide training for local leaders on safe street designs and policies. If you know a local leader who should take this training, share this opportunity with them!

What’s All This About a Mileage Tax?

Conservative media have been buzzing for weeks with outrage over a mileage tax that the California legislature supposedly approved recently. The truth is that the state has been studying options for replacing the gas tax with a mileage fee for over a decade, and the latest bill basically just calls for further study and a new report.

Nevertheless, as gas tax revenues decline and transportation costs mount, it’s likely that California and most other states will end up enacting some kind of mileage fee to replace the gas tax and fund road (and hopefully transit) investments in the coming years. CRTP supports this approach in theory, because electric vehicles have many of the same safety and infrastructure impacts as fossil-powered vehicles. Nevertheless, the climate crisis demands that we both reduce driving and switch to zero-emission vehicles. And we are concerned, among other things, that the wrong kind of mileage fee could remove one of the few disincentives for buying big, dangerous pick-ups and SUVS (namely, the high fuel costs), while also eliminating a major incentive for switching to zero-emission vehicles.

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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.

The Collector

February 13, 2026

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Speak Up: Regional Transportation Plan Up for a Vote Next Week!

The Humboldt County Association of Governments (HCAOG) will bring the latest Regional Transportation Plan update to its board for a vote next Thursday. The plan remains mostly the same as the previous version, which is a good thing. It includes strong goals and policies for reducing climate pollution and improving transportation safety. And several proposals to water down the plan have been defeated thanks to advocacy from CRTP and our members and supporters.

However, one of the most important pieces of the plan is still missing: a policy requiring HCAOG to prioritize funding projects that actually advance its climate and safety goals. Supervisor Steve Madrone spoke forcefully in favor of such a policy at the last HCAOG board meeting, but staff contend that there was “no consensus” for the policy, so they have left it out.

A so-called “Funding Consistency Policy” is crucial to ensure that HCAOG puts its money where its mouth is. The good news is that there’s still a chance to get this policy included the plan. Email your comment in support of a Funding Consistency Policy to amy.eberwein@hcaog.net before next Thursday, or attend the meeting in person or on Zoom to make your comment directly to the board.

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Sign the Petition for Safer 4th & 5th Streets!

Eureka’s Broadway, 4th and 5th Streets are dangerous. Anyone who lives, works, or travels in downtown Eureka knows that. CRTP’s recent report documents the dangers in detail. A recent crash on 5th Street – involving a driver who jumped the sidewalk, barely missing a pedestrian, and slammed into a local restaurant – is just the latest example of the dangerous conditions.

It’s past time to make these dangerous downtown streets safe for everyone. If you haven’t signed the petition for safer 4th & 5th Streets yet, click here to sign now.

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Amazon Distribution Center Coming to McKinleyville?

Amazon has applied to Humboldt County to build a distribution center in the airport business park in McKinleyville. The transportation safety and environmental impacts of this project could be significant.

Amazon says the project is intended to “speed up deliveries.” Faster delivery, however, is one of the main drivers of climate pollution from online shopping. Additionally, anything that encourages online ordering undermines the emissions reductions that otherwise come from building homes within walking and biking distance of local shops.

The distribution center is projected to add 542 (mostly truck) trips to local roads. However, the safety impacts are hard to assess, because the company is claiming that exactly where those trucks go is “proprietary information.” Notably, there are several schools in the vicinity of the airport, and many of the main transportation routes lack bike lanes or sidewalks. Adding more heavy truck traffic to these routes could add to the dangers already faced by people walking, biking, and rolling.

Meanwhile, if you want to weigh in on the future of McKinleyville more generally, there’s a new survey available from Cal Poly Humboldt and various McKinleyville organizations. Let them know how you feel about transportation, development, and other McKinleyville issues!

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More Big Transit Changes Could Be Coming

The Humboldt Transit Authority’s Board of Directors last week directed staff to continue developing a new service plan for the well-used Redwood Transit System (RTS). The concept involves eliminating underused stops that require the bus to deviate significantly from the US-101 corridor, and increasing bus frequency to every half hour all day from McKinleyville south to Rio Dell. Eliminating some stops, according to HTA staff, could significantly reduce travel times. For example, traveling from Eureka to McKinleyville on the bus could take only 30 minutes, as opposed to the nearly 50 minutes that trip takes today.

The plan relies partly on replacing the eliminated RTS stops with microtransit service that could deliver riders to the main line. CRTP is cautiously optimistic about this new plan, but we know that before it can be done, we need to make sure the microtransit system is operating effectively. If you want to weigh in on the new route concept – which stops should be eliminated or retained, how often the bus should come, how microtransit should work – you can contact HTA or email kelsey@transportationpriorities.org to get involved in our local transit riders group!

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Eureka’s Growing Investment in Walkable Development

City planners have developed a set of changes to the Eureka zoning code that will hopefully lead to more walkable, bikeable, infill development – like the affordable homes currently under construction downtown. The new measures strengthen standards for pedestrian-friendly building designs as well as bike parking requirements, ensuring that new homes and businesses provide secure storage for all kinds of bikes.

Importantly, if the city council adopts the code amendments, new multifamily housing will no longer be held to the Design Review Committee’s interpretation of vague and subjective aesthetic standards, but will instead be required to meet new specific and objective rules. This simple tweak to the process is anticipated to make a big difference for infill development, because all projects will be held to the same design standards, and builders will know what those standards are from the start.

CRTP strongly supports these zoning code changes. We are also asking the city to add one other measure to the package: removal of costly and unscientific parking mandates. Parking mandates stifle new infill development. They constitute a self-fulfilling prophecy of car dependence at a time when climate and equity policies demand a shift toward supporting other modes of transportation. Removing them may be the single most effective pro-housing, pro-climate reform a community can adopt – and communities across the country, including Arcata and McKinleyville, are doing just that. Eureka should join them!

The Eureka Planning Commission this week recommended approval of the zoning changes, and the city council is expected to take them up in early March. Meanwhile, the city also recently became the latest local government to adopt the Regional Climate Action Plan, which focuses in part on encouraging walkable development.

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You Could Be the Next Member of Arcata’s Transportation Safety Committee

Arcata’s Transportation Safety Committee advises city council and staff on everything from new bike lanes to parking policy. It is always in need of members who are passionate about safe and sustainable transportation, and there are currently several vacancies. If you live or work in Arcata, you’re eligible to serve on the committee. Click here for information on how to apply.

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News from Beyond the North Coast

Trump’s Biggest Attack Yet on Climate Progress

Trump’s EPA just rescinded the so-called “endangerment finding” which underpins almost all federal climate policy. To put it in simple terms: the EPA is officially denying the mountains of scientific evidence that climate change endangers human health, and discarding all attempts to reign in climate pollution. Since transportation is the biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, the implications for transportation policy are likely to be significant.

State Legislators Take on the Most Dangerous Drivers

Following a series of disturbing CalMatters reports, California lawmakers are proposing several bills to keep DUI offenders and drivers who have already killed someone with their car from going out and doing it again. While a lot more could and should be done, these bills would represent some progress toward more accountability for the most dangerous drivers.

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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.

The Collector: Special Edition

Editor’s Note: This week’s edition of The Collector is devoted to the safety problems that plague Eureka’s Broadway, 4th Street, and 5th Street. We’ll be back with a regular edition covering a variety of local transportation topics next week!

February 6, 2026

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The Safety Crisis on US-101 in Eureka

There is a traffic safety crisis on Highway 101 in Eureka, including Broadway, 4^th Street, and 5^th Street. If you live, work, or travel in Eureka, you probably already know that.

Because of the way these streets are designed, vulnerable people are regularly killed there. In the last decade alone, at least 5 people have been killed and at least 35 people severely injured while walking or biking on 4^th and 5^th Streets. Pedestrians are severely injured or killed on these streets at 90 times the average rate for streets and roads in Humboldt County. Check out CRTP’s recent report “Dangerous Downtown Streets” for more information about the safety crisis on 4th & 5th Streets.

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What’s Happening on Broadway?

Along with 4th and 5th Streets, Broadway is notorious for people being killed in car crashes – especially people walking and biking. Six years ago, CRTP began a coordinated campaign to pressure Caltrans to make major, near-term safety improvements on Broadway. In 2021, we submitted a Broadway safety petition to Caltrans with more than 500 signatures. As a result of that pressure, Caltrans quickly developed plans for three projects, collectively producing major safety upgrades to the entire Broadway corridor.

The first of those projects, the South Broadway Complete Streets Project, is currently under construction. It will add protected bike lanes, a new traffic signal, a new protected intersection for bikes, new sidewalks, street trees, medians, and more. The other two Broadway projects have not yet been funded by Caltrans, despite the ongoing safety crisis. Unbelievably, Caltrans headquarters apparently told local district staff that these projects didn’t even qualify as safety projects!

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How Bad Is the Safety Crisis?

Over the last decade on 4th & 5th Streets, 5 people were killed and 35 seriously injured while walking, biking, or rolling. Over the same period, 1 motorist was killed and 31 seriously injured.

Over the last decade on Broadway, 11 people were killed and 20 seriously injured while walking, biking, or rolling. Over the same period, 3 motorists were killed and 29 seriously injured.

In all, in just ten years, US-101 in Eureka has claimed 20 lives and brutally affected many more. These streets are deadly. There’s no other way to put it. And we won’t accept this situation any longer.

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Sign the Petition for Safer 4th & 5th Streets!

While plans for a Broadway safety overhaul have already been drawn up, and construction has started south of the Bayshore Mall, there are currently no plans for major safety improvements on 4th and 5th Streets.

It’s past time to make these dangerous downtown streets safe for everyone. If you haven’t signed the petition for safer 4th & 5th Streets yet, click here to sign now.

You don’t need to live in Eureka to sign the petition! Anyone who lives, works, or travels in Eureka can sign.

In addition to major safety upgrades on 4th and 5th Streets, our petition demands that Caltrans fully fund and build the rest of Broadway’s safety improvements too.

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Help Us Gather Petition Signatures!

We want to show Caltrans that there is strong community support for major, near-term safety improvements to 4th and 5th Streets (and Broadway!). To do that, we need a lot of signatures on our petition. If you can volunteer to help us get more signatures on the petition, we’d love your help! Email kelsey@transportationpriorities.org for more information.

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What’s It Like Walking and Biking on 4th and 5th Streets?

It’s easy to get lost in numbers and statistics. But these streets are part of everyday life for thousands of people in our region. And the impact that they have depends on who you are.

If you haven’t checked out CRTP’s series of point-of-view videos on 4th and 5th Street, we encourage you to take a look. We got a 6-year-old kid, an accessibility expert, and several other pedestrians and bicyclists to strap on cameras and document what it’s like for them navigating these streets under different conditions. These videos are eye-opening, even if you’re already familiar with 4th and 5th Streets from your own perspective.

We also encourage you to check out reports on Street Story, where dozens of local residents have documented their experiences on these streets. And then make your own report too!

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Let’s Make These Streets Safe for Everyone!

Thousands of people live in the area around Broadway, 4th and 5th Streets, and many thousands more work, run errands, and travel there every day. Whether you’re a driver, a bus rider, a pedestrian, or a bicyclist, there’s no way to avoid these streets running through the center of our region’s largest community.

These streets should be safe for everyone. It’s as simple as that. People shouldn’t be afraid to bike to a local business on Broadway, 4th or 5th Street. Parents shouldn’t be afraid to walk across the street with their kids to get to the library or the Waterfront Trail. People with disabilities shouldn’t need to go half a mile out of their way just to cross the street in relative safety.

Let’s join together to tell Caltrans that this situation is unacceptable. Let’s demand the safe streets we deserve. If you haven’t signed yet, sign the petition today. (Anyone who lives, works, or travels in Eureka can sign.) And then make your impact even bigger by encouraging your family, friends, and neighbors to sign too!

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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.

The Collector

January 30, 2026

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Taking to the Streets to Protect Our Neighbors

In Minneapolis and around the country, families are hiding in their homes, afraid to go out in public for fear of arrest, detention, or deportation. People who take to the streets in protest have been beaten, arrested, and killed.

CRTP believes in the right of all people to move around their communities safely and without fear. We stand in solidarity with everyone resisting the reign of terror being visited on communities in the name of immigration enforcement. And we encourage all of our members and supporters to take part in that resistance in any way they can.

We will be joining local demonstrations this weekend, and we hope that you will too. We also encourage you to enter Centro del Pueblo‘s hotline number into your phone, and call it if you see federal immigration agents locally. That number is 707-200-8091.

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Sign the Petition for Safer 4th & 5th Streets!

Eureka’s Broadway, 4th and 5th Streets are dangerous. Anyone who lives, works, or travels in downtown Eureka knows that. CRTP’s recent report documents the dangers in detail.

It’s past time to make these dangerous downtown streets safe for everyone. If you haven’t signed the petition for safer 4th & 5th Streets yet, click here to sign now.

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HCAOG Resists Putting Its Money Where Its Mouth Is

As we previously reported, following public pressure from CRTP, EPIC, and 350 Humboldt, the Humboldt County Association of Governments (HCAOG) Board of Directors recently showed support for addressing the problems we identified with an update of the county’s Regional Transportation Plan. Specifically, a majority of the Board supported restoring use of the phrase “climate crisis” throughout the plan, as well as restoring the existing policy that 80% of new housing should be in non-car-dependent areas, rather than pushing that target date out to 2030. Supervisor Steve Madrone, representing the county, also spoke forcefully in favor of a policy requiring HCAOG to prioritize funding projects that do the most to advance the plan’s goals of safety, climate action, and equity.

We are now seeing the proposed final draft of the plan for the first time. While HCAOG staff did restore the phrase “climate crisis” throughout the document, as well as the target for new non-car-dependent housing, they did not include any policy requiring that funded projects meaningfully advance climate, safety, or equity goals – despite Supervisor Madrone’s call for such a policy. This policy is fundamental to ensuring that the plan is more than just a pile of paper (or an online PDF), and CRTP will continue fighting for it as HCAOG considers the plan’s final adoption.

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New Transit Options on the Way!

The Humboldt Transit Authority’s on-demand Flex system is expanding, with dozens of new stops and new dedicated vehicles. The system allows riders to hail a vehicle with an app. While it’s not a door-to-door service, it does serve numerous stops in the Humboldt Bay region, and can provide point-to-point rides as well as connections to regular fixed-route buses. CRTP supports this system as a way to provide service in areas without enough population density to support good fixed-route buses. If you have a trip that the regular bus routes don’t serve and you want to try out the Flex system, HTA is currently running a special promotion for two free rides with the code “FlexUp”. Everything you need to know to ride Flex can be found here.

In other transit news, the Arcata & Mad River Transit System recently expanded its later night options, and the Fortuna City Council appears likely to open Fortuna Transit service – which currently only serves seniors and people with disabilities – to the general public. This change could ensure the continuation of Fortuna Transit, which otherwise might end service, while allowing HTA to eliminate some low-ridership Redwood Transit stops in Fortuna and reduce travel times on its main regional route.

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Love New Bike Lanes & Trails? Share Your Story!

From the long-awaited opening of the Humboldt Bay Trail to the completion of Eureka’s C Street Bike Boulevard to the quick-build bike lanes on Hiller Road in McKinleyville, we’ve seen a lot of progress toward better bike infrastructure in the last year. And progress continues with Eureka preparing to rehabilitate a portion of its much-loved Waterfront Trail.

But here at CRTP, we still regularly hear people grumble that they never see anyone riding on the new trails and bike lanes, and using that as an excuse for opposing future bike improvements. We know you’re using these new facilities, and we want to hear from you! Send your stories about what these new improvements mean to you to kelsey@transportationpriorities.org, and we’ll share them on CRTP’s social media – and maybe in The Collector too!

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Hiller Road Quick-Build Project Changes

At this week’s McKinleyville Municipal Advisory Committee meeting, Humboldt County Public Works Director Tom Mattson provided some explanation for the county’s recent decision to remove the protective bollards on the new Hiller Road quick-build bike lanes, as well as the quick-build roundabout at Hiller Road and McKinleyville Avenue. Apparently the roundabout had not been designed in consultation with the fire district, which presented obvious problems. And the bollards were removed because debris was building up in the bike lane, and the county does not have a bike lane sweeper. CRTP has been encouraging local jurisdictions to buy a bike lane sweeper for several years, and we hope this is a wake-up call.

In better news, the traffic-calming narrower car lanes and painted bike lanes remain on Hiller Road, along with the community murals. And the county is now planning to add quick-build curb extensions, with more murals, to replace the roundabout in the spring.

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Complete Streets Safety Assessments Available

The UC Berkeley Safe Transportation Research and Education Center (SafeTREC) – the organization that brought us Street Story! – is offering local governments free Complete Streets Safety Assessments. Could your community use an assessment? Encourage them to apply!

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Traffic Deaths Outnumber Homicides 5-to-1

The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office has reported that 3 people were killed in homicides last year (two of them by law enforcement officers), while 15 people were killed in car crashes, including 5 pedestrians. It’s another reminder that while homicides get much more attention in the media, drivers and their vehicles are the bigger threat to public safety by far.

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News from Beyond the North Coast

Walkable Infill Homes Are More Affordable

A new report from UC Berkeley analyzes the total cost of housing – including associated transportation, utility, insurance, and tax costs – and found that homes built more densely in non-car-dependent areas are much more affordable than homes built in typical suburban sprawl patterns. A big part of the reason is the cost of owning and operating a vehicle.

Are Cars Causing the Loneliness Epidemic?

Cars separate their occupants from everyone around them, keeping people isolated even in public spaces. People in car-dependent communities live far apart and don’t see other people as much as people in walkable communities. The implications for loneliness and social isolation are significant.

Hauling Stuff Without a Car

Has anyone ever told you they can’t give up their car because they need to take their kids to school, or haul groceries or other heavy items around? Maybe you’ve had that thought yourself. If so, let us introduce you to the cargo e-bike.

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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.

The Collector

January 23, 2026

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Sign the Petition for Safer 4th & 5th Streets!

There is a traffic safety crisis on Highway 101 in Eureka, including Broadway, 4^th Street, and 5^th Street. Because of the way these streets are designed, vulnerable people are regularly killed there. In the last decade alone, at least 5 people have been killed and at least 35 people severely injured while walking or biking on 4^th and 5^th Streets. Pedestrians are severely injured or killed on these streets at 90 times the average rate for streets and roads in Humboldt County.

It’s past time to make these dangerous downtown streets safe for everyone. If you haven’t signed the petition for safer 4th & 5th Streets yet, click here to sign now.

Our recent report “Dangerous Downtown Streets” describes the safety crisis on 4th and 5th Streets in detail, and recommends improvements to make things safer. Our point-of-view videos provide clear perspectives on what it’s like for people of all ages and abilities to walk and bike around 4th & 5th Streets. But if you’ve spent any time in downtown Eureka, you already know: these streets are dangerous.

Five years ago, our petition for a safer Broadway spurred Caltrans to plan a major safety overhaul of Broadway. Some of those improvements are now under construction, but the rest are still unfunded. So in addition to major safety upgrades on 4th and 5th Streets, our new petition demands that Caltrans fully fund and build the rest of Broadway’s safety improvements too.

If you want to help us get more signatures on the petition, we’re looking for volunteers! Email kelsey@transportationpriorities.org for more information.

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More Progress on Walkable Housing in Eureka

Just a week after the Wiyot Tribe’s Gou’wik Hou Daqh “(Where the Families Are) family housing development was approved by the Eureka Design Review Committee, the Tribe broke ground on its Laqilh Hou Daqh (Where the Elders Are) housing project. As the Wiyot Tribe noted in its press release:

“Laqilh Hou Daqh is being developed on a parking lot, formerly owned by the City of Eureka, fulfilling Dishgamu’s values by developing infill housing on vacant or underused land within existing urban areas, integrating sustainability by reducing sprawl, cutting transportation emissions through walkability, using existing infrastructure efficiently, and incorporating green technologies, offering a key strategy for climate-friendly density and revitalizing communities. By using local contractors, the project provides local living wage jobs. This project leverages existing services, reduces habitat conversion, and increases affordable housing units with significantly lower overall carbon footprint compared to building in undeveloped areas. This development aligns with “smart growth” principles by focusing on compact, mixed-use development near transit.”

We couldn’t have said it better ourselves. Meanwhile, Linc Housing continues construction of its three downtown housing projects, the EaRTH Center transit and housing hub is expected to start construction this year, and the Sunset Heights affordable housing project (which includes a collaboration with CRTP) is lining up final funding. All in all, Eureka is seeing huge progress on much-needed walkable, transit-friendly housing. Even better: most of these projects come with bike, pedestrian, and transit upgrades too!

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Caltrans Cutting Trees in Richardson Grove

CRTP has opposed Catrans’ highway expansion project through Richardson Grove since our founding in 2015. This week, Caltrans began cutting trees in the grove in preparation for what the agency says will be a spring start to construction. We join our allies at EPIC in condemning Caltrans for cutting trees with no public notice, while a lawsuit against the project is still pending in court, and for continuing to pursue this unnecessary, destructive, and costly project at all.

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Two Positions for Local Sustainable Transportation Enthusiasts!

If you’re passionate about sustainable transportation and land use planning, there are two big opportunities right now to take on important local positions. If you’re looking for a full-time job, the Humboldt Transit Authority is hiring a project manager. If you’d like to volunteer for the community, the McKinleyville Municipal Advisory Committee is looking for applicants for a vacant seat. These are both great opportunities to help shape the future of our region!

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Arcata to Expand Bikeshare System

This week, the Arcata City Council approved a plan to add two new bikeshare stations to its system. This latest expansion brings the total number of stations to 12, and will for the first time add e-bikes. CRTP is excited by the prospect of adding e-bikes, which help empower many local residents to replace car trips with a healthier, more environmentally friendly option.

Because bikeshare is most useful when coordinated with public transit, we are encouraging the city to locate new stations at well-used bus stops. We are also advocating for Eureka to add stations, including at the new EaRTH Center transit hub.

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Almost a Tragedy

On Sunday, a driver in Old Town Eureka suddenly drove their car onto the sidewalk, narrowly missing several pedestrians and a horse. This could have been a tragedy, but instead it is a lesson. Old Town streets are narrow, and the city has built a lot of traffic calming features on 2nd Street where the crash occurred. That meant the driver was going slowly enough that pedestrians could “run out of the way,” as one witness put it, and avoid being hit. It’s a clear demonstration of why it’s so important to design streets for low traffic speeds, especially in areas with lots of people walking, biking, and rolling.

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News from Beyond the North Coast

Dumb E-Bike Laws

New Jersey may soon become the first state in the country to require a license and insurance to ride an e-bike. This unworkable proposal would only serve to push more people back into cars – making our streets less safe. Unfortunately, New Jersey isn’t the only place where legislators are making proposals like this. What we need is not a crackdown on pedal-assist e-bikes that empower more people to get around by bike, but instead reforms to keep manufacturers from confusing legislators and the public by pretending that high-powered mini-motorcycles are actually e-bikes.

California’s Focus on Cars Makes It Harder for Many People to Access Resources

A new UCLA report finds that California’s transportation policy continues to prioritize cars at the cost of human lives, the climate, and equitable access to resources.

Most Americans Are Open to Living Without a Car

Despite the overwhelming force of car culture in the US, a new survey finds that 18% of Americans really want to live car-free, and another 40% are open to the idea. The results suggest that there is more support for policies that reduce car dependence than policymakers might have previously thought.

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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.

The Collector

January 16, 2026

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Our Voices Were Heard: Regional Transportation Plan Fixes Are on the Way

Following public pressure from CRTP, EPIC, and 350 Humboldt, as well as dozens of our members and supporters, the Humboldt County Association of Governments (HCAOG) Board of Directors showed support this week for addressing the problems we identified with an update of the county’s Regional Transportation Plan. Specifically, a majority of the Board supported restoring use of the phrase “climate crisis” throughout the plan, as well as restoring the existing policy that 80% of new housing should be in non-car-dependent areas, rather than pushing that target date out to 2030. Supervisor Steve Madrone, representing the county, also spoke forcefully in favor of a policy requiring HCAOG to prioritize funding projects that do the most to advance the RTP’s goals of safety, climate action, and equity.

While the HCAOG Board did not take a vote, based on their discussions, we expect these issues to be addressed when the final plan comes to them for adoption next month. Humboldt’s Regional Transportation Plan contains ambitious and science-based policies and targets – even more so than the recently approved Regional Climate Action Plan – and it’s imperative that we keep it that way.

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Trinidad Rancheria Part of High-Tech Transportation Safety Pilot

The Trinidad Rancheria will be collaborating with the University of Utah to install high-tech sensors along Scenic Drive and in other parts of the Rancheria, thanks to a pair of federal grants awarded recently. The sensors are intended to detect seismic movements and landslides as well as traffic movements, use AI to predict road hazards, and produce real-time warnings. CRTP will be watching to see if this approach can produce real safety gains, although the energy and expense involved leads us to question how realistic it is for these technologies to be deployed at scale.

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Wiyot Family Housing Development Moves Forward, and Other News from Eureka

Eureka’s Design Review Committee this week approved the Gou’wik Hou Daqh “Where the Families Are” Wiyot Family Housing Development, to be built on the site of the current city parking lot at 5th and D Streets. CRTP has been working to support the conversion of underused downtown parking lots into walkable housing for many years, and we are excited to see this project move another step closer to construction.

In other news from Eureka, the City Council is slated to adopt new Strategic Visioning Goals that include, among many other things: doubling down on transportation safety efforts, developing a new transit hub in Henderson Center, creating “pedestrian-centric parkways,” seeking funding for pedestrian lighting along Broadway, and implementing a better parking management program in core areas.

Speaking of parking management, city staff told Transportation Safety Commission members this week that the city is proceeding with its paid parking program for downtown lots and preparing to expand it to on-street parking. Staff also outlined plans to reprogram many of the city’s traffic signals to reduce conflicts and improve safety.

But the news from Eureka is not all good. Unfortunately, the City Council recently decided to appeal its allocation of affordable housing through the state-mandated Regional Housing Needs Assessment. Specifically, the city objects to the use of vehicle miles traveled as a major factor in allocating lower-income homes throughout the county, which results in Eureka – as the county’s most walkable community – having to plan for more affordable housing.

CRTP believes that all communities need affordable housing, but concentrating such housing in car-dependent areas rather than walkable communities like Eureka penalizes people who can’t afford to own or operate a vehicle. Moreover, when we pushed for more housing at all income levels to be built in non-car-dependent areas, the city objected to that, too – a history which undermines the moral case they are trying to make against “concentrating poverty” in Eureka.

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Provide Input on Del Norte Active Transportation Plan

Del Norte County is developing a much-needed active transportation plan, and there are currently two opportunities to provide input: You can take a survey about your experiences and priorities, and you can provide location-specific comments on a map. We encourage anyone who lives, works, or visits Del Norte to use both tools to provide input. You can find out more about the plan here. Let’s encourage Del Norte to start prioritizing the safety and mobility of people walking, biking, and rolling!

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We Can’t Enforce Our Way to Safety

The Eureka Police Department has taken every opportunity lately to remind the public that they are conducting more – way more – traffic stops than they used to. But serious crashes just keep on happening. It is tempting to believe that better enforcement of traffic laws would solve our safety problems. And it’s true that a small number of people drive especially dangerously as a matter of habit, which is why we support efforts to revoke driving privileges from the most egregious violators. But the research consistently shows that enforcement can’t produce sustained, community-wide reductions in serious crashes. When you add in the fact that traffic stops are often used as a pretext for other investigations rather than targeting genuinely unsafe behavior, and the fact that people of color are almost always targeted disproportionately, you can see why CRTP does not support police enforcement as a major strategy for improving safety.

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Barriers to Better Bus Service

A recent article on the Lost Coast Outpost explored the question of why Humboldt County doesn’t have better bus service. The answers will be familiar to regular readers of The Collector. Low-density, car-dependent development makes effective transit service very hard to provide, and the Humboldt Transit Authority has a very small budget to work with.

The article singled out the proposed “Roger’s Garage” affordable housing project in Bayside, noting that there is currently no bus service to Bayside due to the low-density development pattern, but it’s possible there could be service in the future if the project generates enough local demand. Given the current lack of transit service, CRTP’s focus for the Roger’s Garage project is on accelerating progress toward addressing the dangerous conditions for bicyclists and pedestrians at the Samoa Boulevard/US-101 interchange, which is currently a major barrier for people walking and biking from Bayside to the rest of Arcata.

Unmentioned in the Outpost article is the need for improvement of the Eureka and Arcata transit systems, which serve the densest parts of the county but run complicated, infrequent, and inconvenient loop routes. If you have ideas about improving transit in Eureka specifically, click here to take a survey being conducted by a local student about just that topic.

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News from Beyond the North Coast

Let’s Talk About the Cost of Cars

With politicians focusing much of their energy lately on the issue of affordability, cars are a major blind spot. While the cost of gas gets plenty of air time, the other costs of car ownership – which collectively are much greater than the cost of fuel – are largely ignored.

This Is Your Brain on Cars

“Car brain” – also called windshield bias or, more academically, motonormativity – is a real thing. And it’s causing huge problems.

Newsom’s Budget Again Fails to Invest in Active Transportation

Governor Newsom’s January budget proposal leaves investment in pedestrian and bike infrastructure at historically low levels, despite massive demand from local communities. Meanwhile, new research confirms that building this kind of infrastructure leads directly to more people walking and biking, which the state needs in order to meet its climate targets – not to mention improve public health and stimulate local economies.

Trump’s EPA Doesn’t Value Human Life

The US EPA has proposed new rules which fail to assign any dollar value to human lives saved by pollution regulations, while assigning large values to the supposed costs of such regulations to corporations. The predictable result will be that almost any proposed regulation will appear to have huge costs and no benefits, and will therefore not be adopted. If this approach is applied to new vehicle regulations, the implications for transportation will be significant.

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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.

The Collector

December 19, 2025

Editor’s Note: The Collector will be on a winter break for the next few weeks. We’ll be back in the New Year!

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Humboldt Regional Climate Action Plan Adopted!

On Tuesday, the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors officially adopted the Regional Climate Action Plan after nearly eight years under development. We appreciate that the supervisors made some changes to address our concerns about the plan’s definition of infill development (although we have yet to see the text of those changes). We also saw some progress addressing our concerns about greenhouse gas thresholds for new projects, with the supervisors adopting thresholds that are slightly more reasonable than what was recommended by the Planning Commission, but still not as ambitious as they should be.

In fact, “some progress, but not as ambitious as it should be” would be a reasonable way to sum up the whole Regional Climate Action Plan. The plan commits to much-needed new programs and reforms in transportation, land use, energy, and other areas. This marks the first time that some local agencies – notably the County of Humboldt itself – have made such meaningful commitments. However, it was supposed to be a ten-year plan starting in 2020, and the long delays mean the region now has only 4 years (until 2030) to follow through. And many of the plan’s goals are not very ambitious – for example, to increase walking and biking in urban areas from the current 9% of trips up to just 12%. So the new plan developed in 2030 will have to include much more aggressive measures in order to reach the state’s target of carbon neutrality by 2045.

It’s also worth noting that the plan is intended to be implemented not just by the county, but also by all seven local cities and several other agencies. All of these partners must now adopt the plan. The real work won’t start until that happens, after which a Regional Climate Committee will be formed and staff hired to work on it. CRTP will be monitoring the situation closely.

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Parking, Parking, Parking

Parking was the theme of the Arcata City Council meeting this week. The Council established a parking permit system on Eye Street to address concerns about student parking spillover from the new Hinarr Hu Moulik dorms. This simple action provides a good illustration of how parking problems do not need to be addressed with more parking – they can be much more effectively addressed through good management.

The bulk of conversation at the meeting, however, was focused on Cal Poly Humboldt’s plan to build a massive new parking lot on Foster Avenue in the Arcata Bottoms. In contrast to the parking permit system, this plan represents the worst way to respond to perceived parking shortages: by paving over yet more land in a vain effort to meet parking “demand.” In fact, the university revealed Wednesday that they eventually plan to build a mind-boggling 1,000 parking spaces on the site.

The university has many options for better managing its parking problems – some of which are called for in its own climate action plan – and an expensive parking study the university commissioned a few years ago explicitly advised against building new parking. But the administration has so far ignored its own plans and expert advice, refusing to implement new parking management strategies and instead opting to pursue costly, destructive, and unnecessary new parking construction.

We should acknowledge that a Cal Poly representative also announced on Wednesday a needed trail connection to fill the gap between segments of Foster Avenue. Unfortunately, the benefits of this small improvement for bicyclists and pedestrians will be completely overshadowed by the impacts of the massive expanses of asphalt to be built just a few steps away.

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Comment Period Still Open for Regional Transportation Plan

Humboldt’s Regional Transportation Plan contains more ambitious and science-based policies and targets than the Regional Climate Action Plan. But a new version being circulated for public comment backs away from previous commitments to urgently needed climate progress.

From removing the phrase “climate crisis” to delaying commitments to build climate-friendly infill housing, purchase zero-emission vehicles, and develop EV charging stations, the new plan would be a step backward for the region. Most concerning, the new plan would remove any commitment to funding projects that are actually consistent with the plan’s own goals for climate action and transportation safety.

The public comment period is open until December 29th. If you haven’t commented yet, we encourage you to take the official survey on the plan, and then to email Humboldt County Association of Governments (HCAOG) Board members and tell them to increase their commitment to climate action rather than abandoning their ambitions. You can find Board members’ emails here.

Here are some specific things you could say:

• Restore the use of the phrase “climate crisis” throughout the Regional Transportation Plan. Language matters, especially when it comes to important plans and policies.
• Don’t reverse climate progress. Keep existing targets for climate action, including climate-friendly infill housing. We need climate action now, not five years from now.
• Ensure that future funding decisions prioritize HCAOG’s own climate and safety goals. A plan is nothing more than words on paper if it doesn’t influence future decisions!

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News from Beyond the North Coast

Rural Transit Would Be Hit Hard by Trump Cuts

The Trump administration’s proposal to cut almost all federal funding for public transit would hit rural areas like the North Coast particularly hard. Small rural transit agencies tend to rely much more heavily on federal funding than agencies in bigger metro areas.

Trump Administration Wants Dirtier Buses

There’s really no other way to say it. Faced with administering a congressionally mandated grant program to fund low-emission and zero-emission buses, the administration provided almost no funding for zero-emission buses. Instead, they poured money into the dirtiest vehicles that could fit the definition of “low-emission.”

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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.

The Collector

December 12, 2025

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There’s Still Time to Tell Humboldt County Supervisors to Adopt a Robust Climate Action Plan

The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors is slated to adopt the Regional Climate Action Plan next Tuesday, and you can still weigh in! CRTP is joining our environmental allies in asking the supervisors to approve the plan, after making a few key changes. Here are our specific requests:

• Adopt greenhouse gas thresholds at the original levels recommended by the consultant, and reject the Planning Commission’s attempt to weaken this key standard for projects that aren’t compliant with the plan. (Check out EPIC’s great explanation of this issue here.)
• Ensure that only low-emission infill development projects will be considered compliant with the plan, so that high-emission rural developments aren’t exempted from analyzing and mitigating their climate impacts.
• Adopt and implement the plan without delay and without weakening it.

You can find a lot more detail in the letter CRTP and EPIC submitted to the Supervisors. We encourage CRTP’s supporters to email the Supervisors (you can find their emails here), and attend the Board of Supervisors meeting next Tuesday (December 16th), starting at 9:00 am in the Board of Supervisors Chamber, Humboldt County Courthouse, 825 Fifth Street, Eureka.

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Take Action: Transportation Is at the Heart of the Climate Crisis

The Regional Climate Action Plan isn’t the only regional plan currently under consideration that will have a big effect on climate pollution. Transportation accounts for nearly three-quarters of local greenhouse gas emissions, which means Humboldt County’s Regional Transportation Plan is also crucial for the future of climate action in our region. 

This plan is updated every four years by the Humboldt County Association of Governments (HCAOG), which is governed by a Board of representatives from the county and all seven of its incorporated cities. Unfortunately, the latest draft of the plan backs away from previous commitments to urgently needed climate progress.

Shockingly, HCAOG is actually proposing to remove all uses of the phrase “climate crisis” from the draft plan, suggesting a troubling lack of understanding of the seriousness of climate change and the urgency of action. And it’s not just the language that has been changed. The new draft also kicks the can down the road by delaying commitments to build climate-friendly infill housing, purchase zero-emission vehicles, and develop EV charging stations. 

Even worse, HCAOG is proposing to remove from the plan any commitment to ensuring that the projects they fund are actually consistent with their own goals for climate action and transportation safety. 

With the federal government aggressively undermining climate action and trying to ensure the crisis only gets worse, local communities need to step up now more than ever. We can’t let our county and our cities backslide on climate at this critical moment in history.

We encourage everyone to take HCAOG’s official survey on the plan, and then to email HCAOG Board members and tell them to increase their commitment to climate action rather than abandoning their ambitions. You can find Board members’ emails here.

Here are some specific things you could say:

• Restore the use of the phrase “climate crisis” throughout the Regional Transportation Plan. Language matters, especially when it comes to important plans and policies.
• Don’t reverse climate progress. Keep existing targets for climate action, including climate-friendly infill housing. We need climate action now, not five years from now.
• Ensure that future funding decisions prioritize HCAOG’s own climate and safety goals. A plan is nothing more than words on paper if it doesn’t influence future decisions!

If you want to dive deeper, you can review the draft Regional Transportation Plan, read the official comments submitted by CRTP and our environmental allies, or read recent local media coverage of the issue. Comments are due by December 29th.

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Housing Wins and Warning Signs

Walkable, transit-friendly, affordable housing in Eureka got two big boosts this week. First, the Sunset Heights affordable housing project, on the bluff above Broadway between Harris and Henderson Streets, secured a $21.7 million state grant. The money will not only allow the construction of 43 affordable homes near jobs and services, it will also pay for improved transit service as well as bike and pedestrian safety upgrades to some of the neighborhood’s most dangerous streets. CRTP is proud to have helped facilitate this grant application and excited to announce that a small portion of the funding will help us develop a new program at CRTP.

In breaking news today, we have also learned that the Humboldt Transit Authority and Danco have officially received the final funding needed for construction of the Eureka Regional Transportation and Housing Center (EaRTH Center), the long-awaited downtown transit hub with 45 affordable homes built right on top!

While we celebrate these wins for infill housing, we are also tracking warning signs that the county may be planning for more car-dependent, climate-wrecking sprawl. At their meeting this Tuesday, Humboldt County supervisors approved a grant application that, among other things, would fund studies of “improvements necessary to support potential subdivision and development along the Walnut Drive corridor between Cutten and Ridgewood.” Development in this area would have very little potential for walkability, bikeability, or high-quality transit – in other words, it would be sprawl. We will be advocating strongly for the county to support new housing in more sensible locations like Myrtletown and McKinleyville.

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Trails! Trails! Trails!

Next Tuesday, the Great Redwood Trail Agency will be holding a virtual public meeting about its Master Plan for the future development of the trail from San Francisco Bay all the way around Humboldt Bay to Fairhaven. You can register for the meeting here, and submit questions in advance using this form.

Meanwhile, the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors took another step this week toward maintaining a crucial piece of existing trail infrastructure. The Hammond Trail bridge over Baduwa’t (Mad River) provides a safe connection between McKinleyville and Arcata for bicyclists and pedestrians, but is old and considered seismically vulnerable. Funding to replace it was secured by Congressman Jared Huffman two years ago, and on Tuesday the supervisors hired a consultant to develop engineering and environmental plans for the project.

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Are We Really Still Doing the Big Box Thing?

According to media reports this week, Wal-Mart is in the process of buying the old K-Mart property on Broadway in Eureka. The property owner had previously agreed to sell the property to the county for a new permitting center, but apparently backed out after receiving an offer from Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart stores are the epitome of car-dependent corporate development, with infamously large parking lots and predatory business practices. There’s a reason “big box” stores are not allowed in Arcata or the future McKinleyville Town Center. Why is Eureka still allowing, and even encouraging, this kind of development?

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News from Beyond the North Coast

California’s Legislators Fail to Prioritize Transportation Safety

A new CalMatters investigation shows that, when presented with the fact that 40,000 people have died on California’s roads in the last decade and the number keeps rising, state legislators completely ignored this accelerating epidemic and decided instead to discuss issues like homeless encampments on state highways. It’s a stunning example of the lack of political will that is undermining efforts to eliminate traffic deaths. We know how to stop the carnage. The solutions – from better road design to intelligent speed assistance in vehicles – are well documented, and where governments invest in them, they work. But we will never make progress if our leaders keep ignoring the problem.

Statewide Task Force Recommends Transit Reforms

The California Transit Transformation Task Force has been meeting for the last two years. The group, created by a state law in 2023, was charged with charting a path forward to ensure robust and effective transit systems across the state, and determining how to avoid the fiscal crises facing many big systems. The task force’s official report has now been published. Among other things, it calls for new funding sources for transit and freeing transit operators from onerous state restrictions. Some of the recommendations can be implemented by transit agencies and local governments, but most will require the state legislature to take action.

About That Traffic Study…

When changes to local road or street designs are proposed, it’s usually not long before someone calls for a “traffic study.” Not unreasonably, people feel that we should know what will happen to car traffic after a project is built, and a study sounds like an official and scientific way to find out. But it turns out that most of the models used to conduct these studies are deeply flawed and fail to account for some of the most basic principles in transportation planning.

If You Build It, They Will Come

We’ve long known that building more highway lanes doesn’t alleviate congestion in the long term. Instead, it results in more people driving and filling up the lanes again, so congestion ends up at about the same level it was before. Recent research confirms that this phenomenon – called induced travel – happens with even small “congestion-reducing” projects, like adding a turn lane at an intersection. And it also applies to people walking and biking. Build more bike lanes, sidewalks, and trails, and people will walk, bike and roll more!

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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.