The Collector
January 24, 2025
McKinleyville Wants Better Bike and Pedestrian Infrastructure
A recent survey of people who live, work, attend school, or play in McKinleyville found that the vast majority of community members want to make it safer and more convenient to walk, roll, and bike. In fact, of the topics covered in the survey, bike and pedestrian improvements emerged as two of the top priorities for local respondents. We’re excited to see this level of support, especially since the McKinleyville Town Center ordinance is finally on track to be adopted this year, clearing the way for more walkable and bikeable development.
As always, if you want to help shape future bike and pedestrian improvements in McKinleyville (or anywhere else), you can report crashes, near-misses, hazardous locations or safe places on Street Story.
Caltrans Says Indianola Undercrossing Structure Will Be Done This Year
The Eureka-Arcata corridor project has taken many years to plan and construct, and tied up much of the region’s discretionary transportation funding. The biggest and most expensive component, an undercrossing at the Indianola cutoff, is expected to reach a major construction milestone this summer.
The massive new undercrossing structure will eliminate the dangerous at-grade highway crossing that previously existed at Indianola. Major improvements were surely needed here, but we wonder why a quicker and lower-cost option wasn’t chosen. (Another crossing hazard at Airport Road will be dealt with simply by adding a traffic signal.)
More critically, we are concerned that Caltrans may try to raise the speed limit again after the new construction is done. The special Safety Corridor speed limit of 50 mph, which has been in place for decades now, hasn’t solved all the corridor’s safety problems but has substantially reduced serious and fatal crashes. Our past requests for information from Caltrans about the agency’s post-project speed limit plans have not yielded clear answers.
CRTP will always argue for lower speeds to improve safety, especially when pedestrians and bicyclists are present. In this case, the Humboldt Bay Trail, which is also nearing completion adjacent to the highway, will draw many more people to the corridor. While the trail will be much safer than the highway shoulder, higher speeds could still make it possible for a vehicle to depart the highway and end up on the trail. And higher speeds would surely result in more deaths of vehicle drivers and passengers as well.
New North Coast Assemblymember Appointed to Key Committees
Newly elected District 2 Assemblymember Chris Rogers has been appointed to several committees of particular interest to transportation advocates. Those committees include the Assembly Transportation Committee and the Budget Subcommittee on Climate Crisis, Resources, Energy and Transportation. We hope and expect that Rogers will be a voice for safe, equitable and sustainable transportation, both on the North Coast and throughout the state.
News from Beyond the North Coast
Where Are the Calls for “Car Control”?
Two major vehicle-ramming attacks over the holiday season – one in Germany and the other in New Orleans – generated worldwide media coverage and appropriate condemnation. Locally, just a few weeks ago, a man was arrested in Eureka for repeatedly ramming his truck into another vehicle in an apparent attempt to hurt or kill the other driver.
In the United States, when there is a mass shooting, (some) citizens and politicians always point out how easy it is to obtain such dangerous weapons, and call for some kind of gun control. But tens of thousands of people are killed every year by drivers with no such public reaction. In fact, “vehicular manslaughter” statutes make it impossible to convict a driver for killing somebody with their vehicle unless the driver was breaking some other traffic law at the same time. Even in the aftermath of intentional vehicular attacks, nobody proposes to make it more difficult to own a vehicle, or even to make the vehicles themselves less dangerous.
To address the carnage on our streets and highways, we will have to stop making exceptions for cars and trucks and treat them like the extremely dangerous machines they really are.
Trump Orders Halt to Most Federal Transportation Funding
The new president ordered the US Department of Transportation to stop disbursing money under both the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act, which together account for most federal transportation funding programs, including targeted bike, pedestrian, transit, and climate-focused transportation programs. Legal experts have described the order as unconstitutional, but it remains to be seen what incoming Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy – who has little transportation experience and has questioned the reality of the climate crisis – will do.
Meanwhile, in California, environmentalists and transportation advocates are calling for the state to align its own transportation spending with climate priorities, and to redirect budget allocations away from massive highway expansions and toward bike, pedestrian and transit improvements.
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.
