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! You can submit items for consideration, or just enjoy the news collection!
Voting, Buses, Climate Action, and More!
The Collector
October 9, 2026
Time to Vote!
Election Day is November 3rd, but you don’t have to wait to vote. Most registered voters in California should have received their ballots in the mail this week. CRTP joins the Humboldt County Office of Elections in encouraging voters to make a plan to vote early. Click here for information on all the options for casting your ballot.
Local, state, and federal elections all have big impacts on the safety, equity, and sustainability of our transportation system. We encourage our members and supporters to do their research on candidates and ballot measures before voting. CRTP has taken the following positions on ballot measures this election:
- NO on Proposition 43. This measure would make it virtually impossible for local voters to raise money for things like transit service or bike and pedestrian infrastructure.
- NO on Proposition 45. This measure would gut the California Environmental Quality Act, removing critical environmental safeguards for projects ranging from highway expansions to sprawling subdivisions.
- YES on Arcata’s Measure G. Measure G renews an existing City of Arcata sales tax that has provided significant funding for bike and pedestrian infrastructure over the last two decades. The funding has helped support new crosswalks, bike lanes, sidewalks, and even the Humboldt Bay Trail and the Annie & Mary Trail.
More Reasons for Cal Poly Humboldt to Fund the Bus
One Vote Away from Regional Climate Action Plan Implementation
This week, both the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors and the Arcata City Council approved a regional memorandum of understanding that provides for the creation of a Regional Climate Committee housed at the Redwood Coast Energy Authority, as well as commitments to fund a Climate Program Manager through 2030. These are the first steps toward formal implementation of the Regional Climate Action Plan, which tackles climate pollution from transportation among other local sources. While we hope that all local cities will follow suit, approval from the Eureka City Council is the only remaining step officially needed for the agreement to take effect. We expect that to happen in the next few weeks.
More Riders, More Buses
Bus ridership in Humboldt County is up roughly 20% from a year ago! Transit ridership plummeted across the country during the pandemic, as people stayed home and avoided crowds, and the situation was no different here on the North Coast. But ridership has been steadily climbing since then, and has finally reached pre-pandemic levels, boosted in recent months by the skyrocketing cost of gas.
Of course, the Humboldt Transit Authority needs enough buses on hand to provide good service to all of those new and existing riders. When a supply chain disruption stopped fuel shipments several months ago for the agency’s brand-new fleet of 11 hydrogen buses, that became a real challenge. But more hydrogen fuel finally started arriving this week, and HTA hopes to get the buses on the road soon.
Bike & Pedestrian Improvements Coming to McKinleyville, Blue Lake
At its meeting next week, the California Transportation Commission is slated to approve funding for much-needed bike and pedestrian safety upgrades at the US 101 School Road interchange in McKinleyville, as well as the long-planned “Phase II” of Blue Lake’s Hatchery Road project, which includes new bike lanes, crosswalks, curb ramps, and a pedestrian signal.
News from Beyond the North Coast
Rural Transit Brings Big Economic Benefits
A new study from Massachusetts shows that even the most bare-bones transit service in rural areas generates significant economic benefits. But we didn’t need a new study to tell us that! CRTP’s own 2026 Economic Fact Sheet for Humboldt County transit shows that local buses last year allowed riders to access almost 190,000 work shifts, more than 200,000 school days, and 50,000 medical appointments. Plus, transit riders spent an estimated $7.2 million shopping at local businesses!
Parking Pushback a Proxy for Prejudice
A new study finds that neighbors are significantly more likely to raise objections over the parking impacts of a new religious building project when that project is a mosque, as opposed to a church. The researchers hypothesize that “insufficient parking” is such a common basis for opposing new development that it can be deployed as a smokescreen to hide objections based on deeper prejudices.
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.
It’s the Week Without Driving!
The Collector
October 2, 2026
It’s the Week Without Driving!
The Week Without Driving started yesterday and runs through next Thursday. Participants challenge themselves not to drive a car for as much of the week as they can. If you drive during the week, you’re encouraged to reflect on why you drove, and what you would have done if you didn’t have that option. More than 40 people in Humboldt County have signed up to participate this year, including many elected officials, public agency staff, and other community leaders.
This year’s Week Without Driving comes at a particularly challenging time for nondrivers, including many people with disabilities, kids, older people, immigrants, people with suspended licenses, and people who can’t afford to own or operate a vehicle. Consistently high gas prices in recent months have put driving out of reach for even more people.
At the same time, funding for public transit service is under threat at many levels. There have been recent bus service cuts in Arcata due to loss of funding from Cal Poly Humboldt, and the university may withdraw its longstanding funding for all evening bus service in Arcata. The San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority is facing financial challenges operating the Amtrak bus route that serves the county. Recent changes to California’s Cap and Invest program are predicted to all but eliminate several transit funding programs that local agencies have relied on in recent years.
Meanwhile, the transportation bill being debated in Congress would result in substantial reductions in transit funding, and the Trump administration has proposed cutting virtually all federal funding for transit.
If you’re noticing local unmet transit needs – whether in your daily life or during your participation in the Week Without Driving – you can attend a Eureka City Council hearing next Tuesday to report your experiences. There will be more hearings in other communities in the coming weeks, and you can also provide your input using the survey here.
Arcata Council Candidates Talk Housing
How and where new homes are built is a crucial factor in how walkable, bikeable, and transit-friendly our communities will be in the future. It was also the main topic addressed by Arcata city council candidates at a recent forum.
Progress Report on Local Bike & Pedestrian Improvements
CRTP advocates for big, systemic changes to ensure that our transportation system is safe, equitable, and climate-friendly. But small, local improvements can also make a big difference in local neighborhoods and communities, and we advocate for those too! Here are a few updates from around Humboldt County:
- New crosswalks, flashing signage, and accessible curb ramps are being installed this week at several intersections in McKinleyville and Redway. We’re happy to see these improvements, although we’re disappointed that the curb ramps do not follow best practices for people with disabilities, as we had advocated.
- The city of Eureka says it will be installing some bike improvements as well as curb extensions, curb ramps, and new sidewalk for pedestrians on parts of N, 2nd, and Harris Streets as part of its annual repaving project. The inclusion of these safety improvements is the result of the city’s Complete and Green Streets Policy, which CRTP worked hard to get adopted several years ago.
- Arcata’s city engineer will be giving an annual update on the implementation of Arcata’s Complete Streets Policy at the city council meeting next week. That policy is the result of CRTP’s advocacy too!
News from Beyond the North Coast
Transportation Bills Good & Bad Signed by Governor
A number of transportation-related bills will become law soon after Governor Newsom signed them this week. Those bills include some priorities for transportation advocates, like SB 1167, which will help prevent e-motos from being deceptively sold as e-bikes and encourage better data to inform the e-bike debate, and AB 1976, which will make it easier for communities to add traffic-calming features and harder to cancel planned bike improvements.
Unfortunately, the governor also signed AB 2059, which exempts transportation projects in rural counties from having to analyze their impacts on driving. The bill ignores academic research demonstrating that, just like in urban areas, rural projects that make it quicker and easier to drive lead to more vehicle miles traveled.
“A Community Member Was Killed Here”
Spokane, Washington has become the first city in the US to implement an Emergency Streets program. The city now intervenes immediately after a deadly crash to slow traffic in the area and investigate ways to prevent the same thing from happening again in the future.
Typical Pedestrian Safety Advice Just Doesn’t Cut It
Public messages to pedestrians like “look both ways before you cross the street,” “make eye contact with the driver,” and “only cross at a crosswalk” fail to acknowledge the realities facing pedestrians and do not keep them safe. And because we put the burden of avoiding a crash on pedestrians, as Smart Growth America CEO Beth Osborne points out, we’re basically telling people who walk or roll: “Be very, very careful because if you are hit, it will be your fault.”
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.
What Lessons Can We Learn From a Tragedy?
The Collector
September 25, 2026
What Lessons Can We Learn From a Tragedy?
This week, we mourn the death of Ronnie Franklin, the 20-year-old McKinleyville resident and Caltrans contractor who died while helping build new bike and pedestrian safety improvements on Broadway in Eureka. Selah Town allegedly hit Franklin with a large GMC Yukon SUV after driving through safety cones into the construction zone where he was working. Town is alleged to have been driving drunk while on probation for a previous DUI conviction.
We are sick of reporting tragedies like this on our local streets and roads. While we remember Ronnie Franklin today, we also revisit what happened to draw lessons about how to prevent something like this from happening again. Here are some lessons we can take from what we know so far:
- Pedestrians and bicyclists need real protection from speeding drivers. A better safety system is needed for temporary construction zones. And for permanent infrastructure on high-speed roads, plastic does not provide enough protection for vulnerable road users.
- Vehicles need to be designed for pedestrian safety. The vehicle that hit Ronnie Franklin was over 5,500 pounds and more than 6 feet tall, with a high, blunt front end – a design that increases the risk of pedestrian death by almost 50% in a crash.
- Ignition interlock devices should be in more vehicles. California has systematically failed to keep dangerous drivers off the road, even after multiple offenses. One of the many problems: unlike most states, California does not require ignition interlock devices for first-time DUI offenders. A recent bill to change that was gutted by state legislators just last month. If you’ve been convicted of drunk driving, you should be required to use this technology to keep you from doing it again. In fact, why isn’t this technology standard in all new vehicles to keep anyone from driving drunk at all?
- Better design, public transit, and better zoning are needed to make streets safer. Until ignition interlock devices are installed in all vehicles, we won’t be able to keep all drunk drivers off the road. But there are things we can do to reduce the number of drunk drivers, and reduce the chances that they kill someone. Better public transit service can provide more attractive options for intoxicated people to get where they’re going without getting behind the wheel. Zoning rules can prohibit bars and other alcohol-serving establishments in places that are only reachable by car. And traffic-calming designs that work at a subconscious level, like narrower lanes, could slow intoxicated drivers too, decreasing the risk of tragedy.
Transit Month Isn’t Over Yet!
You still have a few more days to log your transit rides for a chance to win prizes donated by the Humboldt Transit Authority. Every ride you log is like a ticket in a raffle, increasing your chances of winning. We’ll be picking the winners after September 30th.
There’s also still plenty of time to participate in the annual Unmet Transit Needs process, which provides an opportunity to get your observations and opinions about the need for specific transit service improvements documented in the official record. You can provide your input using the survey here.
As soon as Transit Month ends, the Week Without Driving starts. So even if you’ve never ridden the bus, this is a great time to start! The Humboldt Transit Authority has a helpful new video telling you everything you need to know.
Want to take your transit support to the next level? HTA is looks for folks to join the friendly crew of local bus drivers getting people where they need to go!
Could Eureka’s Next Housing Developer Be You?
Eureka is looking for land owners who might be interested in building new housing over the next several years. If you own some vacant land or an underutilized parking lot, you can contact the city to register your property. It doesn’t commit you to building anything, but it does help the city plan for more walkable, transit-friendly housing in the future.
Eureka City Council Candidates Have a Lot to Say About Bikes
As we previously reported, one city council candidate has been talking a lot about biking since announcing his campaign, and another has identified as a nondriver and bicyclist. Now, even more candidates are weighing in on bike infrastructure, particularly the new C Street Bike Boulevard.
In the E-Bike Debate, Facts Matter
The Eureka Police Department is in the midst of a crack-down on e-bike riders, and they have repeatedly stressed that they want to educate the public about the relevant rules and regulations. In this heightened environment, it’s particularly problematic when EPD broadcasts misinformation about e-bikes and their riders.
This week, police arrested a 15-year-old riding (apparently) an e-bike on the sidewalk in Eureka. In the press release about the arrest carried by local media outlets, EPD incorrectly equated Class 3 e-bikes with e-motos and falsely asserted that a driver’s license is required to ride a Class 3 e-bike. In fact, the press release repeatedly calls the teen in this case a “driver,” rather than a bike rider. After CRTP and others pointed out the errors, at least one local media outlet corrected some of these misstatements.
Another misleading aspect of the EPD press release remained unaddressed. The release states that the teen was arrested for, among other things, “reckless driving,” and suggests that “riding on a sidewalk where prohibited” might be a contributing factor. In fact, in Eureka, sidewalk riding is only prohibited downtown and in Henderson Center, neither of which was the location of this incident.
News from Beyond the North Coast
Trump’s Transit Cuts Would Hit Rural Areas Hardest
Rural transit agencies rely more heavily on federal funding than big urban systems. And small town systems with more federal investment generate a lot more ridership.
Driveways and Parking Lots Are Dangerous, Too
When we talk about the problems with parking lots, we usually focus on all the land they take up that could otherwise be used for homes or businesses. But parking lots and driveways are also the site of up to 1,000 motor vehicle-related deaths in the US each year. The federal government, however, doesn’t include these deaths in its traffic safety figures, because they occur on private property. Since most of those deaths are likely pedestrians, that means a significant portion of pedestrian fatalities go unreported.
“The Most Expensive Trip Is the One You Could Have Walked”
There’s been a lot of discussion about high fuel prices in the media recently. But few commentators have noted the fact that Americans wouldn’t be so hard hit if they had other options to get around.
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.
Just How Dangerous Is Our Region for Pedestrians?
The Collector
September 18, 2026
Just How Dangerous Is Our Region for Pedestrians?
Almost every year, Humboldt County ranks among the most dangerous counties in the state for pedestrians. Eureka is always close to the top in the list of the most dangerous small cities in the state.
We know that much of this bad local safety record for pedestrians – and for bicyclists and motorists – is the result of the dangers on US 101 in Eureka, which is why we are fighting so hard for safety improvements on Broadway and on 4th and 5th Streets. Just this week, in a dark irony, a young Caltrans contractor helping to install new protected bike lanes on Broadway – bike lanes CRTP fought hard to get built – was hit by a driver and severely injured. Our thoughts are with Ronnie Franklin, and we hope he has a full and speedy recovery. Clearly, we have a long way to go to make our local roads safe.
A new national report helps put our local situation into perspective. The report ranks California’s 2nd Congressional District, encompassing the North Coast region, as the 150th most dangerous for pedestrians. In other words, about two thirds of US congressional districts have a pedestrian safety record better than ours. And the United States as a whole has the highest pedestrian death rate among the world’s high-income countries.
While Eureka might be the epicenter of this crisis locally, these data show that the whole region has a lot of work to do to ensure the freedom to walk safely in our local communities.
Join the Local Transit Improvement Movement!
As California Transit Month continues, CRTP will be hosting a local gathering for transit riders next Monday, September 21st. It’s an opportunity to connect with fellow riders and add your voice to local and regional transit issues. From protecting existing funding to building a better system for riders of all abilities, ages, and backgrounds, attend to learn how you can make a difference on Humboldt’s bus systems. Text or call 707-440-9839 for time & location.
You can also honor Transit Month by participating in the annual Unmet Transit Needs process, which provides an opportunity to get your observations and opinions about the need for specific transit service improvements documented in the official record. You can provide your input using the survey here.
And don’t forget to keep logging your transit rides throughout the month of September for a chance to win prizes donated by the Humboldt Transit Authority!
Big Local Trail Investments Planned
The Great Redwood Trail Agency board of directors is meeting today and is slated to approve a list of substantial new investments in trail projects throughout the region. We are particularly excited to see funding allocated to complete environmental and design work for a new trail from Eureka to College of the Redwoods, and to plan, design, and build a trail from Arcata to Manila.
These trails are long-time community priorities which will fill in big gaps in regional active transportation commuting infrastructure. Currently, many people bike on highway shoulders to get between College of the Redwoods and Eureka, and between Arcata and Manila, often because they have no other options. Developing these trails will dramatically improve safety and attract more people to use healthy, climate-friendly modes of transportation.
Why Are Street Safety Improvements Being Removed?
This week, the city of Eureka removed two quick-build mini-roundabouts that had only recently been installed. The idea is to collect data on intersection safety without the mini-roundabouts in place, so it can be compared to data collected while they were there. We wish the city had collected data before they installed the mini-roundabouts and then left them there. But under the circumstances, we hope that the new safety data will at least provide support for more safety interventions in the future.
Meanwhile, we are advocating for the city of Arcata to leave its new quick-build speed humps on K and 11th Streets in place. While they have not solved all the safety problems on these streets, these speed humps have resulted in notable decreases in vehicle speeds where they were installed.
Eureka Parking Management Changes
Eureka is proposing new parking rules in its Downtown and Old Town neighborhoods, adding stricter time limits for on-street parking in an attempt to encourage parking turnover and benefit local businesses. We appreciate the city’s attempt to better manage its on-street parking. But the most effective, efficient, and fair way to manage parking is to charge a reasonable rate for it and let drivers decide how long to stay, rather than trying to figure out in advance exactly how long a car should be allowed to occupy each space. The city has previously announced plans to meter on-street parking in the area, and we look forward to those plans being developed and implemented soon.
News from Beyond the North Coast
Why Are State Leaders Giving Money to Big Oil Instead of Transit?
Check out this op-ed for an overview of the California Air Resources Board’s terrible decision de-funding state transit programs, and the legislature’s failure to fix the problem.
Vote No on Propositions 43 & 45
Proposition 43 would make it nearly impossible for local communities to raise money for things like transit, bike lanes, and sidewalks. Proposition 45 would remove environmental guardrails for major construction projects, including highway expansions and other climate-wrecking boondoggles. CRTP urges a No vote on both.
The Self-Driving Cars Are Coming…and There’s Nobody in Them
For years, experts have warned that if autonomous vehicles become widespread, they will clog the streets and highways while driving around empty waiting for a passenger. We are seeing glimpses of that future already, leading advocates to call for the implementation of a vacant vehicle fee.
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.
Will Increased E-Bike Enforcement Really Help Anything?
The Collector
September 11, 2026
Will Increased E-Bike Enforcement Really Help Anything?
E-bikes have become enormously popular in recent years, and with good reason. E-bikes can provide the extra assistance needed for many older folks and people with disabilities to get around on a bike. They can help parents haul kids and groceries. They can help people bike longer distances and get up steeper hills. And research shows that people use e-bikes to replace cars on many trips, improving health and reducing climate pollution.
As more and more e-bikes hit the streets, there have been more crashes involving e-bikes (although, as we have noted in the past, many crashes reported as involving e-bikes actually involved high-powered e-motos). Just as with crashes involving pedestrians and “analog” bikes, the public discourse around e-bike crashes focuses almost exclusively on the behavior of e-bike riders. In other words, the public almost always blames the victim. The results of this trend include initiatives like the Eureka Police Department’s current crack-down on e-bike riders.
CRTP applauds EPD’s recent efforts to bring more attention to the traffic safety crisis in Eureka, which started long before anyone was riding an e-bike. And we don’t deny that – just like drivers, pedestrians, and other bicyclists – e-bike riders don’t always make safe and responsible choices. But we have serious concerns about a law enforcement campaign focused on people riding e-bikes.
Most bike and e-bike legal infractions are not related to behaviors that truly increase safety risk, and they tend to be disproportionately enforced on people of color and unhoused people. In fact, the National Association of City Transportation Officials has called for the repeal of most laws criminalizing bike riders, both because of their inequitable impacts and because they do not improve safety.
Even infractions that are often seen as dangerous – like riding on the sidewalk, riding against traffic, or rolling through a stop sign – are often logical responses to infrastructure that is not designed for bikes. Facing hostile infrastructure, bicyclists often choose what they feel is safe over what the law says they should do. Telling them not to do so is unlikely to change their behavior.
And even in cases where there is no clear explanation or excuse for the risky activities of particular people riding e-bikes, enforcement is unlikely to result in lasting behavior change or safety gains at a community level. As advocates have long pointed out, enforcement is a high-effort, low-impact road safety intervention. So while traffic stops for high-risk behaviors – like speeding or driving under the influence – can mitigate an immediate safety risk, we must not let a focus on enforcement distract from proven, long-term safety countermeasures like traffic calming and better bike and pedestrian infrastructure.
Finally, we have to note that, when facing the fact that a dramatic increase in enforcement has not resulted in any meaningful safety gains, EPD has implied that many of its traffic stops are actually pretextual. (For example: “Traffic stops can lead to the identification of individuals wanted on warrants, the discovery of drug activity, and the apprehension of individuals involved in violent or property crimes.”) But the research shows that pretextual stops are subject to bias, do not increase road safety, and are not effective at discovering or reducing other criminal activity.
In light of these facts, CRTP is urging EPD to focus its enforcement efforts on only the most dangerous behaviors. We also urge EPD to act as “eyes and ears” on the street and work with the city’s engineering department to help identify dangerous locations and inadequate infrastructure before more crashes happen. Put another way, we hope EPD will apply the familiar principles of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design and help champion the proven strategy of Crash Prevention Through Street Design.
Most critically, we urge the whole of city government to work together toward proven, sustainable safety countermeasures. This means recognizing e-bike safety – and all transportation safety – as primarily a public health problem, not a law enforcement problem, and prioritizing the most effective systemic measures accordingly.
Transit Month Continues!
Next Monday, September 14th, Humboldt Transit Authority bus drivers will be joining CRTP at Friends of the Eel River’s monthly Solidarity Gathering at Humbrews in Arcata from 5-7 pm. Come out to meet the folks who keep the buses moving, ask them your burning questions about how transit works, and show your appreciation for some of our community’s most essential workers! Special thanks to AFSCME Local 1684 for co-sponsoring this event.
The following Monday, September 21st, CRTP will be hosting a transit rider gathering. It’s an opportunity to connect with fellow riders and add your voice to local and regional transit issues. From protecting existing funding to building a better system for riders of all abilities, ages, and backgrounds, attend to learn how you can make a difference on Humboldt’s bus systems. Text or call 707-440-9839 for time & location.
The annual Unmet Transit Needs process has also begun in Humboldt County, providing an opportunity to get your observations and opinions about the need for specific transit service improvements documented in the official record. You can provide your input using the survey here.
Finally, don’t forget to keep logging your transit rides throughout the month of September for a chance to win prizes donated by the Humboldt Transit Authority!
Central McKinleyville Is 38% Parking
Following up on our previously published maps of off-street parking in downtown Eureka and Arcata, CRTP has now produced a map of off-street parking in McKinleyville’s Central Avenue corridor. The conclusion – shocking, but perhaps not surprising – is that 38% of developable land in the corridor is covered by parking lots.
This analysis demonstrates both a massive challenge and a huge potential for turning not just the designated Town Center, but also the rest of the community’s core area, into a more walkable, bikeable, transit-friendly corridor.
$23 Million and Counting for Eureka Slough Bridge Repairs
The Eureka Slough Bridges carry a lot of traffic, and Caltrans should do what it has to do to ensure they’re safe. But this ongoing emergency project has us thinking: wouldn’t it be nice if Caltrans acted with the same urgency and the same open-ended funding commitment to addressing the injuries and deaths that happen regularly on the US 101 corridor throughout Eureka? Or at least created a temporary safe route for bicyclists and pedestrians to cross the highway, with the Waterfront Trail under the bridges closed indefinitely while bridge work continues?
News from Beyond the North Coast
Let’s Kill That Bill
As we’ve previously reported, the federal transportation reauthorization bill is bad for safety, bad for pedestrians, bad for bicyclists, and bad for transit. Congress recently passed a stopgap transportation bill, but this bad bill is still waiting in the wings. Tell Congress to scrap it and start over.
Pickups and SUVs Are Truly Dangerous for Pedestrians
Another new study shows that bigger vehicles, especially those with higher front ends, are much more likely to kill or seriously injure pedestrians in a crash. Pickup trucks in the study were most likely to kill or injure someone when a crash happens, while full-size SUVs were most likely to get in a crash in the first place.
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.
A Mixed Bag for Transit
The Collector
September 4, 2026
State & Federal Budget Bills Offer a Mixed Bag for Transit
On the eve of Transit Month, California legislators approved a follow-up budget bill on Monday that preserves an important source of direct operating funding for local transit agencies. They also delivered some additional funding to other climate initiatives threatened with cuts from Governor Newsom’s new Cap-and-Invest rule. However, the legislature did not provide funding for the two other big transit programs threatened by Newsom’s rule.
That means the state programs that have allowed local transit agencies on the North Coast to build new transit centers, upgrade bus stops, offer free fare programs for youth and seniors, and buy zero-emission buses are projected to see a 76% funding cut this year.
Meanwhile, at the federal level, Congress passed a stop-gap budget bill that extends current transportation funding programs through December. However, because the bill didn’t guarantee that any actual funding would be disbursed to transit agencies, advocates say the bill amounts to a 20% cut in federal transit investment.
Speak Up About the Future of US 101
Caltrans has published a draft plan for the future of US 101 from Mendocino County to the Oregon border. This is a great opportunity to tell Caltrans we want major safety improvements on Eureka’s 4th Street, 5th Street, and Broadway, which are all part of US 101 and are some of the most dangerous streets in the whole region.
The draft US 101 Corridor Management Plan is long, but it mostly calls for just keeping the highway the way it is right now. We think that’s unacceptable. The way the highway is now contributes to numerous injuries and deaths every year and fails to provide adequate facilities for safe, low-carbon transportation options like walking, biking and transit. Significant design changes, including converting some existing lanes into protected bike lanes or other facilities, are needed to make US 101 a safe, modern facility. Caltrans is taking online comments here through the end of the month.
Protecting Transit’s Role in Multi-Racial Inclusive Democracy
Public transit provides access to participate in society for people of all ages, abilities, and incomes. It is not an accident that transit has been the site of many of the US’s civil rights struggles. Mass transit is a mechanism for an integrated society as both a public arena that people of different backgrounds share and a means for people to access diverse neighborhoods.
Join us next Thursday, September 10th, at 5:45 pm at the McKinleyville Family Resource Center for a talk by Laurel Paget-Seekins on how the Trump administration’s attack on multi-racial inclusive democracy is impacting public transit and what we can do in California to protect and strengthen transit.
We encourage you to take the bus to the talk if you can! And if you do, don’t forget to log your ride for a chance to win prizes donated by the Humboldt Transit Authority.
Del Norte Faces Possible Transit Service Cuts
The Redwood Coast Transit Authority, which serves Del Norte County, is considering reducing service on its bus routes and increasing fares to address a budget shortfall. Among the cuts being discussed is the elimination of Saturday service on Route 20, which connects Crescent City with Klamath, Orick, Trinidad, Arcata, and Eureka, as well as Redwoods State and National Parks.
RCTA is scheduled to make a final decision on service cuts and fare increases at its September 28th board meeting. Affected riders can attend that meeting to weigh in, or submit feedback via the RCTA website.
Workshops on Yurok Tribal Transit Next Week
The Yurok Tribe is holding three community workshops next week to get public feedback as they work to update their Transit Development Plan:
- Tuesday, September 8th, 1:30-3:00 pm, Eureka Tribal Office, 1034 6th St.
- Wednesday, September 9th, 6:00-7:00 pm, Klamath Tribal Office, 190 Klamath Blvd.
- Thursday, September 10th, 10:00-11:30 am, Weitchpec Tribal Office, 23001 CA-96
The workshops can also be attended by Zoom. Email Transportation Planner Chris Sterner at csterner@lsctrans.com with questions.
The Real Impacts of Transit Cuts
Transit funding is complicated. The legislative process is confusing. It’s easy to get lost in numbers and jargon and political spin. But cuts to transit have real impacts on local people who rely on transit to meet their everyday needs. The local economy also suffers from employees not being able to reach jobs, students not being able to reach schools, and shoppers not being able to reach local businesses.
Transit cuts also deal a major blow to our efforts to tackle the climate crisis. Getting more people out of cars and onto buses is one of the major strategies for reducing climate pollution. With the North Coast already feeling the escalating impacts of climate change, and international experts predicting the planet will soon pass a critical temperature threshold, cuts aimed at important climate solutions like public transit are extremely short-sighted and damaging.
News from Beyond the North Coast
Transportation Bills on the Governor’s Desk
Among the bills awaiting Newsom’s signature or veto is SB 1167, a key labeling and transparency bill to distinguish between legal e-bikes and high-powered e-motos.
Local Government Vehicles Can Make a Big Safety Difference
By adopting technologies that limit speeding and help avoid crashes, and buying smaller and more safely designed vehicles, local governments can lead by example and make a real impact on safety in our communities.
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.
Is This the Last Nice Thing We’ll Get for Transit?
The Collector
August 28, 2026
Is This the Last Nice Thing We’ll Get for Transit?
This week, the Humboldt Transit Authority and Danco officially broke ground for the Eureka Regional Transit and Housing Center, more commonly referred to as the EaRTH Center. Eureka has long needed a good downtown transit hub and more walkable housing, and this project provides both. CRTP has been advocating for the EaRTH Center for years, and we’re excited to see construction begin!
The EaRTH Center is one of many local transit projects made possible by the state’s Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program (TIRCP). In fact, in recent years TIRCP has been the main source of funding on the North Coast for new buses, bus stop upgrades, and other transit infrastructure.
TIRCP is one of the critical transit and housing programs that is anticipated to be defunded by rule changes recently made by Governor Newsom’s appointees to the California Air Resources Board. If TIRCP funding dries up, it’s not clear where local agencies will get funding for the new buses they need, let alone bigger infrastructure projects – like, for example, a much-needed new transit center in Arcata, and a planned transit hub in the McKinleyville Town Center.
Let’s make sure this isn’t the end for transit infrastructure improvements in our region. Click here to email state leaders today and tell them to fully fund TIRCP and other transit and housing programs. Don’t wait! Legislators must take action in the next few days to avoid severe funding cuts starting this fiscal year.
Eureka’s Safety Crisis and Solutions
Last Friday, the Lost Coast Outpost published a “deep dive” into Eureka’s traffic safety crisis, and we’re grateful for the coverage. It’s critically important for the media to report on traffic safety as the systemic issue that it is, rather than simply re-publishing police reports and treating every crash as an isolated incident.
As CRTP Executive Director Colin Fiske notes in the Outpost article, the most effective, evidence-based strategies for making streets safer involve redesigning those streets to slow traffic, minimize conflicts, and provide safe places to walk and bike. In Eureka’s most dangerous corridor, Caltrans is taking baby steps in that direction with changes like the newly activated traffic signal at Broadway and Hilfiker Lane. This signal provides a safer crossing of Broadway at an access point to the Waterfront Trail, in a location where pedestrians and bicyclists previously had to make a half-mile detour to cross at a light.
But the self-congratulatory message Caltrans provides for the article is premature. Hiding behind selective and misleading statistics, Caltrans spokesperson Miles Cochrane argues that collisions in Eureka’s US-101 corridor have declined dramatically in the last decade. What he doesn’t mention is that there has been no significant, sustained decrease in the number of people actually injured and killed. Nor does he point out that, due to Humboldt County’s small population, there is significant random variation in injuries and deaths each year. In other words, you can create the illusion of a trend simply by selecting convenient years to start and end your comparison.
The most substantial safety upgrades on Broadway – like the new traffic signal – have all been made recently, so we haven’t had time to judge their effects. If studies of other locations are any indication, these improvements will make a difference in the immediate vicinity of where they are implemented. But to really move the needle, a corridor-wide overhaul is needed.
Another Serious Injury Crash in Eureka
On Thursday, a collision involving the driver of a vehicle and the rider of a two-wheeled device left the rider incapacitated with serious injuries. The only public information about the crash comes from a Eureka Police Department press release. The device involved is identified by EPD as an e-bike, but given the longstanding confusion and lack of clear labeling distinction between legal e-bikes and high-powered e-motos, we don’t know with certainty what kind of device it was.
We also don’t know the rider’s account of what happened, since he was incapacitated in the crash. What we do know, thanks to EPD, are some apparently irrelevant details about the rider that will surely color public opinion, such as the fact that witnesses said he was “smoking from a tobacco vape prior to the collision.”
It may very well be true, as witnesses reported, that the rider in this crash was breaking traffic laws and otherwise behaving dangerously. But making mistakes, even big ones, should not be a death sentence. The Vision Zero approach, adopted regionally in Humboldt County, acknowledges that all serious traffic injuries and deaths are preventable.
A cluster of reports on Street Story shows numerous near-misses and crashes at this particular intersection in the past, a clear indication of the need for safety improvements. Ultimately, regardless of who is legally at fault in a crash, traffic calming and other interventions can reduce the chances of injury or death.
Our thoughts are with the seriously injured rider. Whoever he is, and whatever he did leading up to the crash, we wish him a full and speedy recovery.
Arcata Planning Commission Takes a Stand for Bike Parking
The Arcata Planning Commission approved a small housing project near downtown this week after requiring the developer to convert one of the planned car parking spaces into a bike parking structure. We are grateful to the Commission for its recognition of the importance of safe, weather-protected bike parking!
News from Beyond the North Coast
Trump Administration’s “Safety Strategy” Severely Lacking
Surprising no one, the US Department of Transportation’s new Roadway Safety Strategy leaves out evidence-backed safety measures that the administration doesn’t like – such as road diets and bike lanes – and makes no mention of bicyclists or pedestrians.
Maybe It’s Not the Bread…
Americans visiting Europe frequently report losing weight despite eating plenty of calories. Some think there’s something magical about European flour. But maybe it’s just the fact that they walked to the restaurant.
The E-Bikelash Continues
A Southern California prosecutor has initiated a buy-back program for e-bikes, putting them in the same “threat to the community” category as guns, and treating all legal e-bikes and illegal e-motos as equivalently dangerous. As politicians across the country scramble to demonize e-bikes, this political stunt ranks among the most absurd examples.
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.
New Research Supports Demands for 4th & 5th Street Safety Overhaul
The Collector
August 21, 2026
New Research Supports Demands for 4th & 5th Street Safety Overhaul
CRTP’s “Dangerous Downtown Streets” report and the 4th and 5th Street safety petition we delivered to Caltrans both propose significant, corridor-wide safety improvements. Most notably, we are advocating for the conversion of these three-lane streets into two-lane streets with a protected bike lane throughout the corridor. In contrast, Caltrans only wants to consider minor changes to specific intersections.
Our recommendations for a complete safety overhaul of 4th and 5th Streets (as well as Broadway) are based on a rigorous review of the research on what actually works to reduce traffic injuries and deaths. And evidence continues to pile up to support this approach.
A new study of pedestrian crash risk at night – when more than half of pedestrian injuries and deaths occur on 4th and 5th Streets – finds that the best way to reduce crash risk and severity is to lower vehicle speeds. The study emphasizes that even safety upgrades like improved lighting are best done at the corridor level rather than only in specific locations. It also identifies “road reallocation” – in other words, converting vehicle space into bike or pedestrian space – as a key strategy for both lowering speeds and reducing pedestrian crash exposure.
Meanwhile, another new study shows that even when safety improvements are provided at specific intersections, few pedestrians cross there if they have to walk very far out of their way to do it.
We may bemoan the risky decisions people make. But just as telling drivers not to speed doesn’t work if the road is designed to encourage it, telling pedestrians not to cross the street where they want to doesn’t work if the street design make it inconvenient to do otherwise. Both to slow drivers and to make pedestrian crossings safer, we need good design throughout the corridor, not just in specific locations.
That doesn’t mean intersection upgrades aren’t important – they are – or that they don’t make intersections safer – they do. Our report calls for plenty of intersection improvements, too. But we won’t settle for just a few tweaks here and there. Instead, we will keep fighting for the real, comprehensive solutions that will make these streets truly safe.
The Fight for Transit Funding Continues
Even as we fight for Cal Poly Humboldt to continue funding evening bus service in Arcata, and for the San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority to continue providing Amtrak bus service between Humboldt and the Bay Area, the fight for even more crucial state transit funding continues.
Transit advocates are working hard to get the state legislature to overturn a California Air Resources Board decision that would effectively eliminate several major transit funding programs – programs the Humboldt Transit Authority and other local agencies have relied on in recent years. The legislature must act by the end of August to ensure the cuts don’t take effect.
Click here to send a message to state leaders demanding that transit funding be restored.
To demonstrate the importance of public transit on the North Coast and beyond, we are gearing up for an active Transit Month in September. We’re hosting a public talk on protecting transit’s role in multi-racial inclusive democracy, a meet-and-greet with Humboldt Transit Authority bus drivers, a gathering for transit riders to organize for more transit investment and better service, and ride-alongs with regular bus riders and local decision-makers. Plus, there’s a fun ride contest where you can earn badges and the chance to win prizes by logging your bus rides in September.
Click here for more information about all our Transit Month events and activities.
Give Input on County and Arcata Housing Plans
Local governments are currently updating their state-mandated Housing Elements to demonstrate how and where they plan to add more needed housing over the next eight years. Next week, Humboldt County will be hosting workshops in Garberville and McKinleyville to get public input on their plans. Meanwhile, Arcata representatives will be at the upcoming Friday Night Markets asking for input on their plans.
CRTP is advocating for all local governments to focus on walkable, bikeable, transit-oriented development, to ensure that new housing is affordable, equitable, and climate-friendly. This is especially important for Humboldt County, since only a few areas within its jurisdiction – most notably McKinleyville and Myrtletown – can really meet these standards.
New research shows that local housing plans throughout the state are failing to direct new homes to the most walkable areas. We intend to make sure that doesn’t happen here. You can join us at one of the upcoming workshops and tell the county to ensure that new homes help us reach climate and livability goals and don’t create new sprawl.
News from Beyond the North Coast
It’s Crunch Time In Sacramento
With only a week to go in the legislative session, several important transportation bills are heading for final votes, while even more have died before getting to this point.
Bills still alive include AB 1976, which would make it harder for opponents to block bike safety projects and easier for residents to request traffic calming measures, and SB 1167, which would clarify the differences between e-bikes and e-motos and require clear labeling.
Bills that have died include several overly restrictive e-bike measures that we’re glad to see gone. But they also include important proposals like AB 2276, which would have required speed-limiting devices in the vehicles of chronic, extreme speeders, and SB 569, which would have made it harder to remove safe bike infrastructure.
Less Driving Means Safer Roads
A new study finds that the amount of driving done in a state is strongly correlated with the number of people who die in traffic crashes – and that when vehicle miles traveled decrease, so do crashes. This might seem obvious, and it is. But the most common way that states measure safety is by the number of fatalities per vehicle mile traveled, which excuses higher death rates when people drive more. If we care about reducing the actual number of traffic deaths, reducing the number of miles people drive is likely one of the most effective strategies.
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.
Bikes, E-Bikes, and E-Motos, Oh My!
The Collector
August 14, 2026
The EaRTH Center is Coming!
The old parking lot on 3rd Street between G and H Streets in Eureka will be closed starting next Monday, which means construction will soon begin on the Eureka Regional Transit and Housing Center. Eureka has long needed a good downtown transit hub and more walkable housing, and this project provides both. CRTP has been advocating for the EaRTH Center for years, and we can’t wait for it to be built!
The EaRTH Center is one of many local transit projects made possible by the state’s Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program (TIRCP). As we have previously reported, TIRCP is one of the critical transit and housing programs that is anticipated to be defunded by rule changes recently made by Governor Newsom’s appointees to the California Air Resources Board. If you want to understand the details of this policy disaster, check out this blog post from TransForm. The bottom line is that billions of dollars that should be going to transit, housing, and clean air and drinking water will instead go to oil companies and other polluters, unless the state legislature acts quickly to overturn the policy.
Bikes Continue to Play a Central Role in Eureka Politics
New bike infrastructure, including the H & I Street buffered bike lanes, featured prominently in recent Eureka city council elections. This fall, bike-related issues are shaping up to again play a central role in council elections. Perhaps most notably, both candidates for the Fifth Ward have focused on biking in their initial public statements, with one talking about biking on local trails and the other identifying as a nondriver and bicyclist.
Meanwhile, the existing council will hear an update next week on implementation of the city’s Complete and Green Streets Policy. CRTP played a central role in the city’s adoption of the policy in 2023. The city has made significant progress since then on developing safer biking and walking facilities, and we appreciate all that’s been done. However, we remain concerned about how the policy is being implemented. The city is still adding bike and pedestrian infrastructure piecemeal, rather than including it in all projects by default as the policy requires.
Bikes, E-Bikes, and E-Motos, Oh My!
E-bikes continue to generate both enthusiasm and consternation, both locally and nationally. This week, the Eureka Police Department’s launched a public information campaign to “educate our community” about the laws around e-bikes, e-motos, and e-scooters. While we are not thrilled about the tone of the department’s press release, which basically places all the blame for community complaints about electric mobility devices on the riders, we are pleased to report that their summary of the laws is quite clear and fairly accurate.
In Sacramento, a bill supported by bike advocates aims to help clarify the current confusion around small e-mobility devices by, among other things, requiring that retailers provide clear and permanent labels on e-bikes and e-motos that identify the legal category they fall into. The bill passed out of a key committee this week, raising hopes that it will reach the governor’s desk soon.
HCAOG Gets a New Leader
The Humboldt County Association of Governments is the county’s official regional transportation planning agency, so their planning and funding decisions play an important role in CRTP’s work. This week, HCAOG announced that their new executive director will be Rob Holmlund, who previously led planning work at the Humboldt Bay Harbor District and the city of Eureka. During his time at the city, Holmlund spearheaded the overhaul of the city’s General Plan, which has helped facilitate much of the infill development the city has seen in recent years.
News from Beyond the North Coast
New Housing Could Be Reducing Driving a Lot…But It’s Not
A new report finds that state-mandated local housing plans in California could reduce vehicle miles traveled by 5-6% if they focused new housing in the most walkable areas. But instead, local governments have made planning decisions that will barely reduce driving at all. We’ll be keeping this study in mind as local governments in Humboldt County update their own plans this year.
Congress Pretends It’s Business As Usual
Members of Congress continue their slow progress toward a typical (bad) transportation funding bill, even while the Trump administration openly disregards the existing funding law. Why do legislators expect something different this time around?
The Gender Politics of Biking
Around the world, far more men than women ride bikes. The city of Bogotá, Colombia is demonstrating that more women will ride when there is safer infrastructure and a more welcoming bike culture.
There’s Really No Reason to Speed
Speeding costs drivers money, increases pollution, and increases the chance of hurting or killing someone – and it barely saves any time at all.
If You’re a Driver, Switch to an EV as Soon as Possible
Conventional wisdom says that the environmentally responsible choice is to drive a gas-powered car to the end of its useful life before switching to an electric vehicle. But a new study contradicts that advice, concluding that switching to an EV usually reduces total climate pollution even if your gas car is still in good shape.
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.
Arcata Evening Bus Service Continues…for Now
The Collector
August 7, 2026
Arcata Evening Bus Service Continues…for Now
Earlier this week, we issued a call to action to protect Arcata’s bus service from cuts proposed by Cal Poly Humboldt. CRTP’s members and supporters responded in a big way, letting university president Richard Carvajal know that students, staff, faculty, and members of the broader Arcata community rely on the bus to get around, and urging them to reverse the cuts. And all those messages had an impact!
Here’s the background: for many years, Cal Poly Humboldt has funded evening (7-10 pm) bus service in Arcata, and since 2023, all day service on the Green & Gold route that runs throughout the city. But university administrators recently told the Humboldt Transit Authority (HTA) that they’d be cutting off that funding, effective immediately.
Following the outcry against the transit cuts from CRTP and our supporters, Cal Poly Humboldt representatives agreed an HTA board meeting this week to continue funding evening bus service for the fall semester. During this time, they will continue to negotiate with HTA over the future of evening bus service and other transit services funded by the university in Arcata.
Unfortunately, the Green & Gold route did not survive the negotiations. This route has seen low ridership and largely duplicates the Gold route, so the same stops will continue to be served. But removing the Green & Gold means that bus frequencies between Valley West and the Cal Poly Humboldt campus will decrease, making it harder for students and other community members to rely on the bus.
This fight isn’t over. Cal Poly Humboldt still seems intent on cutting support for evening bus service after the fall semester. But you can be sure that CRTP will keep advocating and organizing to ensure that doesn’t happen. This is a time for investing in more and better transit, not cutting our existing services!
If you want to help us campaign for better bus service, including evening service in Arcata, here are a couple of things you can do:
- If you’re a bus rider, take CRTP’s survey to tell us about your experiences using the local transit system and priorities for improvement.
- Email CRTP Outreach Specialist Kelsey Boyd at kelsey.boyd@transportationpriorities.org to share your stories about the importance of public transit and find out how to get more involved.
The Local E-Bike Voucher Program Is Back!
The Redwood Coast Energy Authority (RCEA) has more vouchers available to help local residents purchase e-bikes. You can apply to get $400 to $1,000 toward the purchase of an e-bike at a local bike shop. The exact amount depends on whether you buy a standard e-bike, a cargo model, or an adaptive bike for riders with specific physical needs.
New Affordable, Walkable Eureka Homes Available Soon
Three new apartment buildings under construction in Eureka are nearly complete. Nonprofit affordable housing developer Linc Housing has collectively named the buildings “The Mallard,” and is asking potential residents to put their names on an interest list now.
The completion of these three buildings will mark a milestone in Eureka’s efforts to convert underutilized parking lots into walkable, affordable homes. CRTP and our allies have been advocating for these projects for many years, and we’re excited to see that work come to fruition!
Arcata Planning Commission to Discuss Zoning Updates
Zoning updates might not sound very exciting. But this is all about implementation of the policy reforms that CRTP and our allies fought for during the years the city was developing the Gateway Plan and updating its General Plan. Parking reforms, density increases, and design standards that impact the ability to build more walkable, transit-friendly homes are all on the table.
News from Beyond the North Coast
E-Bikes: Where Do We Go From Here?
In 2025, the California Bicycle Coalition convened a working group called the California Independent Electric Mobility Council to discuss policy challenges around e-bikes and high-powered e-motos. The council just released its first report, which reaffirms that the safety issues identified by communities and policy makers are predominantly caused by e-motos, not e-bikes, and suggests some potential policy solutions.
Who Should Pay to Clean Up Parking Lot Pollution?
Currently, taxpayers mostly cover the costs of cleaning up all the hazardous pollution that runs off big parking lots into streams and rivers. The California Coastkeeper Alliance thinks the owners of big industrial and commercial properties where many of these parking lots are located should pay their fair share.
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.