The Collector
July 18, 2025
Public Meeting on Eureka Slough Bridges Next Week
Caltrans plans to replace the US-101 Eureka Slough bridges starting in 2029, and the draft environmental document for the project is now available for public review. CRTP is happy to see that both design options include separated bike and pedestrian pathways in both directions. However, we think it’s critically important for those protected bike lanes and sidewalks to actually connect with existing bike and pedestrian infrastructure on the Eureka side of the bridges.
We’re also requesting that Caltrans include some traffic calming features on the southbound bridge to slow traffic entering Eureka. And because the project will be under construction for five years or more, we are asking Caltrans to make strong commitments to keep existing bike and pedestrian infrastructure – including the Waterfront Trail and the new Humboldt Bay Trail – open for use during construction, or at least provide safe and convenient detours. You can read CRTP’s full comment letter here.
You can provide your own comments on the project during a virtual public meeting next Wednesday from 6 to 7 pm, or submit your comments to Caltrans by email. Details about the project, the meeting, and how to submit comments can be found here.
“When Driving Is Not an Option”
National expert and author Anna Zivarts gave an engaging, informative, interactive talk about nondrivers to an audience of almost 50 people at Arcata’s D Street Neighborhood Center last night. Zivarts is the founder of the Week Without Driving and author of When Driving Is Not an Option. If you missed the talk, you can check out an interview with Anna on last week’s EcoNews Report, read other interviews, or read her book (there’s at least one copy in the Humboldt County library system)!
CRTP is pairing up regular bus riders with people who make local transportation-related decisions, like city and county officials, for transit ride-along trips during this year’s Week Without Driving. If you are a bus rider and you’d like to lead a decision-maker on one of your usual trips, like your commute to work or school or the grocery store, email kelsey@transportationpriorities.org for more information.
Want To Help Build the Great Redwood Trail?
The Great Redwood Trail Agency is hiring a Trail Development Manager. The agency is charged with overseeing development of trails on old railroad rights-of-way around Humboldt Bay and all the way down to San Francisco Bay. A few segments, like the Humboldt Bay Trail, are already built and providing enormous benefits to local communities.
News from Beyond the North Coast
It’s Not an “Accident” That People Keep Dying in the Streets
For many years, transportation safety advocacy groups like CRTP have been referring to incidents of traffic violence as “crashes.” You’ll never hear us call them “accidents.” That’s because we know that traffic injuries and deaths are both predictable and preventable, and when we call them “accidents” it sounds like each one is a unique, random event, and there’s nothing that can be done to stop the carnage. Now, even big government agencies like Caltrans are coming around to the idea that we should stop using the word “accident” to describe a car crash.
Truck Driver Training Videos for Bicyclist Safety
The League of American Bicyclists has produced a series of short training videos to teach truck drivers how to drive safely around bicyclists. If you’re a truck driver, or know someone who is, check out these videos. You could save a life!
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.