The Collector: Bay Trail Meeting, Speed Limit Bill, Black Panther Transit Inspiration and More

County Holds Public Meeting on Final Bay Trail Segment
On Tuesday evening, Humboldt County Deputy Public Works Director Hank Seeman presented highlights of the proposed project design and other information available in the Initial Study and Mitigated Negative Declaration, currently being circulated for public comment. Seeman also answered questions and heard comments from attendees, who appeared to be very excited about the trail and eager for the project to be completed. (Don’t hold your breath – Seeman continues to project 2021 as the earliest possible construction date.)

HCAOG Meeting Discusses Bike/Ped Allocation Requests
Humboldt County Association of Government’s Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) met on Thursday. On the agenda was a discussion of requests for the $57,000 in active transportation funding available this year for the county. The biggest request by far was from the City of Eureka for a study of high fatality and injury rates in the Highway 101/Broadway corridor. Other requests would fund bike/ped counters and a bike repair station in Arcata, Little River Trail grant prep assistance for Trinidad, and Bay Trail user tracking for the County. Also on the TAC agenda were two items pertaining to the need and funding opportunities for improved bus service. (Meanwhile, the Del Norte Local Transportation Commission TAC meeting was canceled for lack of agenda items.)

Fatal Collision of Truck & Much Bigger Truck in Eureka
Every serious crash should give us pause to reflect on the dangers of large, heavy machines piloted at great speeds through our cities and towns.

Research Suggests Uber & Lyft Are Causing More Driving, Not Less
Can the promise of shared-ride fleet vehicles to reduce car ownership and vehicle miles traveled ever be realized, or are we heading toward an apocalyptic wasteland of empty autonomous vehicles driving endlessly around waiting for riders?

New State Bill Would Make It a Little Easier to Lower Speed Limits
Current California law makes it almost impossible to lower speed limits in most locations. The new bill would make an exception that allows a permanent lowering of the speed limit if studies show a lot of accidents in a particular location.

Only Some of Cars’ Air Pollution Comes from Tailpipes
It turns out a lot comes from the tires, too. Which underlines the fact that we won’t solve urban air quality problems just by electrifying vehicles – we’ll actually have to drive less, too.

Black Panther Movie Has Some Transportation Nerds Thinking About Utopian Transit Infrastructure
Will life ever imitate art?

German Car Manufacturing Cities May Ban Some of Their Own Vehicles
Imagine Detroit banning Ford trucks over air quality concerns. A surprisingly similar scenario may actually be playing out in Stuttgart and other German auto industry strongholds.

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.