The Collector
June 12, 2026
Stepping Up for the Climate
CRTP Executive Director Colin Fiske and EPIC Executive Director Tom Wheeler write in the Lost Coast Outpost today that implementing Humboldt County’s Regional Climate Action requires political courage – including the courage to make hard budget decisions. We recognize and thank Humboldt County, Arcata, Eureka, and the Redwood Coast Energy Authority for stepping up and committing to fund their parts of the cost of a Regional Climate Action Plan Administrator, despite facing cuts to many parts of their budgets. If you live in Fortuna, Rio Dell, Ferndale, Blue Lake, or Trinidad, contact your city councilmembers and make sure they are making their contributions toward the Plan Administrator position as well. The costs for these smaller cities will not be large, but the long-term benefits will be.
Threats to Transit Funding Keep Piling Up
You might think that at a time when the Trump administration is withholding previously approved transit funding, and Congress is pushing a transportation bill that would put transit funding further at risk, California might step up to try to fill the gap. Instead, as we reported last week, the California Air Resources Board just approved a new policy that will likely eliminate funding for many key transit programs. Thankfully, members of the state Senate are fighting the Air Resources Board and the governor in an attempt to reverse the rule and restore funding. But members of the Assembly have mostly either supported the rule or remained quiet, and we don’t know what the final outcome of this funding battle will be.
Local transit agencies on the North Coast have relied on grant funding from these at-risk state programs to improve service, upgrade bus stops, transition to zero-emission buses, and build planned transit hubs in Eureka and Crescent City, among many other important investments. Local agencies have also relied in recent years on emergency pandemic-era transit funding that the state approved in order to prevent many transit systems from collapsing entirely. Now that funding is also running out.
The Humboldt Transit Authority is currently projecting a $4.5 million deficit in 2030 – an amount equal to 21% of its budget that year. And the situation would be much worse without the local Measure O transit funding that CRTP fought so hard to secure last year – but which the county has so far only committed to provide through 2030.
CRTP knows that there is no way to meet our climate commitments and provide needed services to nondrivers without greater transit investment. We continue to fight to increase transit funding at every level.
Caltrans Open House on the Future of US-101
Next Tuesday from 5:30-7pm, Caltrans is hosting an open house at the Humboldt Bay Aquatic Center in Eureka about the future of US-101 on the North Coast. 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. If you can’t make it to the meeting, you can email 01-transportationfuture@publicinput.com with your input.
Also on the agenda for Tuesday’s open house is a discussion of the draft “Comprehensive Adaptation and Implementation Plan” for responding to the threat of sea level rise to the Eureka-Arcata corridor. The draft plan is open for public comment until June 30; click here to learn more and provide your input.
CRTP is advocating to ensure that safe and separated bicycle and pedestrian facilities are included in any sea level rise adaptation projects in the corridor. The Humboldt Bay Trail currently provides a safe and separated facility, but it is also at risk from sea level rise and can’t be taken for granted decades in the future.
Humboldt Bay Area Plan Update
For the first time since the 1980s, Humboldt County is preparing a comprehensive update of the Humboldt Bay Area Plan. The plan governs land use and coastal access policies for the unincorporated lands around Humboldt Bay, including Myrtletown, Fields Landing, Humboldt Hill, Manila and Samoa. In addition to the urgent need to address sea level rise and other important topics, this update provides an opportunity for the county to improve its infill policies to encourage more walkable development around Humboldt Bay and discourage sprawl.
A virtual public meeting on the plan update will be held next Tuesday at 6 pm (Zoom link here). Unfortunately, this is at the same time as the Caltrans open house about the future of US-101, so we encourage our supporters attending that event to email their comments about the Humboldt Bay Area Plan to LongRangePlanning@co.humboldt.ca.us.
Accessible Trails and Emergency Planning
Our friends at Tri-County Independent Living and the Humboldt Trails Council have a new survey about accessibility needs on local trails. If you or someone you know has a mobility limitation or other disability that affects trail usage, we encourage you to take the survey. We also encourage you to sign up for one of Tri-County Independent Living’s Emergency Plan Workshops, which offer education and support for people with disabilities to make an emergency evacuation plan.
News from Beyond the North Coast
Climate Advocates Worried About Becerra-Hilton Matchup
Tom Steyer was the only serious candidate for California governor who made the climate crisis a top-tier issue in his campaign. With his primary defeat, voters now face a choice between two candidates climate advocates have serious concerns about.
Dangerous by Design
The latest edition of Smart Growth America’s Dangerous by Design report shows just how much progress still needs to be made to make America’s streets safe for pedestrians. 7,080 people were killed while walking in 2024 – more than half of them on state-owned roads like Eureka’s 4th Street, 5th Street, and Broadway.
Transportation Advocates Urge Rejection of Federal Funding Bill
Advocates spent the last few weeks trying to get lawmakers to amend the so-called “BUILD America 250 Act,” which would govern federal transportation spending for the next five years. Despite those efforts, the bill passed out of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee without any notable improvements in safety, active transportation, climate, or transit funding. So now many advocates are urging member of Congress to reject the bill entirely and start over.
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.