California

In California’s Central Valley region, the Safe Routes Partnership is working in the counties of San Joaquin, Stanislaus, and Fresno. Housing and transportation costs in Central Valley often exceed 70 percent of income for moderate income households.  The lack of affordable transportation options puts stress on families. In addition, the region struggles with poor air quality.

Bay Area voters have passed Regional Measure 3 by 54% across the nine counties of the Bay Area. The Safe Routes Partnership endorsed RM 3, which will increase revenue from bridge tolls to support $4.5 billion in investments needed to improve quality of life and will connect BART and other commuter rail services, including via Safe Routes to Transit.

We co-sponsored SB 760 under author Senator Wiener, which would have required the State Highway Operations and Protection Program (SHOPP) implement Complete Streets near critical locations. As we reported in January, it was scaled back due to concerns over the effort to repeal last year’s increase in the Gas Tax. While we plan to reintroduce a bill with similar objectives next session, Sen.

Last week, California voters supported equitable transportation, open space and climate spending by large margins at the ballot box.

If your community is planning to apply for Cycle 4 of the Active Transportation Program, you have until July 31 to do so. Information and resources for applicants are available on the CalTrans website and at the Active Transportation Resource Center.

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) will be holding three workshops to discuss changes to the statewide and regional Active Transportation Program call for projects. Topics will include guidelines, scoring criteria, lessons learned from past cycles, and Q&A with MTC and Caltrans staff.

Stanislaus County has released its draft Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) and Sustainable Communities Strategy (SCS). The 2018 RTP/SCS is the long-term coordinated transportation/land use strategy and provides a framework for transportation investment out to the year 2042. Public workshops are being held throughout May, and public comments are accepted until July 5.

Please join us at the May 30 Walking & Biking Summit in Fresno to build your capacity to organize resident-led walking and biking groups and to use these groups to inform traffic safety improvements in your neighborhood. There will also be a workshop about how Safe Routes to School can make walking and biking to and from school safer, convenient, and fun.