In collaboration with local advocacy groups, Safe Routes Partnership submitted a policy comment letter this week to the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) on the 2020 update of the Regional Transportation Plan/Sustainable Communities Strategy (RTP/SCS). The 2020 RTP/SCS, also known as Connect SoCal, will set the Southern California’s plans for transportation and housing for the next 25 years--including thousands of transportation projects. 

SCAG released its draft Connect SoCal plan and after reviewing the hundreds of pages and many appendices, the Safe Routes Partnership joined with groups from around the region to submit feedback and recommendations.  We have been tracking the plan’s progress by participating in SCAG’s working groups for more than a year, and had the unique opportunity of collecting resident feedback in community workshops in Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino Counties. 

Collectively, we are calling on the region to increase active transportation investments from 3% of the transportation budget to 5%, to set stronger metrics for community engagement, to dedicate investments for environmental justice planning, and to make data more accessible to the public--just to name a few. Organizations partnering with us include equity groups, climate organizations, and local biking and walking organizations.  Please take a look at our letter, including the list of co-signing organizations, to get the full picture of our recommendations for the future of Southern California.