- Cities worry about e-bike safety, so they impose rules on riders (rather than make streets safer) (Daily Bulletin)
- Locating train stations and bus stops on freeways is inhumane (City Watch)
- Historical photos of the first BART cars (SF Chronicle)
- Ground broken on BART to San Jose extension (East Bay Times)
- Amtrak is breaking ridership records (Reuters)
- The “time is right” for U.S. high-speed rail (The Guardian)
- LA hoped to learn from NYC’s congestion pricing. Now what? (LA Times)
- Tolls can finance infrastructure (Governing)
- Highway 101 resurfacing project in Ventura “complete” (KEYT)
Find more California headlines at Streetsblog LA and Streetsblog SF
The post Monday’s Headlines appeared first on Streetsblog California.
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The Building Standards Commission is updating the California Building Standards Code sections governing bicycle parking, pursuant to a 2022 law that CalBike helped pass. That law requires bicycle parking standards to be added to the code during its next update.
The commission is seeking public comment by July 1, 2024. You can view the proposed rules online. CalBike has sent in a comment letter[PDF], and so can you. Send comments to cbsc [at] dgs.ca.gov.
Why Bicycle Parking Matters
A safe place to store a bike is essential if people are going to adopt the bicycle for everyday transportation. Bicycle theft is widespread, and leaving a bike out in the elements can increase wear and cause it to require more frequent maintenance. With the popularity of e-bikes, theft is an even bigger consideration. So the availability of secure bike parking in residential buildings is essential for bike riders.
Car parking adds to the expense of building, reduces the space available for housing humans, and encourages more driving. But bicycle parking is much more space efficient, and ample, secure bike parking in a residential building or at a business incentivizes and normalizes active transportation.
Bike parking is a nerdy and arcane topic. But, like many such topics, it has a crucial role to play in our move toward more climate-friendly transportation.
CalBike Recommendations
The Building Standards Code will set minimum requirements for bicycle parking in new and remodeled residential and commercial buildings. Cities can have stronger requirements but must at least adhere to these minimums.
The commission has proposed a change to require 0.5 long-term bike parking spots per unit in residential buildings. We think that’s not enough, and recommend doubling that to one spot per unit. These spots must include some that can accommodate longer or wider bikes, such as cargo bikes and adaptive bicycles. In addition, the parking area needs outlets for e-bike charging.
We also recommend requiring bike parking to be close to and easy to find by visiting bike riders, and visible to passersby to discourage theft.
For commercial spaces, the standard for requiring additional bike parking when remodeling is vague and will be difficult, if not impossible, to enforce. It would rely on a hard-to-measure standard of increased foot traffic, which could lead to exemptions to rules calling for more bike parking. Indeed, this is the current situation where most building alterations result in no bicycle parking, either short-term or long term.
But mobility options have expanded, and active transportation is much more important and popular than ever before. Thus, the previously accepted standard that bicycle parking isn’t required no longer applies. CalBike strongly urges the commission to eliminate proposed exemptions. We believe the code should require businesses that don’t meet current standards to upgrade bicycle parking when they remodel or make improvements.
California encourages the adoption of EVs of all kinds, and we urge the state to consider all the charging needs for all vehicle types in new and existing, unmodified buildings. We endorse the work of the EV Charging for All Coalition in highlighting these issues, and urge the commission to look to that group for guidance.
In particular, we echo EVCAC’s comments that setting a minimum width for parking spots with EV charging is inappropriate and moves in the wrong direction by encouraging ever larger and heavier vehicles.
See CalBike’s letter [PDF] for more details.
The post Help Shape Bike Parking in State Building Code appeared first on Streetsblog California.
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When traffic engineers shut down good road projects — and promote bad ones — they tend to use the same handful of insufferable buzzwords, dubious studies, and condescending technocratic excuses again and again. In a recent California Bike Summit presentation, though, veteran transportation professional Buff Brown broke down exactly how to clap back … by challenging his colleagues to a rap battle.
Brown knows he probably won’t go verse for verse with Kendrick Lamar anytime soon — though “the growth of traffic for the next 20 years / shows no room for bike lanes, sorry, thoughts and prayers” is a pretty fire line — but his credentials as a road safety expert are solid. He has degrees in engineering, law, and environmental science, as well as a 30-year career as a transportation planner, air quality regulator, and bicycle and pedestrian advocate in four different states under his belt.
Translating all that expertise into a seven-minute lightning talk, though, isn’t easy — which is why he broke out the rhyming dictionary and the Casio-keyboard-style beats.
“I think advocates have no idea how to respond to this standard list of excuses, and neither do City Councils,” added Brown in an email to Streetsblog. “So the goal is to empower them, and make them realize this is a gatekeeping tactic that advocates can challenge and Councils can change.”
The post Friday Video: Debunking Engineers’ Excuses With the Power of Hip-Hop appeared first on Streetsblog California.
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On Thursday, September 12, Streetsblog California and Streetsblog San Francisco will host a joint anniversary party at Manny’s in the Mission, 3092 16th St, San Francisco, CA 94103 from 6 to 8 p.m. To join us, click here! Tickets are available on a sliding scale. There’s a suggested donation of $100 – this is a fundraiser as well as a celebration – but we want anyone who wants to join us to be there.
Streetsblog California is turning ten, and Melanie Curry has been the only editor that site has ever had. Streetsblog San Francisco is turning fifteen this year with Roger Rudick serving as editor for over half of that time.
So we’re not just celebrating our website’s anniversaries, but the years of hard work, journalism and advocacy that Rudick and Curry have brought to Streetsblog.
The host committee for the anniversary party includes a team of advocates: Dan Crosby, Terra Curtis, Ian Grffitihs, Nick Josefowitz, Carter Lavin, Adina Levin, Matt Lewis, and Jeanie Ward-Waller. It also includes the staff and board of the California Streets Initiative: myself, Roger, Melanie, Terra, Dan and Jeanie as well as Brian Addison, Abby Arnold, Chris Greenspon, Steve Horn, Joe Linton, Marven Norman, Pedro Peterson, Carter Rubin, James Sinclair, Sahra Sulaiman, and Jonathan Weiss.
We’re still looking for sponsors for the event itself and advertisers for our program. If you’re interested, or know someone else who might be, let me know at dam...@streetsblog.org. Or if you’d like to help us spread the word about the event as a member of the host committee, also feel free to drop me an e-mail.
The post Join Us for the Streetsblog SF/CAL Milestone Anniversary Party on 9/12 appeared first on Streetsblog California.
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A new poll from Grow SF indicates, once again, that car-free spaces, better transit, and safer streets remain politically popular in San Francisco. Grow SF writes that there’s “an overwhelming desire to drive less in favor of public transportation, walking, and biking. Respondents indicate they’d increase their Muni and BART usage if it was more convenient and frequent.” A breakdown of one of the questions from the “Q2 2024 Poll on Street Safety, Muni, and Transit” below:
San Francisco’s State Senator Scott Wiener, one of the few politicians who already gets this, chimed in about the poll on social media:
Important new poll shows San Franciscans are all in for public transit! 64% take Muni (36% BART) regularly 50% want to take Muni more 44% want to drive less People want better transit. If we invest & make it better, more & more people will ride. That’s why we do this work. pic.twitter.com/GuSEIQwzlA — Senator Scott Wiener (@Scott_Wiener) June 13, 2024
The results, of course, are consistent with the official “poll” taken two years ago: the citywide results on measures J and I, when voters supported keeping JFK in Golden Gate Park car free by over 60 percent. Not only did that seminal vote for car-free spaces win citywide, but it won in nearly every district.
So why is mayoral candidate Mark Farrell, for example, talking about allowing private cars on Market Street again? As advocate Luke Bornheimer suggests in his tweet below, all the candidates would be smart to pay heed to this poll:
More from Grow SF’s accompanying analysis of why San Francisco’s population responds the way it does to questions about street safety, funding for transit, etc.:
San Franciscans tell us that car injuries are not isolated freak incidents, and could easily happen to you. 4 out of 5 don’t feel ‘very safe’ while crossing the street, with no notable differences between people who own cars and don’t.
61% of current cyclists feel unsafe when biking in San Francisco, with almost all of them reporting unsafe cars and drivers are the reason. For those who want to bike more, the main thing stopping them are safety concerns.
Candidates and politicians would be smart to prioritize those concerns. Be sure to check out all the poll results on Grow SF’s website.
The post New Poll: S.F. Voters Want Better Transit, Safer Streets, and More Car-Free Spaces appeared first on Streetsblog San Francisco.
The post New Poll: S.F. Voters Want Better Transit, Safer Streets, and More Car-Free Spaces appeared first on Streetsblog California.
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 This article supported by Los Angeles Bicycle Attorney as part of a general sponsorship package. All opinions in the article are that of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of LABA. Click on the ad for more information.
A portion of Burbank’s Front Street protected bikeway is already open. Construction continues on the northwest half of the mile-long project.
 City map of Front Street Protected Bikeway – via construction notice
The Front Street project is a welcome upgrade in an area that is relatively unfriendly for cycling.
 Front Street’s newly protected bikeway along the Burbank Metrolink Station
The newly protected lanes make an important connection to the Downtown Burbank Metrolink Station (which also serves a bus hub), though that station is in a fairly out-of-the-way area, separated from downtown by the recently widened 5 Freeway. Front Street and the station are further isolated by train tracks and the Burbank Wash.
The Front Street bikeway connects with existing Verdugo Avenue bike lanes, and with bike lanes Caltrans installed and improved on part of the widened Burbank Boulevard Bridge. The Front bikeway gets within a short cycling distance of the Burbank Wash bike path and the recently rebuilt bike/ped bridge over the tracks.
Between the station and Burbank Boulevard, the Front Street bikeway project is upgrading just over a half-mile of basic bike lanes. Both northbound and southbound bike lanes have been combined into a two-way bikeway on the south side of the street. This makes for easier station access, and importantly keeps the bike lanes away from freeway ramps on the north side of the street. South of the station, the project is adding a third of a mile of new bike lanes, smartly closing a gap.
 Combining bike lanes on the south side of the street keeps cyclists away from 5 Freeway ramps
Mostly the bikeway is protected by soft-hit posts, but at the elbow where Front turns onto Verdugo Avenue, the protection is concrete jersey barriers.
 Much of the Front Street bikeway is protected by soft-hit posts
 Barrier-protected bikeway at curve where Front turns into Verdugo
 The Front Street project includes green pavement at conflict areas (driveways). The project also added bright red BUS ONLY markings at the bus hub entrance to the Metrolink Station.
 At the southeast end of the project, the Front bikeway is located on Verdugo Avenue
The bikeway is currently open between the Metrolink Station and the intersection of Verdugo Road and Ikea Way. It will be another month before the north end of the project (near Burbank Boulevard) is finished. That stretch includes significant grading changes.
 Photo of Front Street yesterday, from near Burbank Boulevard looking southwest. This portion of the roadway is being regraded, dropping roughly three feet. To the left is the LaTerra Select development; visible on the right is the concrete channel of the Burbank Wash.
 Though the southern portion is open, bikeway/street construction work continues on the north end of the project (between Magnolia and Burbank Boulevards)
Also currently under construction along Front is new mixed-use development. The LaTerra Select Burbank will be a seven-acre eight-story development with 573 residential rental units, a 307-room hotel, ground floor retail, and some sidewalk-level protected bikeways.
The post Eyes on the Street: Burbank Front Street Bikeway Under Construction appeared first on Streetsblog Los Angeles.
The post Eyes on the Street: Burbank Front Street Bikeway Under Construction appeared first on Streetsblog California.
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