Active Transportation

On March 3, the San Mateo County Transportation Authority (SMCTA) awarded $4.9 million to ten pedestrian and bicycle safety projects - $1 million less than the agency awarded two years ago. Agency staff had revised up the amount of funding for this year's Pedestrian and Bicycle Program to $5.7 million in February, but explained in the Board's March 3 report [PDF] that they had "corrected an error in calculation of the prior estimate."

The city of Waterloo, Ontario, is in the process of building a new 12-mile light rail line called Ion Rapid Transit. Now the most pressing question is how to make it a success.

Cross-posted from the Alliance for Biking and Walking.

CalBike presented its proposal to ARB earlier this year, and Ward-Waller reports that discussions with staff have been positive. Ultimately,  however, the decision will be made by the Governor-appointed Board and there are many chances to get involved.

As cyclists who use Page Street know all too well, there's a tendency for motorists to jam up at the intersection with Octavia as they head to 101. And despite improvements and some traffic calming measures, it still turns into a bit of a mash up around the intersection, with cyclists trying to thread through the traffic jam. This weekend SFMTA rolled out a center-running green bike lane that helps formalize what most cyclists already do--pass to the left of the queue of cars waiting to turn right on Octavia.

Caltrans has released the draft guidelines [PDF] for the third round of the Active Transportation Program. Ongoing workshops to discuss the guidelines started a week ago and are continuing, with one this Friday, February 12, in Fresno; a last one will be held some time during the week of February 15 in Sacramento.