Complete Streets

Complete Streets are as far away now as they were when SB 127 was vetoed by Governor Newsom

The post Complete Streets Survey Results: Californians Are Scared to Use Caltrans Streets appeared first on Streetsblog California.

But somewhere along the way, highway interchanges - roads crossing and going under and over freeways and highways - were exempted from the guidelines

The post Caltrans Readies Guidance for Complete Streets, with a Big Exemption appeared first on Streetsblog California.

Caltrans needs to be held responsible for its own policies - and for the safety or all road users, not just drivers. S.B. 127 would have helped.

Desperate to keep expanding San Mateo County’s highways for more auto traffic, the Transportation Authority (SMCTA)’s Board of Directors voted last week to advance $16.3 million in local highway funds to avoid delaying the construction of two major interchange reconstruction projects.

On Monday, the Redwood City Council unanimously approved a two-mile road diet with bike lanes for Farm Hill Boulevard. The City Council also approved the formation of a Complete Streets Committee, which will consist of volunteers ("daily users of the streets") who will advise city staff and the council on street design issues.

Redwood City has begun environmental review on a planned reconstruction of the Highway 101 interchange at Woodside Road, as well as two major intersections on either side of the highway -- projects designed to move more cars. Some of the proposed designs would retain existing traffic ramps that are hazardous to people walking and bicycling, and Woodside and Broadway Street would both be widened.

32-year-old Shahriar Rahimzadeh was struck and killed by the driver of a red 2000 Volvo S40 sedan while walking across El Camino Real at Almendral Avenue near his home in Atherton two weeks ago. It was exactly the type of high-speed, fatal collision that could have been prevented either by crosswalk improvements that Caltrans is dragging its feet on, or by the comprehensive redesign of El Camino proposed by the town's draft bicycle and pedestrian plan. That plan still awaits approval from the Town Council, more than four months after its review in April.

The 1.3-mile "Devil's Slide" segment of Highway 1 just south of Pacifica is the latest addition to San Mateo County's 20 parks. The freshly-paved walking and biking trail offers spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean and its coastal cliffs, and it's by far the widest trail in the San Francisco Bay Area, with 12 feet striped for walking and 12 feet for bicycling.

Last fall, Lou Huang was at a community meeting for the initiative to redesign Second Street in San Francisco. Planners handed out paper cutouts, allowing participants to mix and match to create their ideal street. Huang, an urban designer himself, thought the exercise would make for a great website. Now, after months of work beginning at a January hackathon with colleagues at Code for America, it is a great website.