Complete Streets in Los Angeles County

Today, many are soaking up the knowledge and networking with great peers in Complete Streets work in downtown Los Angeles at the UCLA Luskin Center’s Complete Streets Conference. Coincidentally, right down the street from this conference at Metro’s Board meeting today, the board took at step towards exploring Complete Streets as well and approved a motion from the Policy and Programming Committee, see item #18 of board agenda.  The agenda item included an amendment for report back with research and evaluation of current checklists, designs and call for projects on complete streets and multi-modal related criteria. Full list of action items included below.

The Safe Routes to School National Partnership, Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition and many other partners and supporters have been discussing how the County could elevate their support of active transportation. We are pleased to see Metro leadership and staff respond by adopting #18 of the board agenda today.

Metro is currently reviewing 2013 Call for Project applications from local jurisdictions, and interestingly enough almost half of the Call for Projects applications this year were for walking and biking projects. Cities are voting with their time and energy and walking and biking are their priorities.  And today the Metro board began steps to consider addressing these local priorities and allocate additional money to walking and biking projects in this cycle as well as look at other key ways Metro investments can support all modes in every project.  Today’s motion calls for a staff report back in April.

Safe Routes to School Regional Plan – San Diego County

Why?  “A regional strategy will ensure that the tools provided are germane and that resources are focused in areas across the region with the greatest need for assistance.”

Porter Elementary, San Diego Photo Credit: Safe Routes to School National Partnership

In March 2012, the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) adopted a Regional Safe Routes to School Strategic Plan. Now the Transportation Agency is working to implement, in partnership with stakeholders throughout the County, this important plan to enhance and build upon the region’s existing efforts.

Now that the Strategic Plan has been adopted, the recommendations will be prioritized.  The plan calls for a phasing and financing strategy to be developed and a needs analysis to define areas that will receive priority for some of the resources recommended in the strategy

SANDAG began developing the Strategic Plan in September 2010 with funding through the County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) Healthy Works program.

San Diego’s Regional Safe Routes to School Strategic Plan

Students at Porter Elementary in San Diego. Photo Credit: Safe Routes to School National Partnership

Sign onto our comment letter to Regional Transportation Planning Agency in San Diego County – help strengthen Southern California’s first Countywide Safe Routes to School Strategic Plan

Safe Routes to School Southern California Network and signatory organizations congratulate San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) for releasing the Draft San Diego Regional Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Strategic Plan.  It is an excellent start for a regional strategy to improve safety, increase walking and bicycling trips to school and further integrate those trips into Regional Transportation and Land Use Planning.

SANDAG can play a vital role by adopting clear data standards and providing technical assistance for SRTS programs.  We recognize SANDAG does not implement SRTS projects. However, SANDAG has the authority to execute valuable planning and policies, monitoring, collaboration,  and evaluating that supports counties, cities, communities, researchers, organizations and community groups.  SANDAG can play a vital role by adopting clear data standards and providing technical assistance for SRTS programs.

View SANDAG’s Draft Regional Safe Routes to School Plan

Read our Comment letter and sign onto it by emailing jessica@saferoutespartnership by 2/13 to be included.

Southern California Regional Active Transportation Peer Exchange

PART I: SANDAG Relates to Active Transportation

Alan Thompson, Gayle Haberman, Jessica Lim, Tony Jusay, Alexis Lantz and Alex Oster dialgoue at Regional Active Transportation Peer Exchange, May 2011.

In May, 20 people representing over ten different organizations and agencies in Southern California working on regional walking and bicycling strategies, came together to share their best practices.

You can review the meeting’s agenda and notes, as well as the questions that guided the discussion on County Safe Routes to School Programs and SANDAG’s Regional Safe Routes to School white paper online.

The meeting had two primary questions for the afternoon’s discussion:

1. What can a Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) do to promote Active Transportation
2. What can be done at the county level to promote Safe Routes to School?

SANDAG – first California Region to produce plan under SB 375

Comments on the RTP to further the San Diego dialogue on Transit Planning

photo credit: TransformCA on flickr

Stuart Cohen,
Executive Director, TransForm
Member, SB 375 Regional Targets Advisory Committee
May 23, 2011

As SANDAG nears the end of their comment period on California’s first Sustainable Communities Strategy under SB 375, which is part of the SANDAG’s 2050 RTP, there is a strong feeling that more must be done to improve it. This analysis briefly outlines what many see as the most fundamental problem, the continued focus on freeway and arterial expansions in the RTP, and what ideally would take place instead of those expansions.

It then discusses practical constraints and considerations for changing the RTP, especially given the time frame. It concludes with nine recommendations that are divided into three sections:
I. Recommendations for improving SANDAG’s 2050 RTP
II. Commitments to develop new policies once the RTP is adopted
III. Commitments for additional analyses once the RTP is adopted

There are two primary causes of concern that are worth noting from the outset. First, the SCS barely reduces VMT per capita by 2050 compared with 2008 levels (25.66 vs. 25.34), just over a one percent reduction, yet the plan claims to reduce GHG per capita 9 % in this time frame. This plan needs to be carefully examined to determine where the reductions in GHG per capita are coming from, if not reductions in VMT, and whether these are lasting changes.

Active Transportation Peer Exchange – Southern California

Alexis Lantz, LACBC and Stephan Vance, San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), a photo by Safe Routes to School California on Flickr.