Damien Newton

Monday starts Bike Week in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties. And Thursday, May 11, the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition (SVBC) brags that "tens of thousands of regular and first-time Bay Area residents will bike to work for the 23rd Annual Bike to Work Day."

There's a truism among advocates for making streets safer for all users: Before an area can walk the walk, they will spend a couple of years talking the talk. That means that before cities and counties and communities begin building the bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure to calm traffic and make streets safe, there will be years of planning and a lot of outreach for great progressive transportation plans.... that for the most part will sit on the shelves where they are placed.

There will be many news stories generated by the announcement of the details of President Donald Trump's proposed budget next month. In advance of the announcement, the campaign to preserve funding for the electrification of Caltrain, is working with advocates around the state and country to preserve a nearly $650 million grant agreement scuttled by the Trump Administration in February.

After a handful of small setbacks, East Palo Alto's dream of providing a safe crossing over the 101 Freeway for people riding bicycles and people walking is nearly a reality. This new bridge will provide a long-awaited connection between the city's east and west sides.

To call the 626, the San Gabriel Valley's mammoth open streets event, a success would be an understatement. Even with the rain, the event attracted roughly 100,000 participants. They biked, jogged, walked, or rolled the seventeen miles of car-free streets along a route that was roughly parallel to the Gold Line Foothill Extension that opened last year.

DamienTalks with new person-on-the-street correspondent Brian Velez

The Venice Boulevard Great Street aims to transform Venice Boulevard between Beethoven Street and Inglewood Boulevard from a car-centric street full of fast-moving traffic to one more friendly towards all road users. The project broke ground this morning.

DamienTalks with Habib Balian about the Gold Line's future extension schedule, bicycle parking, and more.

In the next couple months, construction will begin on the widening of the I-405 between State Route 73 and the I-605. OCTA approved a contract at its November Board of Directors meeting for $1.2 billion to add two toll lanes and improve to entrances, exits and bridges. The total project cost is around $1.9 billion.

Fresno Council Delays Active Transportation Plan, 950 Miles of Bikeways on Hold (Fresno Bee) CA Ready to Rumble Over Climate Policies (SF Chronicle) Is Musk Serious About Tunneling Under LA? (CS Monitor, USA Today, LAT) Foothill Gold Line Expansion: Construction 2017, Completion 2025-26 (Curbed, Urbanize, The Source) L.A. Metro Established Mariachi Plaza Development Guidelines (Urbanize) … Continued