Caltrans

Caltrans guidelines still prioritize the movement of cars over the safety of other users, despite other state efforts to address the problem. The California Bicycle Coalition is asking the department to update its guidance.

Many months after its Deputy Director for Sustainability, Steven Cliff, went back to work for the Air Resources Board, Caltrans has hired a replacement for this key post. New hire Ellen Greenberg comes with impeccable credentials, having worked as a planner in both public sector and private sector jobs. She worked most recently at Arup, a design, planning, and engineering firm, where she worked on jobs in the Bay Area, throughout the state, and internationally. She worked as director of policy and research at the Congress for New Urbanism, and served for a short while as its interim executive director.

Caltrans' Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Branch has been working with SafeTREC, UC Berkeley's Safe Transportation Research and Education Center, on a couple of projects to increase safety. The researchers are asking for locally collected data on the number of pedestrians and bicycles using state highways and local arterials roads.

Long-time Caltrans planning chief Katie Benouar is retiring, so there's a job opening up at the top of the transportation planning division.

Caltrans is making some progress on its first-ever statewide bicycle and pedestrian plan. The progress is happening at a Caltrans pace, but it is coming along. Two workshops were held this week to discuss what's been done so far: the draft vision, goals, and objectives. An online survey seeks input on what needs to be added or adjusted.

The California Bicycle Coalition launched an unusual campaign this week to inform local leaders that building protected bikeways is not only allowed, but encouraged.

Caltrans crunched four-year-old collision data from the California Highway Patrol and found that nearly twenty percent of traffic-related fatalities and severe injuries are speed-related.

After several weeks of rumors, legislative leaders of the Special Session on Transportation and Infrastructure have released their proposal for a funding plan that shows how much compromise it can take to get an agreement.

Today is the deadline for commenting on California's draft Regional Transportation Plan guidelines.