Communities in the Bay Area are making updates to Bike and Pedestrian Master Plans, and it is important for residents to weigh in to ensure their transportation needs are addressed. The city of Hayward has been engaged in a process for updating its plan that will conclude at the end of the year.

The Fresno Council of Governments (COG) is encouraging residents to fill out a survey to help identify where the region’s transportation network is vulnerable to potential impacts of climate change, including increased temperature, extreme heat days, flooding, drought, and wildfires.

Last Monday, SB 127 (Wiener), the Complete Streets for Active Living Bill, passed the Assembly Transportation Committee.

The National Partnership has recently attended several community meetings held by Conta Costa County to provide input on updates to the General Plan. The existing plan was adopted in 1991, nearly thirty years ago, and much has changed in the county since then.  This general plan update will be a comprehensive update with a draft available for comment and public input this summer.

SB 152 (Beall), which would have radically restructured the Active Transportation Program and to which we announced our opposition last month, failed to pass the Senate Appropriations Committee last week.

We are pleased with the continued progress of SB 127 (Wiener), the Complete Streets bill we are co-sponsoring along with California Walks, the California Bicycle Coalition and the American Heart Association. The bill has now passed out of the Senate Transportation and Appropriations committees. In the process, we have agreed to amendments that removed our proposed reordering of the State Highway Account’s priorities.

A number of important plans will be updated in our Central Valley counties in coming months, offering advocates opportunities to weigh in on planning and transportation decisions. General Plans will be updated in Modesto and in Fresno County, and we will be particularly concerned that issues of equity, environmental justice and SB 1000 will be addressed. In addition, the Non-Motorized Transportation Plan in Stanislaus County will be updated, and we look forward to helping align the county’s Safe Routes to School and active transportation efforts where needs are greatest.

In late February, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) released an updated Vision Zero Action Strategy to continue the city toward its goal of eliminating traffic deaths.

In other legislative news, we are getting ready to testify in the Senate Transportation Committee in favor of SB 127, the Complete Streets for All Bill. We plan to publish amendments before the hearing further clarifying which corridors of the state highway network are affected by the bill.