bicycle safety – Enviro Updates

Op-Ed: Everyone benefits when more people bicycle

May 10, 2026

Eris Weaver, PRESS DEMOCRAT

What would you say if I told you we have a technology that, if more widely deployed, could help solve many of the problems facing us today?

This technology improves physical and mental health. It creates community and is good for the economy. It reduces greenhouse gas emissions. It improves traffic safety and reduces congestion.

It is available to everyone regardless of age, gender, race and economic status, with versions specialized for folks with disabilities. It’s inexpensive and available now — plus it’s fun!

Wouldn’t you say that we need more of that, stat?

Of course, I’m talking about the humble bicycle.

Transportationbicycle infrastructure, bicycle safety, bicycles, ghg emissions

Planning Commission denies gas station proposal in southwest Santa Rosa, the last such project citywide

April 14, 2025

Paulina Pineda, PRESS DEMOCRAT

Plans for what would’ve been the last gas station ever built in Santa Rosa — and potentially countywide — were tossed by city planning officials who argued it would pose a health and safety hazard to the surrounding community.

After a three-hour hearing, the Santa Rosa Planning Commission voted 6-0 Thursday to deny a conditional use permit for the project on a vacant lot south of Highway 12 on North Wright Road.

Commissioners said the project was inconsistent with city land-use policies and climate action goals that call for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

The project had been in the works for nearly two decades and included six gas pumps and four electric charging stations.

The latest iteration was submitted to the city in late 2021 and was exempt from the city’s ban on new gas stations, which took effect a year later.

Commissioners said that while the exemption allowed them to consider the project, it didn’t require them to approve it.

Climate Change & Energy, Land Use, Transportationbicycle safety, fossil fuel infrastructure, gas station ban

Op-Ed: CalBike commends California legislature for rejecting Active Transportation Program (ATP) cuts

May 29, 2024

Laura McCamy, CALBIKES

The legislature’s budget proposal, released today, rescinds the deep cuts to the Active Transportation Program (ATP) proposed in the Governor’s Budget and plans to backfill those cuts with state highway funding. CalBike thanks the legislature for recognizing the value of the ATP and maintaining funding commitments to critical walking and bicycling projects.

CalBike policy director Jared Sanchez: “I’m glad the legislature recognized the value of the Active Transportation Program. The legislature heard from its constituents and saved a popular program many local communities rely on to fund infrastructure projects.”

CalBike consultant Jeanie Ward-Waller: “The ATP is critical to meeting California’s climate goals and addressing the crisis of rising pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities on our roadways, especially in disadvantaged communities across the state. We commend the Legislature for their strong support of shifting funding from car-centric infrastructure to improve walking and biking.”

Climate Change & Energy, TransportationActive Transportation Program, bicycle infrastructure, bicycle safety, pedestrian safety

Santa Rosa panel floats redesign for dangerous stretch of road

January 25, 2021

Will Schmitt, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Santa Rosa is looking to revamp a stretch of Stony Point Road bisected by Highway 12 in a bid to provide more protection for cyclists, a move that would follow a string of deaths that underscored the area’s status as one of the most treacherous in the city for cyclists and pedestrians.

A package of new bike paths, pedestrian crossings, curb expansions and lane adjustments is in the cards for Stony Point Road from Occidental Road to the Joe Rodota Trail — the heart of a half-mile highly trafficked stretch between West Third Street and Sebastopol Road that includes two highway on-ramps and two exits.

The area has been highly dangerous for cyclists and pedestrians. In one seven-week span of 2018, three people on foot or bike were fatally struck along Stony Point Road near Highway 12.

They included Sidney Falbo, a 20-year-old Santa Rosa Junior College student on her way to class. On Thursday, cyclist Wayne Morris trained his camera on a memorial to Falbo that sits close to where she was struck and killed by a truck, at the point were the Joe Rodota Trail crosses six lanes of Stony Point Road.

Morris, 82, said that cycling at his age is a great way to keep his legs in shape. But while taking the trail from Sebastopol to Santa Rosa five weeks ago, he was badly shaken up when he was struck in the Stony Point crosswalk.

“I was waiting to cross on the light. It changed, I got up on the pedal to go across and bang, this lady hit me,” Morris said. “I hit the ground and cracked some ribs and my clavicle.”

The dangers of that stretch of road are called out in Santa Rosa’s latest bicycle and pedestrian safety master plan, adopted in early 2019. It’s one of only three traffic corridors in the city labeled as a “high-injury network” for both those on foot and bike.

Local Organizations, Transportationbicycle fatalities, bicycle safety, complete streets, Santa Rosa Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board, Vision Zero

Santa Rosa upbeat on finding millions of dollars for long-planned footbridge

April 19, 2019

Will Schmitt, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Santa Rosa has yet to secure the millions of dollars needed to build a long-planned bridge for cyclists and pedestrians to cross Highway 101, but that’s not stopping city officials and consultants from pressing ahead with design and location plans for a span they hope to start building in less than two years.

The bridge is touted by the city and its supporters as a necessary connector that will facilitate safer nonautomotive access over the freeway near its high-traffic interchanges at College Avenue and Steele Lane. They serve Coddingtown Mall, the nearby Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit station, Santa Rosa Junior College, Santa Rosa High School and nearby neighborhoods.

Beyond figuring out how to drum up the estimated $11 million to $13 million needed to build the crossing, Santa Rosa will need to determine whether they want a light, airy design that preserves views for highway motorists — or a more imposing and unique bridge that becomes a new city landmark.

“What’s really great is that this is an amazing opportunity to right some of the planning wrongs” of the past, Adam Sharron, a landscape architect and member of the city’s Design Review Board, said at Thursday’s meeting. Cost permitting, he added, the city’s new crossing could be a statement piece “that is made to be a design, rather than utilitarian bridge.”

The city has a lot of work ahead before it can realize that vision. Initial designs conceived by city staff and consultants called for a bridge that would blend into highway surroundings and preserve far-reaching views for northbound drivers. The City Council is not expected to consider the project until early 2020, said Jason Nutt, the city’s director of transportation and public works.

The bridge has been in the works for more than a decade, and city documents show work slated to begin in January 2021 and finish in July 2022. The city has been able to find money to study potential bridge designs, but “we don’t have funding secured for construction,” Christopher Catbagan, a city engineer, said Thursday.

Transportationalternative transportation, bicycle infrastructure, bicycle safety, bike/pedestrian bridge, Highway 101, Santa Rosa