HomeMy WebLinkAbout12/8/2020 Item 20, Otto, G.
Wilbanks, Megan
From:Garrett Otto <
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:Item 20: Active Transportation Plan
I am a board member for Bike SLO County, but my comments here are as a community member. Over the past couple of
years I have spent many hours providing input on the active transportation plan. You may have even received emails
from me expressing some frustrations during that process. It has taken a while to get to this point, and I can say the
plan's projects and implementation approach are great! I want to express my thanks to the staff and the ATC for their
time and thoughtful input in its development.
When we zoom out and look at all of our ambitious city wide plans and goals like our Climate Action Plan, the LUCE, DEI,
Vision Zero, fiscal responsibility, and economic recovery, you will find that this Active Transportation Plan really builds
on those plans so that they all work really well together. It's an ambitious plan that will really make SLO one of the best
US cities to bike and walk in.
I want to express my support for the plan with no major changes. The ATC has created a good list of enhancements, and
maintaining the project tiers and implantation approach are important in its success.
Based on staff questions, here are my recommendations:
Question 1: Policy framework - Yes, this is a suitable roadmap to achieve our mode share targets. Cities and countries
have built city-wide networks of protected bike lanes in a short period of time have been successful in creating
significant shift away from personal vehicles to healthy transportation choices. The key to their success is focusing on
transforming existing roadways and rapidly implanting this network to ensure safe and equitable travel options
anywhere within the city. On a related note, protected bike lanes enhance comfort and safety for people walking too.
They have been shown to reduce collisions for ALL modes of transportation.
Question 2: Organization of the Plan - There are enhancements that the ATC suggested during the past couple of
meetings. These should help clarify certain areas of the plan. I suggest you ask staff to incorporate those
recommendations and comments where feasible.
Question 3: Additional projects - Again the ATC made a few recommendations for additional projects that you should
consider. The online ATP viewer is really helpful in understanding where all the proposed projects are located. Most
routes likely have been included in the plan since the ATC members and community members live in a variety of areas,
have a variety of riding/walking experiences, and have spent many hours exploring these areas by bike and on foot.
There has been extensive community outreach during the plans development.
Questing 4: Tiering - This may be the most important part of the plan. As staff will inform you, The Tier 1 projects we
developed using a data driven approach that is most likely to create a mode shift. It creates a system of low stress routes
using existing shared use paths, neighborhood greenways, and existing right of ways. Please keep these projects intact.
Anyone who suggests that there needs to be focus on closing "gaps" before embarking on "new projects" fails to see
that the Tier 1 plan will essentially make SLO totally connected with a system of low stress routes.
Please do not be swayed by a few vocal people who want "their" project as a higher priority. In my opinion they are
appropriately tiered using sound reasoning and methodology developed by our staff and Alta (a nationally recognized
leader in active transportation planning and design). Just because a project isn't in Tier 1 doesn't mean it was forgotten
or will not be built. Some lower tier projects will likely be built before tier 1 projects because development in those
1
areas, or a street paving effort in that area, or some other funding source.
Question 5: 2030 Target Date - This is consistent with the Climate Action Plan, Circulation Element, and Vision Zero. It is
ambitious, but not unachievable. Many cities have implanted systems of protected bike lanes and neighborhood
greenways rapidly using temporary or intermediate materials. If we focus on using these sort of quick build techniques
we can achieve this network in this ambitious timeline. As we get future funding we can then really enhance these
improvements to make them permanent and stellar. We just have to make sure we don't let perfect get in the way of
progress. There may be some adjustments along the way and things may not look as pretty in the initial implementation,
but that doesn't mean they are ineffective. Our children, our community, our health, and our earth are all depending on
these ambitious and substantial efforts. As Mayor Harmon reminds us, "We can do hard things".
Question 6: Performance Measures - I do think we need some adjustments here. I am going to highlight Vision Zero as
the ATC did too. Vision Zero's metric currently states "75% reduction" in traffic related deaths and severe injuries. Vision
Zero should strive for 100% reduction (or ZERO deaths and severe injuries). Let's make sure the plan makes it clear that
we do not accept death as inevitable, but rather avoidable if we start to reprioritize how our streets are designed.
Additionally, there is a lot of emphasis on survey data. It's what we have readily available to us, but I would think that
we can see increases in people biking or walking, decreases in vehicle trips, and decreases in vehicle speeds if we also
use more permanent traffic counting devices. These will really help use actual data to understand the effects of these
improvements. There also may be opportunities to use data derived from our smartphones that companies like Google
are constantly tracking.
I appreciate you taking the time to consider these and all your efforts for this community. Please recommend staff make
the ATC recommended enhancements and avoid making any major changes to plan's approach or project tiering.
Thank you,
Sincerely
Garrett Otto
2