HomeMy WebLinkAbout9/4/2018 Item 15, Bike SLO County - McBride
Dear Mayor Harmon and Council Members,
While I know that you may already know it, I wanted to restate the mission of our organization:
Bike SLO County inspires, educates, advocates and works to build a safe, healthy and connected
community through bicycling. Our 4,800 members rely on us to advocate for projects and
infrastructure that make it safer not just for them, but for all people who ride bikes in San Luis
Obispo cities and our county.
As advocates for providing safer routes for people who ride bicycles, we endorse Option C which
will provide protected bike lanes through the middle corridor of the Anholm Bikeway plan. The
protected bike lanes proposed would improve travel for cars and bicycles alike through this area,
by removing cyclists from the vehicle travel lanes where they currently are traveling.
Your effort to find a workable approach to improving the safety of cyclists of all ages along the
transportation corridor from downtown to Foothill Blvd is greatly appreciated. This is not only a
commuting route for people working downtown, it is also an integral component of the Safe Routes
to Schools network for our school age children. Additionally, distracted driving accounts for
approximately 25% of all motor vehicle crash fatalities. Distracted driving isn't going to stop
anytime soon, but protected lanes in the Anholm neighborhood could lower these numbers while
increasing ridership citywide.
Roadways are public property. They are in the public domain and their benefits are to be shared by
all members of the community and by people travelling through the community. Their primary
purpose is to enable commerce and personal transportation for all. Making public streets safer for
all users allows more people to pursue healthy, active lifestyles while simultaneously reducing
impacts on our air quality and our increasingly congested roadways.
In the proposed protected bike lanes, we have an opportunity to improve the safety for people in
our community while adapting to our growing population, our changing climate and the changing
lifestyles of current and future generations.
Regards,
Christine McBride
President
Bike SLO County Board of Directors
860 Pacific St, Suite 105 | San Luis Obispo, CA | 93401