Complete Streets Campaign

COMPLETE STREETS CAMPAIGN

Caltrans-controlled roads that double as city streets are among the deadliest in California. The Complete Streets Bill of 2024 will require the agency to ensure safety for people biking, walking, and taking transit.

OUR WORK

Complete Streets Are Safe Streets

CalBike is a co-sponsor of the Complete Streets Bill of 2024, SB 960, authored by Senator Scott Wiener. The bill requires Caltrans to set objective goals and “to prioritize the implementation of comfortable, convenient, and connected facilities for pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit users on all projects in the [SHOPP funding] program, where applicable.”

Complete Streets are streets that are safe and comfortable for people biking, walking, and taking transit, as well as driving motor vehicles. Protected bikeways, a key element of many Complete Streets, have been shown to reduce fatalities and injuries for road users in all modes of transportation.

People who get around by biking, walking, or taking transit have the same right to safe passage on our streets as people driving cars. True Complete Streets provide that equitable use of our public space regardless of transit mode, economic status, or race.

While Caltrans has made incremental progress in adding more bike- and pedestrian-friendly features to its repaving projects, the 2023 firing of one of the agency’s strongest voices for active transportation shows the need for greater oversight and accountability. The agency’s Complete Streets checklists treat any element that makes biking or walking even marginally safer as a “Complete Streets” feature, ignoring the fact that a single crosswalk or “Share the Road” sign is often not enough to create a Complete Street.

Holding Caltrans to Account

July 15, 2024

Incomplete Streets Part 1: How Caltrans Shortchanges Pedestrians

Happy bike riders making their way down an extra wide bike lane on a verdant street.

November 13, 2023

CalBike Complete Streets User Survey Exposes Network Gaps

October 26, 2023

CalBike Joins 100 Organizations Urging More Oversight of Caltrans

Governor Newsom Signs SB 960, the Complete Streets Bill

September 27, 2024/by Brian Smith

For Immediate Release: 9/27/24 Contact: Jared Sanchez, policy director, CalBike (714) 262-0921, jared@calbike.org SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom has signed the Complete Streets Bill, SB 960, authored by Senator Scott Wiener (pictured above) and sponsored by CalBike, SPUR, AARP California, and others. The Complete Streets Bill will require Caltrans to consider the needs of people […]

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WHAT WE’RE FIGHTING FOR

CalBike’s Work Bringing Complete Streets to Everyone

In 2017, a CalBike-commissioned poll showed that Californians across the state and across all major political and demographic groups support building Complete Streets—roads with safe sidewalks, visible crosswalks, and protected bike lanes—that are safe places for everyone and not strictly thoroughfares for driving.

Together with our ally Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and over 80 co-sponsors and supporters, CalBike sponsored SB 127, the Complete Streets for Active Living Bill, in 2019. The bill would have required Caltrans to follow its own Complete Streets Policy and prioritize the safety of everyone who uses our roads, not just drivers, on every repaving, maintenance, and rehab project. Despite overwhelming support in the legislature and from constituents, Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed the Complete Streets Bill in 2019.

In 2023, CalBike joined with over 100 mobility, climate justice, and transportation organizations to send a letter to Governor Gavin Newsom, urging and independent investigation of Caltrans, a moratorium on freeway expansion, and better oversight of the agency. You can add your name by signing our petition. In 2024, we are once again sponsoring a Complete Streets bill introduced by Senator Wiener, SB 960.

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