Author Archives: Pete van Nuys

Back Bay closed Saturday morning, 9/20

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Annual Coastal Cleanup Day

On Saturday, September 20, Back Bay Drive will be closed to all users (pedestrians, bicycles and vehicles) from San Joaquin Hills Road to Eastbluff Drive (North) from approximately 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. for the Annual Upper Newport Bay Cleanup Day.

Should you have specific questions about the event or would like to attend, please visit http://www.coastal.ca.gov/publiced/ccd/ccd.html or http://newportbay.org/stewardship/cleanupday/ or contact the event organizers at (949) 640-1751.

Thank you for your understanding and patience.

CHP: “… ride in the center of the roadway.”

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Progress comes, eventually

This just posted on the CHP website as 3-Feet law becomes effective today.

Motorists:
– Watch out for bicyclists. Cyclists have the right to use all roads except where specifically excluded (freeways, etc.)
– Give at least three feet when passing, or slow down to a reasonable and safe speed.
– Be patient. If a roadway is too narrow for a cyclist to share with a vehicle, the cyclist has the right to ride in the center of the roadway.

Now, not to niggle, but the CHP actually means “center of the lane.”  Center of the roadway would put you on the center line of the between rows of opposing traffic. But under CVC 21202 we’ve had the right to fully occupy a lane otherwise “too narrow to share,” though until now this vaunted State authority on traffic law has suppressed and denied it, and written thousands of bogus tickets for bicyclists doing the safe and lawful thing.

But, hey, if the 3-Feet law does nothing else, it seems to finally provoke a reasonable perspective from the CHP head office. Now if they’ll just tell the guys in field….

Voice your opinion – South OC bikeways planning

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thumbnail link to OCTA bikeways map

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LZY7VMN

This link will let you rank proposed Bikeways in OCTA’s planning process. Some are off-highway Class 1 trails, some are along “corridors” that include familiar streets and highways. YOUR responses will help prioritize $-tax expenditures on these projects. And please leave your written comments, too.

We need to hear from YOU.

 

San Clemente’s Bicycle Plan Wins American Planning Award

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Brenda Miller, San Clemente’s untiring bike advoc, posted this last night and we reprint it verbatim:
Great news to share: the Orange Section of the American Planning Association has awarded the City of San Clemente the top prize in transportation planning in recognition of our new Mobility and Complete Streets Element / Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan. [You can read it yourself, here.]

2014 is the first year the Orange Section has recognized transportation planning, so San Clemente’s vision has, once again, made history: we’re the first ever in OC to receive the award.

The panel of jurors complimented San Clemente with some pretty awesome language in their letter: “This Plan fulfills all of the criteria for this award: planning and innovation, compatibility, engagement, effectiveness and results . . . ” They called our vision for the future “exceptional.” The judges have also endorsed the Plan for consideration at the State of California award level. So stay tuned!

Notably, the judges also recognized our inclusion of multi-modal level of service in the Plan: “We were also impressed with the innovation to evaluate transportation system performance in terms that go beyond level of service for automobile travel to account for non-motorized and transit modes of moving people . . . [t]his innovation is established as a General Plan Mobility and Complete Streets Element policy that recognizes there needs to be more research and experimentation to identify appropriate new performance metrics.”

As many of you know, I’ve long advocated for multimodal level of service as the key to efficient transportation networks (& the use of taxpayer dollars to fund them). But MMLOS is also key to transportation equity: we should all be able to safely get where we want to go based on our own freedom to choose the mode of travel that suits us best.

Personally, I am not only honored with the APA’s recognition of our Mobility Plan, but also to have collaborated with San Clemente’s planners, engineers, consultants KTU+A, City Council, City Manager, General Plan Advisory Committee, and Planning Commission. Our Mobility Element was a (6-year) team effort extraordinaire, from concept to completion.

To those who inspired us: thank you. To those we hope to inspire: dream big–there’s no such thing as can’t!

For a few photos from the award ceremony, please see the PEDal Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/myfeetfirst

Sincerely,
Brenda