Caltrans Releases Draft Plan on Active Transportation

Caltrans released a draft of its first California Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan, setting an overarching goal of making multimodal transportation options "safe, convenient, and comfortable" throughout the state by the year 2040.

Titled Toward an Active California, the plan outlines a series of strategies organized around four main objectives:

1. Safety: Reduce the number, rate, severity of bike and pedestrian collisions
2. Mobility: Increase walking and biking in California
3. Preservation: Maintain a high quality transportation system
4. Social Equity: Invest resources in communities that are most dependent on active transportation and transit

According to Streetsblog California, the draft plan represents a "more ambitious and comprehensive" orientation to active transportation than Caltrans' previous work on the issue, known as the Non-Motorized Transportation Facilities Report.

It pulls together state work being done in a wide variety of other areas, including California’s aggressive greenhouse gas reduction targets; the Health in All Policies task force highlighting the connections between walking and biking and health outcomes, including air quality, obesity, and heart disease; and interest in sustainable and equitable development as embodied in the Caltrans Smart Mobility Framework.

Public comment on the draft is open until March 10.