Santa Rosa presents Active Transportation Plan update; public review open through March 30

Torina Wilson, the city’s transportation planner in the Transportation and Public Works Department, briefed the Planning Commission on March 13 on a public-review draft of Santa Rosa’s Active Transportation Plan and encouraged commissioners and residents to submit comments through March 30.

The ATP is an update to the 2018 Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan. City staff said the update emphasizes “all ages and abilities,” prioritizes projects that increase safety and accessibility, and identifies a smaller set of high-priority projects that the city believes are feasible to complete within the next five years. The draft is posted as an interactive PDF on the project webpage.

Wilson said staff conducted two phases of public outreach over roughly 18 months. In phase one the city presented existing conditions and solicited barriers and ideas; in phase two staff translated public input into draft projects and sought reactions. According to Wilson, the online engagement produced nearly 2,000 interactions on the map and about 500 comments. The Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Board is scheduled to review the final draft in May, with a council hearing anticipated in June.

Wilson said the plan’s four primary goals are led by safety: “making safety the default option,” followed by accessibility, climate and equity objectives. Projects were prioritized using multiple factors including collision history, proximity to transit, sidewalk gaps, school and park access, demand, connectivity (closing network gaps), feasibility and opportunities created by coordinated pavement maintenance. Wilson explained that repaving projects offer cost and implementation advantages because restriping is required and small infrastructure elements (bike buffers, bollards, curb repairs) can be bundled with pavement work.

Wilson described the plan’s structure: vision and goals, existing conditions, an engagement summary, detailed bicycle and pedestrian recommendations, and an implementation and funding chapter that lists high-priority projects intended to be achievable in a five-year window. Appendices include the existing-conditions memo, the development-of-recommendations matrix and a project prioritization scoring matrix with point allocations for safety, equity, proximity to transit and other criteria.

Commissioners asked several technical and site-specific questions. Commissioner Sanders asked whether “comfort and safety” could include lighting and amenities; Wilson said comfort measures can include bus shelters and trash receptacles but that funding limits what the city can add beyond safety elements. Sanders also asked about a stretch of Fourth Street between Hope and Bee where large vehicles sometimes force cars into opposing lanes; Wilson said that striping could be revised and that longer-term pavement maintenance would allow a more permanent solution.

Vice Chair Duggan asked whether the at-grade crossing at Jennings Road and the SMART corridor is in the plan; Wilson confirmed it is included and said access to the planned Highway 101 overcrossing and related bike access are high priorities. Duggan also raised Humboldt Street’s Level of Traffic Stress rating; Wilson said neighborhood-scale bicycle-boulevard improvements could be pursued, likely via grant-funded, neighborhood-wide plans rather than piecemeal city-only projects.

Wilson said health and equity weighting used maps of equity-priority communities and CalEnviroScreen health-burden areas; she noted the detailed scoring matrix in the development-of-recommendations appendix shows point values for low-stress projects, projects in equity-priority areas and proximity to transit.

Wilson closed by reminding the commission the public comment period runs March 3–30, that comments are visible on the interactive map and can be liked or replied to, and that staff will synthesize comments for the advisory board and council. She asked commissioners to share the link with networks and stakeholders.

The commission did not take formal action on the plan this evening; Wilson asked commissioners to submit comments online and attend the Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Board hearing in May if possible.