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Bike safety advocates press council as Pleasanton advances transportation safety action plan
Summary
Residents urged approval of the Transportation Safety Action Plan and associated grant application for Santa Rita Road; staff described data, focus/high‑injury networks and a preference for protected bike facilities where feasible. The related items on the consent calendar were approved unanimously.
Residents and bike‑safety advocates urged the council to approve Pleasanton’s Transportation Safety Action Plan (PTSAP) and allow staff to pursue a grant to fund Santa Rita Road improvements. Todd Nelson described rising bicycle collisions and urged staff to analyze why past plans had not achieved reductions. “Last year, we had 37 [bike collisions],” Nelson said, arguing the draft plan should analyze past failures.
Sharon Pekarski urged council to approve the plan and authorize submission of a grant proposal to fund infrastructure improvements on Santa Rita Road, and she praised a separate design contract for improvements to three I‑580 overpasses. Laura Calvert — representing Spectrum Community Services — spoke in support of a city health and human services grant on the consent calendar that funds Meals on Wheels, noting the program serves 113 Pleasanton neighbors.
Senior Transportation Engineer Cedric Novonaro explained the PTSAP analysis window (2020–2024), how staff identified a high‑injury network and a focus network for initial improvements, and why protected, hard‑scape separation between bike lanes and travel lanes may be required on higher‑speed corridors. He said Santa Rita and West Las Positas were among high priorities and recommended combining the Santa Rita project with a grant application.
Council members asked technical clarifying questions about minimum lane widths on faster roads and whether lane widths could be reduced to add bike lanes; staff said such decisions would be evaluated during conceptual and design phases and brought back to council. The consent calendar that contained related items, including funding for design work and a professional services agreement, passed by unanimous roll call.
