This piece originally ran in our sister publication, Streetsblog Chicago, on April 17. For almost three decades, San Francisco has influenced my POV on how sustainable transportation should evolve in Chicago. Back in 1996 when I was working as a bicycle courier in the Loop, I traveled to SF for the Cycle Messenger World Championships and rode in my first Critical Mass, the global bike parade/protest/party that was first launched there. The following year, Chicago cycling advocates started monthly Critical Mass rides from Daley Plaza. I’ve been particularly impressed by ..read more

SFMTA Rips Out Guerrilla Wiggle Upgrades (KTVU, SFGate) OakDOT Proposal to Allow Temporary Safety Upgrades (Oaklandside) Prep Work for BART Extension (SJSpotlight) SFPD Promises to do its Job and Enforce Speed Limits in Some Locations (SFStandard, SFChron) More on SFMTA Deciding to do its Job and Enforce Parking Regs (SFChron1, SFChron2, SFExaminer) Bill to Ticket Driverless Cars (NBCBayArea) Driver Severely Injures Scooterist in San Francisco (SFGate) Berkeley Eligible for State Housing Grants (Berkeleyside) Sunnyvale Affordable Housing Project (SJSpotlight) Santa Cruz Rail Plans Could Requi ..read more

California’s Active Transportation Program is currently accepting applications for Cycle 7 (those are due June 17). Each cycle, teams of volunteers do the important work of scoring all the applications against the program’s goals. Those scores help determine which projects are prioritized for funding. California Transportation Commission staff are looking for people involved in active transportation in some capacity in California, who have knowledge of transportation infrastructure projects or programs and planning. However, people who work as transportation consultants or contractors involved ..read more

I sat among birds and flowers watching trains go in and out of the Western Portal of the city’s main light rail subway on Sunday, April 14. I didn’t have to worry about cars in the Portal Gardens, because there are none. I was visiting Philadelphia, sitting in the park by that city’s “West Portal” for the train tunnel that connects downtown (or “Center City” as they call it) with the western suburbs. Fortieth Street Portal station used to look more like West Portal in San Francisco, but Philadelphia closed the area to traffic back in 1983 (the Trolley Portal Gardens were added in 2018). The tr ..read more

Eight Total Parking Spots Would be Lost to Make West Portal Safe (SFChron) More on West Portal Anti-Safety Car Brains (SFGate, CBSNews) SFMTA Workers Afraid to Enforce Parking Rules (KTVU) Is Oakland’s High Street Safer? (Oaklandside) More on Wiggle Upgrades (MissionLocal) Techies Heading for Big Apple (SFChron) Big Tech’s Office Space Reductions in S.F. (SFStandard) Affordable Housing Project Breaks Ground in Oakland (SFChron) Professional Baseball Player Takes Transit, Advocates for Climate (SFExaminer) Is S.F. on Track to be Climate Neutral? (SFExaminer) Letters: Anti-Safety Cranks in West ..read more

When states raise speed limits on highways, speed-related crash hot spots spike on nearby neighborhood roads, a new study finds — but local communities aren’t preparing for those “spillover” effects, nevermind getting a say in how fast motorists should go on the interstates that rip through their communities. In an analysis of three U.S. highway segments whose maximum speeds were increased at some point in the last decade — I-85 in Georgia, I-84 in Oregon and I-75 and I-69 in Michigan — researchers found that all reported significant new “clusters” of speeding-related crashes within a one ..read more

Safe Street Rebel, a covert coalition of independent safety advocates, installed safe-hit posts and other features along San Francisco’s Wiggle bike route early Tuesday morning. According to a statement released by the group, the “Slower Safer Wiggle” installation involved three main parts: Installing prominent median soft-hit signs along one block of Steiner adjacent to Duboce Park, identifying this crucial artery and signaling to cars that bikes and pedestrians should have the right of way. Adding median flex posts, which, along with the signs, force cars that normally speed along this blo ..read more

Speed Limiter Bill Would No Longer Limit Speed? (SFChron) Another Murdering Driver Gets Slap on Wrist (SFChron) Advocates Want to Tax Uber to Fund Muni (SFStandard) More on West Portal Car Brains Putting Driving Convenience Over Life of Family (CBSNews) Money for Safety Improvements on International and Other Deadly Streets (EastBayTimes) More on Sausalito Ferry Service Suspension (SFChron) Details on Stonestown Housing Complex (SFChron) New U.C. Berkeley Housing Complex (Berkeleyside) How Housing Splits Political Allies (SFExaminer) Capp Street’s Bollards and Parked Cars (MissionLocal) Lette ..read more

In cities across America, U.S. advocates are fighting to stop their DOTs from expanding downtown highways and amplifying the mistakes of the past. As the saying goes, though, those battles are always bigger in Texas — and so are the odds that locals face when they try to reimagine their neighborhoods around people rather than cars. In her gripping new book, “City Limits: Infrastructure, Inequality and the Future of America’s Freeways,” author Megan Kimble chronicles the ongoing movement to get the Texas Department of Transportation to rethink its destructive plans for three highways in downtow ..read more

“What a day to be celebrating the future of American infrastructure and to see it taking shape before our eyes,” remarked U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg at yesterday’s groundbreaking for Brightline West’s high-speed rail connection between Las Vegas and Southern California. Buttigieg praised the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that contributed $3 billion to making this project happen, noting that the project spans not just two parties, but two states, and public and private sectors. Brightline West will be a 218-mile rail line from Vegas to the San Bernardino County city of Rancho ..read more