#bicycle-infrastructure

#bicycle-infrastructure

California lawmakers are advancing a bill that could reframe how housing, transportation, and infrastructure projects are approved in urbanized coastal communities, seeking to balance environmental protections with the state's urgent housing and climate goals. Assembly Bill 1740 (AB 1740) - introduced by Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur (D-West Hollywood/Santa Monica) - would allow qualifying cities to bypass individual California Coastal Commission approvals for certain housing and transportation projects if they meet specific urban, multimodal criteria.

As the curtain closes on the Adams administration, Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez on Tuesday held an invitation-only " State of the Agency " valedictory address that misrepresented the agency's accomplishments, blamed lawmakers and the press for its shortcomings and released a 100-page report that he hopes will land on the next mayor's desk instead of in the circular file under it.

If you live in any major city or suburb in the U.S., you may have noticed more and more parents hauling their kids around on bulky cargo bicycles. Some families are ditching their second car, forgoing a minivan, or going car-free altogether. Cargo bikes have been around for more than a century and they're popular elsewhere on the globe. But until a few years ago, they were all but forgotten in North America. Now they're making a comeback.

"Cities that are truly great for biking have more than protected lanes and calm streets - they have a vision and a plan for continuous improvement," said Grace Stonecipher, infrastructure analyst and research manager at PeopleForBikes.

"Bike lanes restrict road space. They have turned streets into parking lots, with residents unable to shop, get their kids to events, and seriously impact emergency services and Wheel-Trans."