The state earned 53.1 points out of 100 possible points in the League's point system, which is actually a bit less than what we earned last year (53.7). Still, that's barely over half of the possible number of points, which offers a clue about how much work remains. Washington, the top-ranked state, earned only 66.2 points—so clearly there's plenty of room for improvement throughout the country.
The scores among the top ten or so states are pretty close. States are awarded points in five areas:
Legislation & Enforcement
Policies & Programs
Infrastructure & Funding
Education & Encouragement
Evaluation & Planning
California's weakest areas, unsurprisingly, are infrastructure & funding and evaluation & planning. For example, we got dinged for not having a statewide bicycle plan. However, according to information hidden deep in the Caltrans website [PDF], the department anticipates beginning work on such a plan in June.
California's report card can be found here [PDF]. Notably, it's remarkably similar to last year's report card [PDF], in which California ranked #9, despite getting credit for attempting a vulnerable users law.
Last year's report also recommended that California
Adopt a mode share goal for biking to encourage the integration of bicycle transportation needs into all transportation and land use policy and project decisions.
Streetsblog California editor Melanie Curry has been thinking about transportation, and how to improve conditions for bicyclists, since her early days commuting by bike to UCLA long ago. She was Managing Editor at the East Bay Express, and edited Access Magazine for the University of California Transportation Center. She also earned her Masters in City Planning from UC Berkeley.
Metro staff are recommending the board approve funds to support two 91 Freeway expansion projects located in pollution-burdened communities in Southeast L.A. County - in the cities of Long Beach, Artesia, and Cerritos