Melanie Curry

California's tax policies are at odds with its climate change policies, said UC Berkeley Professor Karen Chapple in a talk yesterday at the University of California Center in Sacramento. The current tax structure encourages big-box development and sprawl, she said, while making it difficult to build infill and high-density developments that could reduce auto dependence and greenhouse gas emissions from transportation.

Caltrans was involved in two very different bridge demolitions last week, and has posted time-lapse footage of both of them.

When DOT presented plans for a protected bike lane on Sixth Avenue, one point of contention was the design of intersections. How many intersections will get split-phase signals, where cyclists and pedestrians crossing the street get a separate signal phase than turning drivers? And how many will get "mixing zones," where pedestrians and cyclists negotiate the same space as turning drivers simultaneously?

Squeezing up on its statutory deadline, Caltrans issued its "Class IV Bikeway Guidance [PDF]" on the last day of 2015.

The California Strategic Growth Council (SGC) agreed yesterday to award funding to eight projects that had been left out of the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities awards earlier this year.

It may be that TOD—transit-oriented development, which puts high density housing near transit to encourage people to travel by means other than by car—may be putting too much emphasis on the T. That is, the fact that people have a train station near at hand may not necessarily be what encourages them to use it. Other things—like whether they have access to free parking—seem to have more influence on car ownership and driving.

Bike-share is excellent in multiple ways. It eases traffic congestion in large, dense cities. It increases transit use in suburbs and smaller cities. And in all kinds of cities, it reduces auto use. It also has its drawbacks.

The American Planning Association advocates for excellence in planning. But to judge from the awards given by its Inland Empire chapter, sometimes the notion of "excellence" is in the eye of the local beholder. The chapter gave its 2015 Urban Design Award to a sprawling freeway interchange where Van Buren Boulevard crosses over I-215 in Riverside.

We're still digesting all the reports and conversations that occurred at the California Bicycle Coalition's biannual bike summit in San Diego this week. In addition to some very hard conversations about equity and diversity in bike advocacy—a subject that needs its own report—there were more planner-y presentations about on-the-ground bike issues. Caltrans was very active at the summit, with various Caltrans employees giving presentations on bicycle safety goals within the Strategic Highway Safety Plan, new sustainability goals for the department, and the Active Transportation Program.

We're getting excited about the upcoming Bike Summit organized by the California Bicycle Coalition. It's not too late to register for the biannual event, which will take place on October 25-28 in San Diego.