Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition

The Metropolitan Traffic Commission (MTC) will be distributing Federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) funds, to be used in part to conduct Bay Area bicycle infrastructure projects that are on the Regional Bicycle Network (RBN). Funding will be available for projects in both Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties.

A team of SVBC staff and board members will head to Washington D.C. next week to participate in the 2010 National Bike Summit. This year’s Summit marks ten years of cycling advocates from across the nation meeting to learn, share, and advocate in the nation’s capital. While in D.C., attendees will participate in workshops designed to unify our message on issues affecting the bicycling community, in preparation for a series of meetings with Congressional representatives and their staff.

Safe Routes to School (SRTS) projects in the Bay Area have recently gotten a shot in the arm. SVBC, together with the Bay Area Bicycle Coalition, worked with the Metropolitan Traffic Commission (MTC) to secure SRTS funding in the Commission’s recent "Climate Action Plan." There is $17 million available for SRTS projects across the Bay Area, with $1.43 million and $4.04 million going to San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties, respectively. Distribution of funds was based on K – 12 school enrollment in the various counties.

Several projects have recently come to fruition in Sunnyvale, with others in the planning stages. With two high profile projects completed in 2009, the Borregas Ave. bridges over 101 and 237 and the Mary Street bridge over 280, Sunnyvale continues build upon a route that will connect high tech workplaces in the north to De Anza College and residential areas in the south.

Who would have thought Los Angeles would be an innovative leader in changing the look of their streets. Southern California, a place that never met a freeway it didn't like, just may have a ciclovia event before San Jose (or peninsula cities as well). Read the article and let us know what you think.

As suggested in the article; How do we get more women, children and seniors to ride? What uses to you see for reinventing public streets and spaces?

Happy Holidays.

Of course we all know that line from Charles Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities" but it also describes the current state of cycling on the Peninsula and in the South Bay.

A cyclist was struck by a car and killed on December 18 while crossing Hwy. 101 on Hillsdale Blvd. in San Mateo. The victim was an as yet unidentified 68 year old man. He was hit by a Caltrans vehicle.

TransForm has recently released a report titled, "Windfall For All: How Connected, Convenient Neighborhoods Can Protect Our Climate and Safeguard California’s Economy." The report looks at the four main population areas of the state - Southern CA, the San Francisco Bay Area, San Diego, and Sacramento - and finds that residents could save $31 billion if all communities had the same level of efficient design and access to public transportation as the best 20%.

This just in from Caltrans Bicycle Coordinator Ina Gerhard:

• "Good news on the status of improvements along SR 9: The Office of Traffic Safety just got Caltrans HQ's approval for funding to pave the shoulders at 61 locations along the section of SR 9 between Highway 35 and Saratoga. Now the next step is to prepare a project study report in order to get the project programmed."