Restriping & Repaving: the fast track to better bikeways
Those of us that press our cities to build better bikeways know that the fight is often a painstaking ordeal -- street by street, intersection by intersection. And as many of our local teams know, these plans often get derailed or watered down, especially when changes to streets include the removal of parking stalls and traffic lanes. This month’s Biketivist forum highlighted how cities and agencies have grown keen on comprehensively tackling street redesign through annual restriping and repaving plans. And who better to moderate this panel than Mr. Barricade himself, Vignesh Swaminathan, CEO and President of Crossroad Lab. Over the past year he’s exploded on TikTok, educating the masses on the ins and outs of street redesign and safety improvements.In case you missed it, you can tune in to the recording here:
A few highlights from our panel:
Did you know that each year the City of San José repaves 200 miles of streets and has taken advantage of this opportunity to build out their bike plan? As John Brazil from the City of San José’s Department of Transportation explained, they have been syncing up their plans for repaving with building better bikeways for the last 8 years. John came with a number of opportunities and challenges from their program which has repurposed travel lanes and over 3,000 parking stalls to make room for bikes. Learn more about San Jose’s Pavement Projects here.
Jessica Manzi, Transportation Manager from Redwood City, reminded us that “big changes to streets also typically mean big process” when it comes to community engagement, analysis, piloting and evaluation, and city council approval. She also pointed to a few key things to keep in mind. Restriping and repaving also need to coincide with other street improvements like sewer and water line enhancements. Plus, another way to stretch out pavement dollars is to coordinate with new development projects coming online. These are opportunities to get developers to pay for bike amenities.
Lastly, Sergio Ruiz, the Complete Streets Coordinator from Caltrans, shared some encouraging changes at our state agency that will speed up the buildout of bikeways. In the past, it had to be an exception for Caltrans to add in walk and bike facilities, now it’s the other way around. Every State Highway Operation and Protection Program (SHOPP) project must now fill out a complete streets decision document. If walking or biking needs are overlooked in project design, planners must justify why they are being left out. This is a definite reversal of the old paradigm Caltrans operated under that were impediments to bikeway progress. He also informed us of the district level Bike and Pedestrian Plans that are happening across all 12 Caltrans districts. Check out our district’s Bike Plan here.
After an engaging rapid fire Q&A session with our panelists, the discussion landed on one very important point we must take to heart as bike activists. We need to think more holistically about our streets and recognize all different types of road travelers, their needs, and the connections they need to make. Buy-in for bike improvements increase when we learn to speak compellingly about how the changes we demand benefit everyone.