Cycletracks Bill Faces Tough Hearing Today: Call Senator Hueso to Support AB 1193

Cycle Tracks in Long Beach, CA. Photo: http://flyingpigeon-la.com
Cycle Tracks in Long Beach, CA. Photo: http://flyingpigeon-la.com

If you live in the highlighted area below (which includes Bonita, Boulevard, Campo, Chula Vista, Coronado, Imperial Beach, Jacumba, Mount Laguna, National City, Potrero, San Diego), your California Senator is Ben Hueso and he will be voting on the Calbike sponsored bill AB 1193 today. Call his office at (916) 651-4040 or email him at senator.hueso@senate.ca.gov to ask him to vote to support AB 1193:

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As Melanie Curry at Streetsblog LA writes,

Currently the California Highway Design Manual does not allow protected bike lanes, and state law requires local jurisdictions to follow Caltrans specifications for bicycle facilities on all roads, not just state-controlled highways. No such requirement exists for any other type of street infrastucture — just bicycle facilities.

A.B. 1193, the “Safe Routes for Urban Cyclists,” from Assemblymember Phil Ting (D-San Francisco), would require Caltrans to develop standards for bike lanes that are physically separated from motor traffic. At the same time, the bill would permit cities to opt out of using Caltrans specifications for bike facilities on local streets and roads.

The legislation follows the spirit of a recommendation from the recent State Smart Transportation Initiative (SSTI) report on Caltrans that Caltrans “support, or propose if no bill is forthcoming, legislation to end the archaic practice of imposing state rules on local streets for bicycle facilities.”

If you’d like to watch the proceedings live, the committee meeting is being broadcast live right now.

Call Senator Ben Hueso’s office at (916) 651-4040 or email him at senator.hueso@senate.ca.gov to ask him to vote to support AB 1193:

Update: The bill passed the Housing and Transportation Senate Committee and is now on its way to Appropriations. Thank you to everyone who called Senator Hueso to offer support.

Update 2: Senator Hueso held off on voting for AB 1193.  So there is still time for you (as a resident of Chula Vista, National City,  Barrio Logan, Imperial Beach, San Ysidro, Golden Hill, Sherman Heights, Logan Heights) to call him and ask him to vote YES on AB 1193). Do it as your civic duty of the day, we guarantee you will feel good about it.

Update 3: Thank you all who called in and thank you to California Senator Ben Hueso for voting YES to suppport AB 1193! Now the bill go through a few other subcommittees before reaching the full Senate and hopefully all our electeds will vote to support the bill and soon cycletracks will be added to the toolbox of bicycle facilities that cities can design and implement.