SANDAG Releases Draft 2050 Regional Transportation Plan

The Board of Directors at the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG)  released the 2050 Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) last Friday. The document is available at SANDAG’s website. Public hearings and workshops are scheduled to be held in June.

In conjunction with the RTP’s release, SANDAG also prepared a video to inform the public about the purpose and goals of the region’s transportation plans leading up to 2050.

I have not read the plan yet, but in the video, I was struck by the glaring omission of the utter lack of mention of bicycling as a means to solve all the problems that we as a region are facing and will continue to face in the years ahead. Car pooling, telecommuting, transit use and infield development will certainly go a long way in attaining the region’s goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But we as a society are married to the idea of independently transporting ourselves and bicycle can not only take the place of the private automobile, but it can also transform us as a society and make us better able to withstand the realities of dwindling resources and economic downturns. I hope the actual RTP promotes the bicycle as an effective transportation mode.