The beginning of a safe streets for everyone future

Fun to watch some of the new safe street changes going in around town in a couple of locations. The idea is to slow down cars and make it safer and inviting for bicycles, pedestrians and other folks to also use the streets. Even though I am a casual bicycle rider, some of the new lane configurations along Petaluma Blvd. South had me confused. So I got two other serious bike experts to come along and help me answer some of the questions people have about how the new lane striping is meant to be used, what's finished, what isn't done yet, what seems to be working and what might not yet be working with the street design changes. It's a work in progress, for sure.

 The fairgrounds advisory committee is meeting and formulating a recommendation to the Petaluma City Council as to how to evolve our fairgrounds property into the future. I got to give a short presentation and give some of my own thoughts to the committee panel. Here is the short talk that I gave:

 The First Friday at Five community bicycle ride takes place every month in Petaluma. Great way to find new community, learn about bike riding routes and have some fun. See you there!

 There is a new trail in Helen Putnam Park. Lot's of fun and a powerful addition to the park trail system.

What is going on with the road diet in Petaluma?

 Our Public Works department is currently tearing up Petaluma Blvd South to turn four narrow lanes into three. And add a bike lane. And make it safer for people walking around. We already have a previously installed section of road diet on Petaluma Blvd North. Now our town is assessing the value of a road diet design upgrade for Rainier Avenue as a potential complete street option. Check it out!

Less cars and driving slower

My vision for Petaluma is a future of less cars and for driving slower. We spent the past 70 years building for more cars driving faster. But times are changing. Towns, cities and even Caltrans are building Complete Streets and preparing for a variety of transportation modes, not just one anymore.

Note that over the past 70 years we have planned and built for more cars and the result has been even more cars. You can’t build for more cars and reduce traffic. We’ll be hearing more, this election year, about how wonderful the Rainier Connector will be, for example. Then it will go away only to be dusted off yet again for the next election.

The population of Petaluma will continue to grow. Hasn’t stopped growing in over 200 years. More housing will continue to be built.

Meanwhile, let’s rebuild complete streets, encourage bicycle riding, support public transit and figure out what we have to do to make it easy to not have every trip in and out from the house be in a car. Its been done elsewhere. Take a look around. We can do it here. We are doing it here.

What can we do to make Petaluma even more walkable?

What makes a town walkable? What is a good walk? What are some relatively simple improvements we can implement to make Petaluma even more walkable? Often times a good walk can also be a good bicycle ride. Public transit absolutely relies on walking to connect people to and from their destinations.