City moving forward with protected bike lanes along Park Boulevard in Balboa Park
In early September, after months of extensive outreach, the City announced plans for protected bike lanes and separated bus lanes throughout most of Park Boulevard within Balboa Park. This is a massive win for active transportation within the City's Crown Jewel; thank you so much to everyone who called into the planning meetings to voice your support for bikes and buses within the park! The new bike lanes will connect to the lanes along Park Boulevard north of Balboa Park and to the protected lanes south of the park, and the 7 and 215 bus lines will have a dedicated bus lane; the city chose to preserve parking in front of cultural institutions that needed the parking, in lieu of completely dedicated bus lanes. The repaving and restriping should be complete in early 2023; the City's plans originally stated that they would be complete by December 2022.
To see the City's complete work orders for Park Boulevard, click here. To read KPBS reporter Andrew Bowen's excellent reporting on Park Boulevard, click here.
If you'd like to receive updates on the future of Park Boulevard, and other restriping and repaving efforts within Balboa Park and San Diego, sign up for our newsletter!
Gears & Cheers 2022 ⚙️🍻
Thank you to everyone who supported, donated, sponsored, and attended our first inaugural Gears & Cheers, held at Pretzels and Pints (3812 Ray Street) on October 27th, 2022! We drank beer, ate pretzels, celebrated BikeSD's advocacy, AND raised $10,000 to continue the fight for safer streets in San Diego!
Our 2022 Awardees
- BIKES MEAN BUSINESS: Rad Power Bikes
- MOBILITY AWARD: The City of San Diego, for Park Boulevard, with special recognition to Councilmember Stephen Whitburn and Mayor Todd Gloria
- ADVOCATE AWARD: Laura Keenan
And a huge thank you from us, the BikeSD board! Special thanks to Taylor Vierra, our event organizer; the Tres Amigos, our live music for the evening; Mark West, our lovely emcee; every single one of our sponsors; and Pretzels & Pints for being such a great venue. And finally, thank you to everyone who came out, attended in spirit, and everyone who continues to support us.
Action Item: Send a Letter to ask the City of San Diego to Implement a Protected Bicycle Facility along Park Blvd in Balboa Park
Action Item: Send a Letter to ask the City of San Diego to Complete the Corridor; Implement a Protected Bicycle Facility along Park Blvd in Balboa Park
UPDATE, JANUARY 30, 2023: In early September, after months of extensive outreach, the City announced plans for protected bike lanes and separated bus lanes throughout most of Park Boulevard within Balboa Park. This is a massive win for active transportation within the City’s Crown Jewel; thank you so much to everyone who called into the planning meetings to voice your support for bikes and buses within the park! These lanes should be completed in early 2023. If you have additional questions, please contact us at talk@bikesd.org, and consider the Action Item below completed.
Since June 2021, BikeSD has been discussing with the city the opportunity to have a fully protected Class IV bicycle facility along the entire Park Boulevard corridor.
In Downtown, the city has recently implemented part of the Park Blvd section of the Downtown Mobility Plan, with the remaining segments of the class IV cycletrack already planned from K St to the I-5 bridge. From Village Place to Robinson Ave, SANDAG’s Uptown Segment 5: Park Blvd Bikeway is in the pipeline to provide improvements. And just last week, KPBS spoke with BikeSD board member Ari Criste to report on the city’s new plans to implement protected bike lanes on Park Blvd from Adams Ave to University Ave.
The last big stretch in Balboa Park is still up in the air. In November 2021, our campaign got the support of Uptown Planners, who wrote a letter in support of a class IV protected bikeway on Park Blvd in Balboa Park. The city has drafted plans for micromobility improvements to the corridor, but has not yet shared them to any community groups. We need your help to encourage the city to implement a fully-protected facility as part of the upcoming pipeline and street resurfacing project along Park Blvd in Balboa Park.
EVEN BETTER:
Write your own personal message to MayorToddGloria@sandiego.gov, StephenWhitburn@sandiego.gov, and jriveros@sandiego.gov, and please BCC: campaigns@bikesd.org. Modify this sample letter and copy/paste to your personal email app:
Dear Mayor Gloria, Councilmember Whitburn, and Transportation Director Riveros,
Thank you for the planned improvements for Park Blvd between University Ave and Adams Ave. My family and I appreciate using low-stress bike facilities to get around for our daily transportation needs.
In addition to the section of Park Blvd from University Ave to Adams Ave, we ask that the Balboa Park segment of Park Boulevard’s resurfacing efforts include a new Class IV (protected) bikeway. Park Blvd is a critical corridor between Uptown and Downtown – we are currently seeing a large volume of self-reported bicyclists using this path on a regular basis, according to open source heat maps such as Strava and Ride With GPS. Currently, micromobility users are expected to share this 2-lane roadway with parked vehicles and those driving 40+ MPH. Ideally, this road would be reduced to a single general-purpose lane traveling in either direction, a transit lane, and a protected bike facility.
Similar improvements have already been scoped out in the 2012 Bicycle Master Plan, which proposed building out a Class II (i.e. painted bike lanes) bikeway along the entirety of Park Blvd from Upas St to B St. The Balboa Park Master Plan also prescribes a bicycle trail along Park Blvd, and while a Class II bike lane would be a step in the right direction, pivoting to a Class IV protected bike lane would provide safer and more accessible infrastructure for all ages and abilities and align better with NACTO guidelines. Similar to how building more highway lanes induces greater vehicular traffic demand, building safer bicycle infrastructure induces greater bicycle traffic demand.
Besides inducing greater demand for bicyclists, safe bicycle infrastructure reduces carbon emissions within the park, slows down vehicular traffic, and improves pedestrian safety. Encouraging an increase in bicycle trips between significant commercial and residential cores (Uptown, North Park, and Downtown), as well as the numerous educational and cultural institutions along the corridor gets San Diego closer to its Climate Action Plan (CAP) goals of hitting Net Zero emissions by 2035. This upgrade is also in alignment with the 2021 Parks Master Plan which aims, among other things, to provide easy access to parks by walking, biking, and transit. Finally, by reducing speeds and protecting non-vehicle users, these improvements support the city’s Vision Zero goals.
Sincerely,
_____________
Call to Action: Let’s Push Key Regional Bikeways Across the Finish Line! Friday 09/24 @ 9AM.
Call to Action: Let’s Push Key Regional Bikeways Across the Finish Line!
WHAT: The SANDAG Board of Directors will consider a budget amendment to accept state and federal grant funding to complete the Howard, University, and Orange Bikeways, and a section of the Inland Rail Trail. These Bikeways are part of the Regional Bike Plan Early Action Program—a proposed network of 77 miles of high-quality bikeways adopted in 2013.
BikeSD and our partner organizations need you to show the Board you support bike infrastructure! Please call into the meeting urging SANDAG to approve this budget amendment, to continue making progress on a world-class network of bike lanes.
WHEN: Friday, 9/24 @ 9:00 (virtual)
HOW:
- Attend the zoom meeting, here: https://zoom.us/j/92375925148
- Detailed instructions on the agenda, here.
- Click the ‘raise hand’ function when item 13 is called.
RECOMMENDED TALKING POINTS (Choose a few, or make them your own! Comments will likely be limited to 2 minutes.)
- Hi, my name is [NAME] with [ORGANIZATION - optional], calling in SUPPORT of today’s action to fund bikeways on Howard, University, and Orange, and the Inland Rail Trail.
- Thank you to SANDAG staff and Board for working hard to make significant progress on the Regional Bike Plan Early Action Program (EAP).
- It is clear that this funding is urgently needed. Eight years into this program, less than 14 of the 77 proposed miles are open to the public.
- However, the Bike Early Action Program needs change:
- Process Improvements: EAP projects should not take 10 years to complete. We urge you to identify ways to expedite the process of bike project delivery, and keep costs contained.
- Prioritization: Prioritize future investments in bike infrastructure in historically underinvested Communities of Concern, with the least access to safe and sustainable transportation choices.
- Expand the Network: Complete the planned EAP network as soon as possible, and then commit to expanding the network to ensure the City of San Diego’s Climate Action Plan 2035 mode shift target for biking is achieved.
- I SUPPORT this budget amendment because (pick your favorite(s)):
- Vision Zero: Cyclists’ deaths are tragic and avoidable. A safe network of bike lanes is essential to saving lives.
- Transportation Justice: Communities of color and low-income communities have the least access to safe and sustainable mobility options.
- Climate Action: Transportation accounts for more greenhouse gas emissions than any other sector by far. To stop the climate crisis, we must get people out of their fossil fuel cars and into sustainable modes of travel, ASAP.
- Clean Air: San Diego is home to some of the most polluted neighborhoods in the state, largely due to cars and trucks. To secure cleaner air, especially for environmental justice communities, we need safe, protected infrastructure so more people can choose to go by bike.
- Access to Jobs: San Diegans should not have to rely on a car to move around the region and access their daily needs. We need a bike network with better access to the region’s job centers.
- Thank you for prioritizing safe bike lanes.
Action Item: Send a Letter to Demand Immediate Improvements to the Bicycle Network in Response to the Increasing Frequency of Preventable Deaths
Action Item: Join BikeSD and seven partner organizations in demanding immediate improvements to the bicycle network in response to the increasing frequency of preventable deaths; 25 miles of protected bike lanes per year
On Monday, July 26th, BikeSD, San Diego County Bicycle Coalition, Climate Action Campaign, Circulate San DIego, and a number of other partner organizations held a Press Conference at Bird Park in North Park, close to where Laura Shinn was killed while biking to work, and demanded that bike projects stop being delayed as well as the construction of 25 miles of protected bicycle lanes in the City of San Diego every year.
BikeSD and partner organizations also wrote a policy letter detailing these demands [PDF].
You can join us in demanding immediate improvements to the bicycle network in San DIego to prevent more serious injuries and deaths, achieve our Vision Zero goal of zero deaths by 2025, as well as address our Climate Action Plan’s modeshare goals of 18% of San Diegans getting around via bike or scooter in Transit Priority Areas, by sending a letter to Mayor Todd Gloria, SANDAG Executive Director Hasan Ikhrata, as well as your San Diego city councilmember (table available at the bottom of this page with their email).
EVEN BETTER:
Write your own personal message to MayorToddGloria@sandiego.gov, hasan.ikhrata@sandag.org, as well as your city councilmember according to the table at the bottom of the page, and and please BCC: campaigns@bikesd.org. Modify this sample letter and copy/paste to your personal email app:
Mayor Todd Gloria, Executive Director Hasan Ikhrata, and City Councilmember ______,
I support the letter sent by eight community-based advocacy organizations demanding the immediate improvement of the bicycle network in San Diego in response to the recent wave of bike rider deaths. These deaths were completely avoidable and it would be unacceptable for us to maintain the status quo, which would only guarantee the continued loss of our neighbors, friends, and family members.
San Diego must quickly expand the rate in which it is building protected bicycle lanes and paths, expedite bikeways already in the pipeline such as those part of the SANDAG Early Action Plan, decrease speed limits on dangerous roads, and fully fund and finish the mobility action plan. San Diego must do these things in order to ensure that we meet our Vision Zero goals of zero traffic deaths by the year 2025, as well as our Climate Action Plan goals of 18 percent of trips being completed by bikes or scooters in transit priority areas.
Sincerely,
_____________
San Diego City Council Districts and Councilmembers
| Council District | Councilmember | Councilmember Email |
| District 1 | Joe LaCava | JoeLaCava@sandiego.gov |
| District 2 | Jennifer Campbell | JenniferCampbell@sandiego.gov |
| District 3 | Stephen Whitburn | StephenWhitburn@sandiego.gov |
| District 4 | Monica Montgomery-Steppe | MMontgomerySteppe@sandiego.gov |
| District 5 | Marni von Wilpert | MarnivonWilpert@sandiego.gov |
| District 6 | Chris Cate | ChrisCate@sandiego.gov |
| District 7 | Raul Campillo | RaulCampillo@sandiego.gov |
| District 8 | Vivian Moreno | VivianMoreno@sandiego.gov |
| District 9 | Sean Elo-Rivera | SeanEloRivera@sandiego.gov |
Use this map to find out which city council district you are in.