The San Luis Obispo City Council has adopted the City’s first Active Transportation Plan, a comprehensive collection of policies, programs and infrastructure recommendations that aim to increase the number of people bicycling and walking. By improving sustainable transportation such as walking and bicycling, the City can reduce vehicle use and related greenhouse gas emissions. This in turn will place the City on a stronger path to meeting its goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2035.
“From improving bikeways and intersections to making a walk more interesting and enjoyable with public art and parklets, the Active Transportation Plan provides a series of actions to make bicycling and walking easier, cheaper, and safer for everyone in our community,” said Adam Fukushima, Active Transportation Manager. Beginning in the summer of 2021, community members will start to see the first improvements from the plan, which include a protected bike lane on Marsh Street downtown and improvements for walking such as new curb ramps and high-visibility crosswalks.
The plan takes a new approach to implementing projects, focusing on serving users of all ages and abilities and using new strategies to build projects more rapidly and affordably. In addition, the recommendations of the Active Transportation Plan support using resources more effectively and supporting an economy that is more resilient. Outreach for the Active Transportation Plan was a comprehensive effort, spanning nearly three years and engaging hundreds of community members at neighborhood pop-up events, the Active Transportation Committee meetings, public workshops, through surveys, interactive online tools, and other activities.
The Active Transportation Plan is in line with the Sustainable Transportation Major City Goal identified in the 2019-21 Financial Plan as well as both the City’s General Plan and Climate Action Plan for Community Recovery.
To learn more, visit www.slobikewalk.org.
To read the full staff report, click here.
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