You may have noticed a flurry of posts yesterday and recently about ongoing planning projects for the City of Sacramento,
- Stockton Boulevard Safety and Transit Enhancement Project (STEP)
- Reconnecting Old North Sacramento
- Arden-Auburn Mobility Plan
- Fruitridge Road Safety and Mobility Plan
- H Street Bikeway
- Vision Zero Action Plan Update (many posts)
- Marysville Boulevard Vision Zero (this is a quick-build engineering project, not planning, though there are many existing planning efforts related to Marysville: Marysville Del Paso Blvd Action Plan
And there are several more in the planning or development stages. The city has a list at Transportation Planning: Current Efforts, There is also a map, Public Works Transportation Projects that shows the number of projects and status. Selecting for ‘planning’ shows Fruitridge Road Safety and Mobility Plan, Truxel Road Bridge Over American River, Norwood Ave Complete Streets Plan, Arden Way and Auburn Boulevard Vision Zero and Mobility Plan, Reconnecting Old North Sacramento, and Howe Ave Transportation Vision Zero Plan, which is mostly planned and about to go to council. You can also select for preliminary engineering, final design, in construction, and construction complete.
Read more: so many projects, so little timeThis is just within the City of Sacramento. Widening out, there are projects in each of the cities within the county, and Sacramento County itself. Widening our even further, there are projects and transportation policy development in the region, and for the region, under SACOG, and the other five counties within SACOG.
There are more projects and policies than any one person, or even an advocacy organization, can keep up with. Many of these projects depend on funding from the regional, state, or federal government to be implemented, and so many will sit on the shelf. Many of the policies will remain theoretical because there is not the political will to overcome the inertia of government and dedication of staff to doing things the way they have always been done. But sometimes writing about a project or policy does lead to positive change.
For me, I will focus on only a few of these, and quite possibly never write again on most of them. My current focus is Vision Zero Action Plan Update, H Street Bikeway, and Stockton Boulevard Safety and Transit Enhancement Project (STEP).
So why do I bring this up? I’d like to plant the seed of interest. If one of these projects, or one of the many others, piques your interest because it is in your neighborhood, or along your route of travel, or aligns with something you are passionate about, I’m inviting you to research and write about it, here. Getting Around Sacramento is the only regular local source of information about what is going on with transportation. I don’t wish to claim to much, but it is essentially Streetsblog Sacramento. If writing for this blog appeals to you, please get in touch – allisondan52@icloud.com. We can of course talk directly, but you will need to ask for my phone number, or arrange coffee/tea. What one project appeals to you? What, in general, do you want to say about it? You need not be familiar with WordPress, which is the host for this blog, as you could write directly or I can post your writing.