Author: Dan Allison

Dan Allison is a transportation advocate in Sacramento, CA. Dan dances and backpacks, as much as possible.

SacATC 2025-08-21

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The Sacramento Active Transportation Commission (SacATC) will meet Thursday, August 21, 2025, at 5:30 PM. The meeting will be at Sacramento City Hall, council chambers. The meeting is livestreamed from the Upcoming Meetings Materials page at the time of the meeting. Comments may be made in-person, or via eComment on the Upcoming Meetings Materials page up to the time of the meeting, but should be submitted well ahead of time if you wish the commission members to see the comment before the meeting. No comments are taken online.

This is a big meeting! I hope you can attend and comment, or use eComment. I have not yet reviewed the documents, but may add additions to this post if appropriate.

Agenda (pdf)

Open Session

  • Roll Call
  • Land Acknowledgement
  • Pledge of Allegiance

Consent Calendar

  1. Approval of Active Transportation Commission Meeting Minutes
  2. Active Transportation Commission Log

Discussion Calendar

  1. Streets for People Active Transportation Plan: part 1, part 2
  2. Connecting Howe Avenue: Safety and Mobility Plan Proposed Alternatives: staff report, presentation
  3. The Norwood Mobility Project Proposed Alternatives: staff report, presentation
  4. Active Transportation Commission 2025 Annual Report: staff report, Annual Report, presentation
  • Commission Staff Report
  • Commissioner Comments – Ideas and Questions
  • Public Comments-Matters Not on the Agenda
  • Adjournment

VMT mitigation at SacTA 2025-08-14

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At the Sacramento Transportation Authority (SacTA or STA) meeting tomorrow, August 14, 2025, there will be a presentation on a County Wide VMT Mitigation Program. This is the second of three presentations, leading to an agency decision on whether to do a VMT mitigation program, and if so, what kind.

The state has authorized VMT mitigation programs under SB 743 (2013), and AB 130 (2025) authorizes VMT mitigation fees to be used for affordable housing in low-VMT areas. Design and implementation of the state VMT mitigation through housing program won’t come until next year.

SACOG is also considering a region-wide VMT mitigation program, but is in the early stages of determining the model and making a proposal.

I intend to take a closer look at these, and add to this post, and speak at the board meeting, but am not there yet.

Meanwhile, the four documents are below:

SACOG Transportation Committee 2025-08-07

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This was unintentionally not posted in a timely manner, but may still be of use.

The SACOG Transportation Committee will meet this Thursday, August 7, 2025. The meeting may be viewed online during the meeting via the link provided on the SACOG Meetings & Agendas page. Comments may be made in person or ahead of time (48 hours if requested to be read during the meeting, otherwise they will not be read nor seen by committee members before the meeting) by email to clerk lespinoza@sacog.org. Comments may not be made online. The meetings are held at SACOG offices, 1415 L Street, Suite 300, Sacramento, CA, starting at 10:00 AM, usually lasting two hours. There is an optional presentation at 12:00 PM on Green Means Go.

The agenda items below have not been looked at in detail. If time permits, and there are significant issues, they will be added to this post.

Agenda (pdf)

Following committee roll call, public comment: Any person wishing to address the committee on any item not on the agenda may do so at this time. After ten minutes of testimony, any additional testimony will be heard following the action items.

Consent:

  1. Approve Minutes of the June 5, 2025, Transportation Committee Meeting
  2. Accept and Pass Through Federal Transit Administration Areas of Persistent Poverty and Innovative Coordinated Access and Mobility Funds to Paratransit, Inc.
  3. Approve Fiscal Year 2025-2026 State of Good Repair Projects

Action:

  1. Public Hearing: Amendment #11 to the 2025 Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program and Air Quality Conformity Analysis
  2. 2025 Four-County State Funding Program Staff Recommendation staff | list
  3. Programming of Fiscal Year 2025 Federal Transit Funding staff | list

Information:

  1. Five-Year Regional Transit Implementation Plan
  2. Update on the Federal Revocation of California’s Vehicle Emissions Standards

Receive & File:

  1. Capital Area Regional Tolling Authority Board April – June Recap

local knowledge should not be free

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I have participated in more agency planning projects than I can count, mostly transportation-related, but other topics as well.

Every project has a well-paid staff project lead, and sometimes other agency staff. Almost all have a well-paid outreach consultant, and almost all have very-well-paid technical consultants, sometimes several.

And then there is the community, the people with local knowledge that is critical to a successful project that meets the needs of the community. These people are rarely paid. Sometimes there will be a focus group that receives some sort of stipend or something of value, but rarely. Sometimes community groups are contracted to bring community members together, but rarely. Sometimes advocacy organizations with some degree of local knowledge are contracted.

But just plain people, who live in their community, have local knowledge, and lived experience with challenges and opportunities, almost never. These people are expected to attend in-person or online workshops and provide their knowledge, for free. This is wrong.

Sometimes food is provided at workshops and meetings, but not often, and when it is, is provided by community nonprofits, not by the grant or agency. There are restrictions on providing food with government grants (as though providing food is ‘wasteful’ while paying agency staff and consultants is not), so this particular issue is often not solvable by the grant recipients.

Child care can be provided by grants, but rarely is. The agencies expect parents to attend, but don’t welcome their kids. Meeting the needs of the kids is often the point of the grant, but the setup makes is difficult for families to participate.

I was just at a workshop, scheduled 5:30 to 7:00 PM. This is dinner time for many families. No surprise, community attendance was very low, with as many advocates as community members. Why are workshops at dinner time? Why are they not scheduled in the afternoon, when the caregiver parent can attend with their children, or after dinner time when the family can attend with their children?

The concept of community outreach is broken. It is the community members that should be treated well, not the professionals.

sustainable transportation planning grants

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The Caltrans Sustainable Transportation Planning Grants for 2025-2026 have been awarded.

Davis received a grant to develop an Active Transportation Plan, described as:

“The City of Davis proposes to develop a city-wide Active Transportation Plan (Plan) with the goal to increase the active mode share trips by 5% by 2040 with the development of innovative and data-proven successful projects, programs and policies that will reduce vehicle miles traveled and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (transportation accounts for 74% of GHG emissions in the City of Davis), improve access to transit stops, and enhance safety for all. The Plan will be informed by robust community outreach and the City will work with both our vocal and underrepresented community members and advocacy groups such as Cool Davis, Bike Davis, Strong Towns Davis, Davis Downtown Business Association, Davis Chamber of Commerce, Yolo Cares, Yolo County, the school district, church-based groups, SACOG, identity-based organizations, aging community organization and homelessness service providers to inventory the existing conditions, identify resident’s needs and desires, and identify projects, programs and policies and prioritize the outcomes. Major deliverables include an executive summary designed for decisionmakers and community members filled with graphics and easy to read maps and a technical document which includes recommended prioritized short- and long-term projects, programs and policies to increase active transportation mode share. The Plan will have a strong nexus with existing plans such as the City of Davis’ 2023 Climate Action and Adaptation Plan and 2023 Local Road Safety Plan; SACOG’s Metropolitan Transportation Plan/Sustainable Communities Strategy; and the California Transportation Plan 2050, thereby furthering California’s goal of creating a transportation system that is equitable, safe, sustainable, integrated, and efficient for all.”

SACOG received a grant for CARTA Regional Toll Equity Study, described as:

“Consistent with local and statewide plans, the Sacramento Region (Sacramento, Yolo, Placer, El Dorado, Yuba, and Sutter counties) is developing our first toll lanes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve transit reliability, and manage freeway congestion in our growing region. To deliver an equitable toll lane system, the Sacramento Region needs to evaluate the impact of toll lanes on low-income, disadvantaged, and other equity-priority communities; reduce disparities in benefits and burdens for those communities; and enhance transportation access for all users. The CARTA Regional Toll Equity Study (Study) will fill this gap by reviewing toll equity best-practices, analyzing how toll lanes will impact travel for equity-priority communities, and providing a clear and actionable roadmap to deliver an equitable toll lane network in the Sacramento Region. The Study will be led by the Capital Area Regional Tolling Authority (CARTA), a joint power authority between SACOG, Caltrans District 3, and Yolo Transportation District (YoloTD) that is the new designated tolling authority for the Sacramento Region.”

City of West Sacramento received a grant for West Sac Forward Transit Priority Plan, described as:

“With West Sacramento experiencing some of the strongest growth in the region this century; planned Sacramento Regional Transit (SacRT) light rail transit construction into West Sacramento starting in 2026; public On-Demand Rideshare services growing in popularity; and existing Yolo County Transit District (YoloTD) bus and paratransit service changes anticipated – the City of West Sacramento in partnership with SacRT, YoloTD, and Via, with support from Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG) proposes to develop the “West Sac Forward Transit Priority Plan”: an innovative sustainable public transit plan rooted in community feedback and collaborative public participation.

Using Sustainable Communities funding, our agencies will team-up to analyze existing systems targeting efficiency, effectiveness, and seamless integration of public bus, rail, rideshare, and planned rapid transit systems to better serve residents and local workforce through new policies, strategies, and recommended infrastructure improvements. Objectives include reducing transit delay, increasing reliability and resiliency, increasing ridership, improving access and mobility for equity priority communities and transit-dependent populations, reducing Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, reducing congestion and Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT), and improving traffic safety while balancing service cost and system performance.

The final deliverable: a transformative plan with recommended improvements that support healthy, diverse communities and strengthen the economy by implementing the City’s Strategic Plan and Mobility Action Plan, YoloTD’s Short Range Transit Plan, and the SACOG 2025 Blueprint Triple Bottom Line strategic goals of Equity, Economy, and Environment – which complement Caltrans’ six Strategic Plan Goals, meet grant objectives, and achieve CTP 2050 vision and Statewide Transit Strategic Plan objectives prioritizing cost-effective public transit services with improved mobility, social equity, and reduced GHG emissions.”

There are other grants in the region, which can be viewed on the Caltrans Sustainable Transportation Planning Grants page.

we are (way) past peak driving

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Research by Todd Litman of the Victoria Transport Policy Institute (VTPI), in a paper The Mobility-Productivity Paradox, indicates we are past peak driving, in the sense that we have reached a point (or are considerably past the point) at which the costs of driving and motor vehicle infrastructure outweigh the benefits. This won’t be a surprise to anyone paying attention, but it is always worth having citable research.

Early on, economic productivity did increase with better transportation infrastructure and more travel. But it no longer does. There is now a negative relationship of VMT to economic productivity, as well as a lot of other measures.

Key Takeaways (from the YIMBY article):

  • More driving correlates with lower state income: Vehicle miles traveled per capita shows a negative correlation with state GDP per capita.
  • Vehicle ownership peaks and then declines with national wealth. International data show that car ownership rises until countries reach a GDP per capita of $50,000, after which it declines despite continued income growth.
  • Metro areas with transit tend to outperform those that are more car-dependent. Urban regions with higher transit ridership, fewer highway lanes per capita, and population density tend to generate higher per-capita GDP.

SacCity Vision Zero Action Plan update

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The City of Sacramento is undertaking an update of the 2018 Vision Zero Action Plan. A recent Sacramento City Express article, Sacramento begins Vision Zero update, launches crash data dashboard, provides a summary. The dashboard has been available since March (SacCity crash dashboard).

Getting Around Sacramento author Dan Allison is participating in the stakeholder group, wearing the Sacramento Transit Advocates and Riders (STAR) hat. Safety from traffic violence is a key part of encouraging transit use, since people need to walk or bicycle to and from transit stops and stations. Dan has attended three Vision Zero meetings, April 7, 2025 Task Force #1, June 2, 2025 Task Force #2 (the stakeholder group), and June 18, 2025 Working Group (combined Task Force and Technical Advisory).

The slides from these meetings are presented below as slideshows.

Vision Zero Action Plan update intro

Safe Systems Approach

Benchmarking & Crash Analysis

  • gallery of slides from Vision Zero Action Plan update Task Force #2
    Vision Zero Action Plan Benchmarking & Crash Data Analysis presentation
  • SacCity Vision Zero Action Plan update, Benchmarking & Crash Data Analysis presentation
    SacCity Vision Zero Action Plan update, Benchmarking & Crash Data Analysis presentation

Safety Improvement Strategies

disconnected bike network

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A recent article on CapRadio: Sacramento’s bike network received a failing grade. City officials disagree was also reference on Streetsblog California.

The People for Bikes analysis on Sacramento is at https://cityratings.peopleforbikes.org/cities/sacramento-ca. Note that only cities are rated, not counties, so there is no rating for unincorporated Sacramento County. Sacramento’s score was 36, Rancho Cordova’s 29, Folsom 37, Elk Grove 23, West Sacramento 25, and Citrus Heights not scored.

The lead photo on CapRadio is a concrete-separated bikeway on Broadway. But it is only one block long, and is the only one in the city.

A quote from Jennifer Donlon Wyant is revealing of exactly the problem with Sacramento bike facilities:

“M Street from Sac State to Midtown through East Sacramento is known to be an all-ages and abilities bikeway connecting schools and health care and retail, and that is shown as a high-stress facility,” she noted. “When known low-stress facilities like this are showing up as high stress, that concerns me.” 

Yes, parts of M Street are great, and should be recognized with a neighborhood or greenway status. Though it is an overly wide street along much of its length, traffic is slow and light, and it meets the definition of a low-stress bikeway.

However, what happens at either end? Approaching Alhambra, M Street ends, with no bike lanes on Alhambra, and no wayfinding for how to shift to a low-stress route to continue westward. At the east end is Elvas Avenue, one of the most hazardous bike routes in the city. Bicyclists exiting onto Elvas Avenue from 62nd Street must cross four lanes of high-speed, high volume motor vehicle traffic to reach the safety of the Hornet Tunnel and SacState. Most bicyclists cross early and ride against traffic. It is slightly less hazardous to go westbound to M Street. There is no wayfinding for how to best deal with this situation.

The city has been aware of the Elvas problem for years. Nothing has been done. This blog has written about it many times: tag:Elvas-Ave.

All of the parking-protected, separated bikeways in the city are discontinuous:

  • 10th Street northbound: starts at W Street with an awkward transition from east side to west side; ends at I Street
  • 9th Street southbound: starts at I Street; ends at Q Street; design is very inconsistent with bike lane-only blocks
  • P Street westbound: starts at 21st Street; ends of 9th Street
  • Q Street eastbound: starts at 9th Street; ends at 21st Street
  • J Street eastbound: starts at 19th Street; ends at 28th Street
  • 19th Street southbound: starts at H Street; ends at W Street with an awkward transition from east side to west side; at Broadway the route transitions to Freeport Blvd with no bike facilities
  • 21st Street northbound: starts at W Street with an awkward transition from east side bike lane to west side separated bikeway; ends at H Street with a semi-protected bike signal

For few of these routes do the separated bikeways take you to a final destination. There are transitions to regular bike lanes, or no bike lanes at all, at the ends of each segment. That is not a connected network. It is disconnected!

Almost every advocate in the city is supportive of Jennifer Donlon Wyant and all she has accomplished to make the city more bikeable, more walkable, more livable. However, the city policy, by staff at a higher level, and city council, to spend almost none of its general fund on transportation safety, and to rely only on state and federal grants. means that the city will continue to rank low on any assessment of bicycle friendly.

Sacramento needs a connected network, and we are far from that.

Google map of Elvas Ave from 62nd St to Hornet Tunnel
Google map of Elvas Ave from 62nd St to Hornet Tunnel

Howe Avenue project

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The City of Sacramento is developing a project called Connecting Howe Avenue.

I do not have time at the moment to look in detail, but the lack of lane reduction stands out at a glance. The Designs Considered But Not Included document is a long list of things that can’t be considered because of the prior assumption that lanes cannot be reduced.

Howe Avenue north of Fair Oaks Blvd is in Sacramento County, and plans for the city section should be consistent with plans in the county. Though not the highest crash location, the intersection of Howe Avenue and Fair Oaks Blvd is significant, but does not seem to be part of this project.

Alternative 1 removes the bike lanes, probably in recognition that traditional bike lanes on a high speed arterial are not safe. The posted speed limits are 40 to 60 mph, with actual speeds of course higher. Both alternatives say ‘lower speed limits’ but don’t provide the target.

Strong SacTown is recommending lane reductions and better design alternatives. Their street design team will be analyzing the plan on Sunday, and making recommendations.

There is a last community engagement phase 2 workshop: July 17, 2025, 3:30 – 5:00 PM; Campus Commons Clubhouse, 650 Commons Dr, Sacramento

Comments under community engagement phase 2 are due July 21.

Connecting Howe Avenue map​
Connecting Howe Avenue map