Improving Walking in the Bay Area
Earlier this month, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) announced the release of the California Department of Transportation’s (Caltrans) “District 4 Pedestrian Plan for the Bay Area.” For transportation officials, this plan acts as a reference guide for how to make road projects more pedestrian friendly. It also acts as a resource for anyone interested in making their local Bay Area roads easier places to walk.
Caltrans worked alongside MTC, other Bay Area agencies, safe streets advocates and members of the public to create the plan.
Plan Highlights
The plan identifies and prioritizes the needs of pedestrians throughout the Bay Area’s State Highway System in order to guide future investments and projects. Within the plan is a list and map of location-based pedestrian needs, as well as a toolkit of strategies for how to reach the needs of local Bay Area roads. Alongside the plan, Caltrans created an online Story Map, which gives anyone the ability to not only view the maps but also interact with them to better understand the pedestrian issues across the Bay Area and future opportunities to improve their roads.
Caltrans partnered with UC Berkeley’s Safe Transportation Research and Education Center (SafeTREC) staff and students to include a wider set of community members in the planning process by meeting the community where they were already gathered, using Street Story in nontraditional settings, such as resource fairs and farmers' markets. Data from Street Story, SafeTREC’s interactive online community engagement tool, was used within the plan. Students from the University of California, Berkeley conducted targeted outreach in East Palo Alto, which is identified as a historically underserved San Mateo County community.
The District 4 Pedestrian Plan complements the Bicycle Plan that Caltrans released earlier this year. Together, these plans provide concrete ways the Bay Area can promote walking and biking as alternatives to driving, which reduces congestion, helps combat greenhouse gas emissions and promotes healthier lifestyles.
The full plan is available for download here.