genec

This is a cross post from A&S. I put it here to specifically target those in the San Diego area for their comments.

This just released from the mayors office... available in draft PDF format at the link below.

This is the City of San Diego Climate Action Plan.

There are several parts to this plan... having to do with reduction in emissions, (cleaner air) to responses to rising ocean waters (climate change), to reducing energy and water use; and how the city should best respond to these issues.

The items I found most interesting were on page 28. Currently some 87% of commuting transportation in the area is by individual motor vehicle... the city wants to reduce that to 50%, and to do so, is proposing the following:

• Increase the use of mass transit.
• Achieve mass transit mode share of 12% in 2020 and 25% in 2035 in High Priority Transit Areas.
• Increase commuter walking opportunities.
• Achieve walking commuter mode share of 3% in 2020 and 7% in 2035 in High Priority Transit Areas.
• Increase commuter bicycling opportunities.
• Achieve 6% bicycle commuter mode share in 2020 and 18% mode share in 2035 in High Priority Transit
Areas.
from https://www.sandiego.gov/planning/gen...cap_020714.pdf

The current bicycle commuting modal share in this area is just under 2%; this proposal outlines a desire to reach 18% cycling modal share over the next 20 years (by 2035)... and to increase cycling modal share to 6% in the next 5 years. Fairly ambitious, considering that only a small handful of cities in the US are anywhere near that 6% modal share right now.

The current plan is to increase cycling modal share by doing the following: (pp 36-38)

SUPPORTING ACTIONS:
• Implement the Bicycle improvements with Street Re-surfacing Plan including lane diets, green bike lanes,
sharrows, and buffer bike lanes.
• Implement a bicycle sharing program with DecoBikes.
• Using SANDAG’s recently completed county-wide sidewalk inventory, and other data, identify and address
gaps in the City’s pedestrian network, including lack of safe crossings.
• Adopt City portions of SANDAG’s forthcoming first mile/last mile initiative in major transit areas.
• Coordinate pedestrian counting programs with SANDAG and SDSU Active Transportation Research
Programs.
• Develop a Parking Plan to include measures such as “unbundled parking” for nonresidential and residential
sectors in urban areas.
• Prepare a Commuter Report with measures to increase commuting by transit for City employees.
• Develop a new priority ranking for infrastructure improvements in High Quality Transit Areas that will be
integrated into Capital Improvement Priority Matrix, Community Development Block Grant opportunities
and Public Facilities Financing Plans.
While I applaud the Mayor for such lofty plans... I am quite skeptical that the city will reach 18% cycling modal share in the next 20 years, or even 6% in the next five... as their plans seem awful skimpy for actually encouraging cycling. Most of the action plans seem to be along the lines of "do a study, develop a plan, form a committee," vice actually doing something that will really promote cycling. For instance... develop a "parking plan," gee, how about provide for bicycle parking at every downtown block and in every commercial parking lot in the city. Boom... plan developed.

I will say in the defense of cycling in the city that bike lane marking, sharrows, buffer zones and instructional signage have increased quite dramatically in the last couple of years.

But overall... good luck... 18% eh.

What do you folks think?

GP

I could easily take the Coaster and trolley to work. I live less than a mile from a Coaster station and on the other end of my commute, in the past year they've upgraded the trolley station and extended the street where the station is so I don't have to make a big circle to get to the waterfront. The only negative is that it would take me an extra hour and a half each day.

diphthong

still think it will take a catastrophic event or two (gas at $8+ gallon, massive earthquake like 8.0+) to truly get people out of their cars and on public transit/bikes.
at this point, sandag should not be adding new roads/expanding freeways but allocating those $$ to improving alternative transportation.


noticed a small bump in bike commuters when gas first hit $3 a gallon but it seemed like a temporary bump.


anything that gets people riding, walking or taking mass transit more and driving less is a good thing. the recent trend of reinvigorating neighborhoods to embrace
"local" flavor is a good thing. the san diego neighborhoods of north park and south park are good examples. supporting local businesses so that fewer people are driving
elsewhere works. would love to see the proposal of a segment of north park becoming a car-free zone succeed. i think it could be a model for other urban communities to emulate.

Leinster

When I lived Downtown and commuted to Mission Valley, the trolley was practically door to door for me. But when I was living in Normal Heights and commuting to Mira Mesa there was no direct bus or rail connection, no shower facility at work for the 15 miles worth of sweat, and no protection for me riding along Kearny Villa Road. Just the spread out, decentralised nature of SD would make it very difficult to put together a cohesive, all-encompassing non-car transport system that can get everybody from residence to workplace efficiently. You can put buses on every road and every highway, but you're only going to hit so many people's A-to-B connection in a way that gets them there quicker than driving.

genec

I've lived and worked in different areas of the city... at times bike commuted as far as 30 miles each way to get to and from work. I have never found public transit to be faster than cycling and in fact recall often leap frogging the buses up and down 30th street.

I worked for a time in Carlsbad, and found that the train system didn't run the hours it would take to put in a regular 8 hour day in Carlsbad and be able to take the train either way... as the last train left at 5:30 in the evening.

For public transit to work in San Diego, it needs to run more often, at a wider set of hours, AND be decentralized. I should not have to go downtown to go to the northern part of the city from the eastern part of the city... Motorists don't do this, why should I?

For cyclists, there needs to be more direct routes to and from various outlying regions around the city... which means bike highways so cyclists can quickly get from places like Clairemont to Downtown or from SDSU to Point Loma. Anywhere a freeway goes, there should be fast bike access... not requiring cyclists to be delayed by the use of city streets with their stop and go traffic lights.

Bike paths need to be of better quality than the recently installed bike paths that go from OB to the western edge of Mission Valley. In fact, there should be a robust bike path system all through Mission Valley... rather than forcing cyclists to use the sudo-highway of Friars road. Further, there should be a safe method of reaching Mission Valley besides a bike lane on Texas street. And the bike path that goes over Fairmont at 8 needs to be updated and maintained. These are just a few realities around San Diego that need addressing.

I wonder if we should make a list for the Mayor of San Diego... addressing the short comings of the current bike path and bike lane system in San Diego... things that should be fixed just to get things rolling for 2020.

Submit your favorite thing that needs to be fixed to this thread... we can compile them and send them to the Mayor.

hamster

Will. Not. Happen.

25% mass transit will not happen, except possibly in high-density areas like the downtown. An average commute distance in SD is ~10 miles. In its present shape, mass transit is, on average, 3 times slower than individual motor vehicle - and that's if you happen to live near bus stop. Random example. I used to live in Rancho Penasquitos and work in UTC. Commute time by car was 15-20 minutes depending on traffic. Quick check of SDMTS travel planner gives me an estimate that a bus trip would take 54 minutes, and the nearest bus stop was additional 30 minutes away from my house on foot. From where I live right now to the same place in UTC, it's 25-35 min by car, and 1:55 by mass transit.

To get to 25% in Rancho Penasquitos, you need to get mass transit time at least in the same ballpark as the private vehicle time, and, to do that, you need throw a dense net of express bus routes with stops within a 5 minute walk from most houses, and going in all possible directions: it's not sufficient to have a bus that goes from PQ to Mira Mesa and a connection to a bus that goes from Mira Mesa to UTC via surface streets; you need direct buses taking freeways from PQ to UTC, downtown, Kearny Mesa, Sorrento Valley, Solana Beach, and all other major employment centers with significant presence of residents of PQ. Someone could try to figure out how many routes we need and how many buses we must buy to offer this sort of coverage, but it's probably at least an order of magnitude increase compared with current levels of mass transit funding.
The problem is ultimately that we live in suburbia, and cars work too well in suburbia, because the city is planned with cars in mind. Places that have 25%+ mass transit are not those where mass transit is awesome, but those where cars totally suck as a mode of transportation. If you have high population density, primarily multifamily housing, severe shortage of parking, lack of freeways (think SF or NYC), people have no choice but to use mass transit. No one yet figured out how to force people to use buses if they can comfortably use cars.

Likewise, 18% cycling will not happen. You can pour millions into bike lanes and bike parking and it still won't happen. I have one word. HILLS. No, two words. Hills and BO. Most Americans are averse to physical activity in general, and aren't tolerant of other people's sweat. And there are lots of 6%+ hills in every direction that the mayor would have to somehow level to get anyone except lycra clad crazies to commute there.
And don't forget that the average commute is 10 miles. Places with high bike commute rates are either pancake-flat (Portland), compact (SF), or both (Davis, CA is supposedly at 19% - but it's flat and you could fit the entire city into the 805 - Sorrento Valley Road - 15 - Miramar Road rectangle.) And proposals listed above make me skeptical that they'll squeeze even an extra percent or two. Sharrows? Bike sharing? "Sharrows" are a code word for "we want to make it look like we're trying to encourage cycling, but we don't really want to spend money". Dedicated bike paths would help but they are super expensive and finding land to build them is hard. Sharrows are a smokescreen.

TrojanHorse

I can't believe you don't trust a politician when he says he's going to do something. I'm shocked... shocked, I tell you.

I enjoyed your post though. When I lived in San Diego back in the early 90s I used to commute to work on my bike occasionally. It was 16 miles (I lived very near UTC and worked on the sub base on Pt Loma) and I thought that was a long commute at the time. The key was... showers at work. It wasn't bike lanes, sharrows or any of that. And you're right, Sharrows suck.

hamster

OK, I'll play.

* Grade-separated crossing over I-15 at route 56 / Ted Williams Parkway. At the present time, route 56 bike path terminates on the west side of I-15, and going further requires crossing two light-controlled busy intersections (I-15 onramps/offramps). Better yet, build a separated bike path along Ted Williams all the way to the intersection with Pomerado. (Pomerado is the shortest and the only reasonably flat north-south route from Rancho Bernardo and Escondido, and route 56 bike path is a good potential link in the bike traffic network, but getting from one to the other is a pain.)

* Continue route 56 bike path west under I-5 to connect with Sorrento Valley Road.

* Separated bike path along Miramar Road between Eastgate Mall and Kearny Villa Road, and along Kearny Villa Road from Miramar to 52. (There already is a nice car-free path along Miramar, but, unfortunately, it's on the wrong side of the fence, just inside the base. Maybe something could be worked out with the military?)

* Some sort of east-west bike corridor south of 52, from Kearny Villa Road to I-5. The most obvious solution is through undeveloped land just south of 52 and west of 163, connect to Copley Park Place / Copley Drive, under the 805, and along the bottom of the canyon till you connect with the existing north-south bike path near I-5. It's suboptimal for commuting purposes because it goes along the bottom of the canyon, and anyone who goes there will have to climb back up, but there's simply no room to build this corridor across the top of the mesa, it's too built out.

* Again starting at Kearny Villa Road / 52, follow the canyon east and south and connect to Murphy Canyon Road. Build a connector from Murphy Canyon to Balboa Ave (Balboa is on a bridge over Murphy Canyon, but there's currently no way to get from one to the other). Murphy Canyon goes all the way to Friars Road, but the last mile or two is in pretty rough condition and it needs to be repaved.

* Some direct way to get from Sorrento Valley to UTC that does not involve getting on the shoulder of I-5.

hamster

Showers at work actually seem to be pretty common in white-collar occupations. A friend of mine just started a company, got some office space, it came with access to a gym and showers (in an adjacent building). But I don't know about blue collar jobs. Does our local Vons have showers? And even if it does, there's the question of time. Having to shower at work, and having to haul clean clothes to and from work, are extra costs that anyone who isn't fanatical about cycling will have to consider before making a decision whether or not to drive. 18% cycling share goal means that we need to be getting out of the set of recreational cyclists and cutting deeply into Joe six-packs.

You and I can handle a commute from UTC to Point Loma (16 miles with 450' of climbing) or from PQ to UTC (11 miles with 700' of climbing.) But we need to wonder about people like my wife or my mom, and there the answer is a resounding "no". You can build all sorts of bike infrastructure, but, as long as commuting by bike requires going 1 hour one way and climbing a 300' 7% hill along the way, followed by showering at work, when you can hop in a car and be there in 20 minutes smelling fresh as a rose, bike commuting share is not going to budge. And people will not alter their settlement patterns (will not start living closer to work) unless you somehow make it much more difficult for them to commute by car. And, since we're more or less built out and we won't be adding many more houses in suburbia-land, commuting by car is not going to get much worse by 2035 compared with today.

TrojanHorse

Well, in the early 90s a shower wasn't common but I worked on a submarine and we were pretty self-sufficient. I'd dump a load of clothes in my locker and just use that, so I wasn't riding in every day, that's for sure. Or just wear the same clothes more than once... it wasn't a beauty contest, that's for sure.

And the length ... even in my early 20s when I was younger and fitter than I am now, 16 miles was a haul in the AM. I got a flat one day about a mile from home, fixed it and just turned around. I ride much more now than I did then, so 16 miles is trivial to today's me but yeah - Joe Six Pack isn't riding further than the corner bar on a bike and it's a pipe dream to expect otherwise.

hamster

Took a closer look at their proposals.

They are not aiming for 25% mass transit / 18% bike everywhere. They are talking about "transit priority areas". The definition is complex but it essentially amounts to everything south of 8 or west of 805 (minus Point Loma and Mount Soledad.) They are saying that transit priority areas account for 30% of the area and 60% of the population of the city. Covering Penasquitos and Rancho Bernardo with mass transit is not in the plans.

25% mass transit / 18% bike could be achievable in PB and coastal La Jolla, since they meet my conditions of "flat, relatively compact, and cars suck as a mode of transportation." Getting the bike share up in Clairemont and UTC would be problematic because of the canyons. I'm not familiar with commute patterns south of 8.

They do intend to work on lowering the average commute distance, among other things, by focusing a majority of all future residential development within "transit priority areas" (translation: by making cars suck more there).

diphthong

agree. north/south bike travel in the populated slab of the county north of the 8 fwy and south of the 78 fwy is difficult for most. even the easier routes (coast hwy, el camino real and kearny villa/black mtn)
have a dreaded climb along the way if you go far enough. the area east of downtown sandwiched between the 94 and 54 fwys is surprisingly hilly as well commuting north/south. it's often easier to head west
towards the coast and go north/south. i run across few cyclists in the area that aren't riding the 5 fwy or 125 fwy corridors north/south.

calamarichris

By 2035? Only 18%? Talk about your straw-man goals.
The city's already made terrific progress in just the last year. I rode down to Gaslamp from Carlsbad with my gf yesterday and it was noticeably better than when I rode down there before. Still hardly a futuristic Jetson's dreamland for cyclists, but pretty darn good compared to how it was.
There were still a few scary, narrow and high-speed traffic points, but overall, I felt much safer than last year when I made this trip. My gf hasn't been riding very much, but she did just fine in even the sticky spots.

And motorist awareness seemed better too. We rode from Gaslamp up to North Park and back down as the sun was setting, and it was great. Woe betide anyone who gets too serene about riding in traffic, but we had zero conflicts and only 2 or 3 borderline close-calls.

I don't think it's necessary to control other people's behavior and drag them out of their cars, but I appreciate that they're diverting some of those infrastructure funds our way. Beats the tar out of riding in LA, San Gabriel, and Orange Counties IMO. And don't get me started about the other states I've lived in. Texas? Fuuuhuuuuuh...

Popeyecahn

Currently underway. Next time you pass Genesee while traveling I-5 please note the war zone/denuded bluffs all around. Completion in 2017.

I-5/Genesee Interchange Introduction

Regarding KVR from Miramar to 52, probably the worst aspect I've found is the 163 on ramp, mainly during rush hour. There is a bike lane that whole stretch (I'm guessing by separated you mean a J-Wall?), but the fact that cars typically travel at 55+ and that merge to the 163 onramp is not metered which makes transit a bit dodgey during rush hour. At one point CalTrans was doing work on the I-15 interchange and had been detouring traffic onto the KVR/163 interchange, making KVR traffic all the worse.

hamster

I'm not sure what's a J-wall (Google search gives me lots of links about a basketball player John Wall but not much else), but I mean a class I bikeway: at least something like the path along 52 between Santo and Mast (with a concrete divider between bike lanes and freeway lanes), preferably something like the route 56 bike path (a fence and 20+ feet of grass).

The I-5 bike path looks nice. I like the connection to Voigt Dr / Gilman Dr. It would route north-south bike traffic from Sorrento Valley through UCSD and connect to the bike path at I-5/Gilman while avoiding major hills and heavy traffic areas.

I would've also liked a connection on the other side of the triangle, from Carroll Canyon Rd to Eastgate Mall, but a good connection via Genesee wouldn't be a big detour in most situations (also, grading might be difficult on that side, since Carroll Canyon to Eastgate Mall is 3000' in a straight line with 280' of elevation difference. A bike path that closely follows the terrain would hit 15% in places.)

P.S. December 2013 San Diego Bicycle Master Plan has most of my items! They have a path from Carroll Canyon to Eastgate Mall and even a bike path from Kearny Villa (in fact, all the way from Santo) to I-5. However, none of them are marked "high priority". The only high-priority class I bikeways in the entire city are 2 miles along San Diego River and 3 miles along Harbor Dr. between the downtown and National City. They are going after cheaper projects (bike lanes & such) first. Their entire high-priority budget is $35 million, and class I bikeways are estimated to cost $2.6 million per mile.

GP

He might mean k-rail.

TrojanHorse

Holy cats, we're in the wrong business.

Anybody else get a sudden urge to incorporate as a pavement contractor?

CliffordK

One thing the cities need to do is start forcing the cities to grow taller rather than wider. Perhaps enforce urban growth boundaries, and zoning laws outside of the urban growth boundary. Then add incentives for high-rise apartments.

CliffordK

I wonder what all that includes?
Condemnation?
Bridges
Overpasses
Base, Paving, etc????

There are some really nice government projects across the country, but give any organization essentially an unlimited budget, and costs go through the roof. I've got a quarter mile paved driveway, and I'm sure it didn't cost a half million dollars.

Popeyecahn

Jersey Wall.

That would be nice along KVR but given the many on/off ramps along there and the military property, it all may be a non-starter and we gets what we gets. There are 2 roadside memorials along that stretch, 1 is too many hopefully something will happen along there. One thing that does need to happen more often on the 52 bikeway is for Caltrans to run a Zamboni along it once in a while, that is one messy, crap filled bikeway.

I'll need to read the master plan, but I will say that if they can improve Harbor Dr, that would be great, that road is pretty bad. I'll also check out the Carroll Cyn/Eastgate Mall path.

GP

You didn't have to go through the CEQA process and follow California public works project laws.

CommuteCommando

I'm not saying it's a good thing, but I have to agree with the above statement.

I commute by multi-modal. From '06-'09 is was to El Cajon, bike seven miles to the Oceanside Coaster Station, train to Old Town, Trolley to Gillespie Field, bike two miles to work. '09 to now Coaster from Oceanside to Tustin, bike seven miles to work near John Wayne Airport.

I was always the "crazy bike guy" I tried to encourage coworkers, but no go.

Better infrastructure will help, but I think some of the ideas' while well intentioned, are not very smart.

Bike lanes and Sharrows are good. I often take the lane riding down 101 through Leucadia and Solana beach where there are sharrows. I usually do 15-20 in that situation, and never feel in danger. (I never just pull out into them, and make sure any cars following see me.)

Bike sharing is a noble idea that I see going nowhere. How does it work? There are bike stations where you pick up and drop off bikes. Do these have a smaller foot print than a bus stop? Is it feasible to place them at intervals at least as frequent as bus stops? What are the maintenance costs? What about loses due to theft? (I pick up a share-a-bike, ride to the store [what, lock it at a share-station blocks away and walk?] come out and it's stolen.

I ain't buyin' it.

Protected bike lanes? They did that here in Oceanside. These rapidly turn into glorified sidewalks and I avoid them. There is also the issue that the designs I have seen for them force the cyclists to the right of right turning MV's. I avoid positioning myself there like the plague. There is talk of addressing that issue by outlawing turning right on red. As a frequent motorist as well, you will not sell it to me that way.

I think the problem need to be addressed intelligently, and that not all of those ideas meet the criteria.

Improving rail transit is good. Currently the double track sections of the line through Camp Pendelton are being lengthened to increase capacity. A light, or even full blown commuter rail line up the I-15 all the way to Temecula would be great, but unfortunately is not even under discussion. Metrolink is extending it's Riverside line down to Perris. The two could meet, but that would require vision and will on the part of SANDAG. I'm not holding my breath.

I dissagre. There are some instances where I have kept up with a bus of a couple of miles but I always get dropped on the hills, and this town is pretty hilly.

True for some of the larger bio-tech firms, but I have never had the luxury. Toilet stall baths have been the norm for me.

Who do you think did the studies that say a lot of these things are a good idea? They just put a traffic circle at the junction of Carlsbad Blvd and State street running into Oceanside. A million bucks, and it does not make me feel safer. I have watched several near tragedies occur there, where bikes are forced into the lane with confused tourists, or onto the sidewalks often full of joggers. I complained to a city official and was told that it will work well once people get used to it. My reply was; "So, my headstone is to read ' He Was Part of Someone's Learning Curve'?"

genec

Even coastal La Jolla is not exactly flat... think Torrey Pines road as it runs from the village of La Jolla to the UCSD area... hardly flat. And then there is N Torrey Pines road, with all the biomed employees that need to get to the top of that mesa. It's a climb no matter which direction you come from.

Even downtown San Diego can be a challenge so some... considere the rise from Broadway up hill toward the zoo and uptown. Again, hardly flat. Sure, it isn't insurmountable... but to expect an 18% modal share in that area is darn ambitious... especially considering that relatively flat Davis, with all it's cycling infrastructure still only garners about 6-7% modal share.

genec

Pick up the pace... buses stop every couple of blocks... GRIN

Only the express buses can outrun you.

OK, I'll admit I can't outrun the buses anymore.

Popeyecahn

As you are well aware this city is a crazy patchwork of routes, so I'll forgo explaining the stupidity with which my wife once took the bus to Fashion valley but suffice it to say it was counter-intuitive and took forever. Also my 'Bus', or rather bike is an express vehicle and can/will go where I want it to without having to wait for it at a stop to pickup a route or transfer etc. Therefore the bike will always be faster for me, except up Texas St...