StatisticsAccording to the SCTA Sonoma County Greenhouse Gas Inventory, 2018 Update, the transportation sector accounts for 60% of Sonoma County’s 2018 activity-based greenhouse gas emissions.
According to a Sonoma County Travel Behavior Study presented by Fehr and Peers at the December 9, 2019 SCTA/RCPA Board of Directors meeting, 68% of trips in Petaluma are less than 5 miles in length. The average trip length is 6.7 miles. According to SCTA’s Vision Zero Dashboard:
“Research indicates that the majority of people in the United States (56-73%) would bicycle if dedicated bicycle facilities were provided. However, only a small percentage of Americans (1-3%) are willing to ride if no facilities are provided.” [Source: City of Santa Rosa’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan Update 2018, p.62] According to AAA, the average cost of new car ownership in the U.S. is $9,282, or $773 per month. Measures that relieve residents of the burden of owning a car or truck equate to putting thousands of dollars in their bank accounts. According to an article in Treehugger, the average American drives 13,476 miles per year. The direct costs associated with owning and operating a private vehicle breaks down as follows: Car payments: $6,972. Gasoline: $1,092. Insurance: $1,300. Maintenance: $1,000. Total direct costs: $10,364. |
Our GoalFor years and years we have been stating and re-stating our firm commitment to “…building a safe, comprehensive, and integrated bicycle and pedestrian system.” But it’s never happened because we’ve never made it a priority.
Our goal is simply to make it a priority. Building a “…safe, comprehensive, and integrated bicycle and pedestrian system” means a complete and integrated network of Class I dedicated “shared use” (bike/pedestrian) paths Class II bike lanes Class III “bike boulevards,” and Class IV separated bike lanes. Class I dedicated paths are ideal because they come closest to making cycling safe for people of all ages and abilities but they require planning, engineering, land acquisition, funding, and construction. Class IV separated bike lanes are next down on the list of preferred alternatives and can generally be created far more quickly and with fare less expense than Class I dedicated paths. Class II bike lanes -- marked by striping and sometimes by paint -- are better than nothing, which is what now exists on many miles of our roadways. Class III “bike boulevards” -- existing streets marked by “sharrows” and signage -- are not a preferred solution, but are better than nothing. …quickly and inexpensively created on existing paved roadways by re-striping existing travel and parking lanes using techniques borrowed from the Tactical Urbanism toolkit. |