Caltrans District 9 Active Transportation Plan

Welcome

Welcome to the Caltrans District 9 Active Transportation Plan! This Story Map provides an interactive way to view existing conditions and needs for people walking and biking in District 9, which covers the central-east portion of the State of California. District 9 is responsible for the State Highway System in Inyo, Mono, and eastern Kern Counties. District 9 covers 16,465 square miles and contains varied topography including Mount Whitney (the highest peak in the lower 48 states), Death Valley National Park, Mono Lake, and the east entrance of Yosemite National Park. The District is in the western portion of the Great Basin, which includes the Owens Valley, bordered by the White and Inyo Mountains to the east and the Sierra to the west. The varied topography and elevation have a wide range of climate zones. The State Highway System in District 9 connects residents and visitors to dispersed communities and attractions throughout the diverse geography. The Active Transportation Plan's main goal is to prioritize a list of location-based needs, which are mapped on this site. We encourage you to use this map to view conditions and needs in your community.

The Caltrans statewide plan, Toward an Active California, envisions that by 2040, people in California of all ages, abilities, and incomes can safely, conveniently, and comfortably walk and bicycle for their transportation needs. This Plan aligns with that vision by identifying needs on, across, and parallel to the State Highway System. It is guided by the four goals in Toward an Active California:

Mobility: Reduce dependency on vehicles by shifting trips to biking, walking, and transit.
Safety: Facilitate safe travel for everyone, regardless of age, ability, and how they travel.
Equity: Improve accessibility and healthier transportation options for disadvantaged communities.
Preservation: Address long-term maintenance needs and resources so highways remain in good repair.

This Story Map is related to the Active Transportation Plan Summary Report (Summary Report or Plan), a more detailed written document that is available on the District 9 page of the Caltrans Active Transportation Plans website. The Summary Report includes background about this project, its process, and next steps for meeting the needs of people walking and biking in District 9. This Plan uses the terms pedestrian and walking broadly to include people of all ages and abilities, including those walking and those using assisted mobility devices like wheelchairs.

Existing conditions

The following maps detail general conditions of the State Highway System, the network of roadways across the district operated by Caltrans. Results of the full detailed analysis of state highways in the District are captured in the Existing Conditions Report, an interim document that complements this Plan, and which is available on the District 9 page of the Caltrans Active Transportation Plans website . This section summarizes the key highlights from that report.

See the Explore Map for additional existing conditions measures.

Surrounding Land Use Context

The State Highway System in District 9 includes 961 centerline-miles of roadway. Most of these roadways are characterized as rural routes based on their surrounding land use context. The remaining roadways have either an urban/suburban or Main Street land use context. The active transportation needs identified in this Plan reflect the diverse land use contexts in District 9, emphasizing locations where the safety and quality of highway crossing opportunities are low in urban/suburban areas, and where walking and biking along roadways is impeded in rural ones.

Source: Caltrans Transportation System Network, SB127 Main Streets Layer, and District 9 staff

Walking and Biking Along the State Highway System

Walking and bicycling is permitted on 98 percent of the overall State Highway System in District 9. They are only prohibited on controlled access freeways in eastern Kern County (portions of SR-58 and SR-14). Because walking and bicycling is permitted for a vast majority of the SHS in District 9, there are many opportunities to improve mobility for pedestrians and bicyclists.

Source: Caltrans Transportation System Network, Caltrans HQ Bicycle Prohibited/Not Prohibited Layer and OpenStreetMap

Walking Along The State Highway System

Source: Active Transportation Asset Inventory Pilot, District 9 Facility Inventory

Existing bicycle facilities

Caltrans organizes bike facilities into four classifications:

Class I shared use paths are physically separated from the vehicular roadway.
Class II bike lanes provide a dedicated space adjacent to vehicle travel lanes either with or without a painted buffer.
Class IV separated bike lanes include hardened infrastructure such as a raised curb or vertical posts.

The District 9 SHS has 112 miles of designated bikeway, which mainly consists of Class III bike routes and Class II bike lanes. Nearly 90 percent of Class III bike lanes are in rural places and nearly 80 percent of the Class II bike lanes are along designated Main Streets. This plan prioritizes closing gaps in bike networks, including routes that are uncomfortable for people of all ages and abilities.

Source: Geometries from Caltrans HQ, asset condition from District 9 staff

Pedestrian Trip Potential

Pedestrian trip potential is determined by the number of short (one mile or less) vehicle trips in an area. Many places with a high density of short trips are along Main Streets in or near population centers like Bishop, Ridgecrest, and Tehachapi. Potential to convert very short driving trips to walking trips exists in smaller communities, too, such as in Bridgeport and Independence along US 395 and in Mojave along SR 14. Improving pedestrian infrastructure in these areas will encourage a shift toward more walking trips.

Source: California Statewide Travel Demand Model

Disadvantaged Communities

This Plan places a high priority on meeting needs for people in communities that face significant and disproportionate environmental, public health, and economic disadvantages. The SHS may sometimes act as a barrier to walking and biking in the communities it passes through, compounding challenges those communities already face. The Plan uses disadvantaged community definitions from the US Census which are shown on this map.

Shoulder Width

Roadway shoulders also play an important role in facilitating bicycling on the SHS. While not a formal bicycle facility classification, an adequately wide and properly maintained shoulder can be a useful and convenient connection within and between communities, especially rural ones. People can bicycle on all shoulders on the SHS except on designated freeways or where signage clearly prohibits bicycling. The map below illustrates four-foot and wider shoulders that accommodate bicycle and pedestrian use.

Identifying needs

This plan identifies location-based needs, or specific locations along the State Highway System where infrastructure investments would most benefit people walking and biking and best achieve the goals of Toward an Active California. This section of the Story Map describes how and where needs were identified in District 9 and how they were sorted into prioritization tiers.

Location-based needs

Caltrans evaluated data about the highway system from its own inventories, from local and regional plans, and from public input to determine where gaps and barriers in walking and bicycling infrastructure are present. Locations were identified as having needs if they met one or more of the following criteria:

Main Street sidewalk gaps
Sidewalks in fair or poor condition
Sidewalks along higher-speed highways
Stressful pedestrian or bicycle crossings (accounting for absence of median islands and marked crossings, posted speed limits, and other factors)
Stressful bicycle segments
Infrequent opportunities to cross under or over freeways
Freeway crossings requiring upgrades of various kinds to be more comfortable for people walking or bicycling

This map displays location-based needs in District 9 for people walking or bicycling along the highway (shown as lines) or across the highway (shown as dots). Freeway crossing needs are also shown as dots.

Public Input

Many of these needs were identified in local and regional plans, or are at locations that were the subject of public and agency comment. The map shown here illustrates locations with location-based needs where partner agencies or the public also identified active transportation needs.

Prioritization

Locations with needs on the SHS were evaluated and prioritized according to how they align with the goals of Toward an Active California. This helps assess which needs might be best suited to move into project development over time. This involved three steps:

Step 1: The SHS was broken into smaller segments that are more in scale with highway segments Caltrans might use to develop its improvement projects.
Step 2: Each segment was assigned a score based on its context, using measures like those in the Summary Report titled Walking and Bicycling on the State Highway System. Measures were grouped according to the goals of Toward an Active California and weighted to reflect local active transportation vision and input. Freeway crossings, which aren't included in those segments, are also scored.
Step 3: Scored segments (and freeway crossings) were ranked and sorted into tiers; Tier 1 represents the highest intensity of need.

This map shows highway segments and freeway crossings by prioritization tier, giving a relative sense of needs across the district. Click on any need to see whether that location was also identified separately by partner agencies or the public as one with active transportation needs. Needs at any given location should always be considered for incorporation into nearby projects regardless of their prioritization tier.

The Summary Report for this Plan provides more detail on the needs identification and prioritization processes. It is available on the District 9 page of the Caltrans Active Transportation Plans website.

Explore the data

Use the application below to explore existing conditions and needs data in greater detail. For a more detailed explanation about each layer, please refer to the Existing Conditions and Location-based needs sections above and in the Summary Report, which is located on the District 9 page of the Caltrans Active Transportation Plans website .

Next steps

This Active Transportation Plan serves as the first step in implementing the policies set forth in Toward an Active California. This Plan identifies locations with needs for people walking and biking on or across Caltrans highways. Caltrans staff, who have access to more detailed data about the needs in this Plan, will identify and initiate projects that address the needs included in this Plan. They will continue to fund those projects so that they can be implemented by or in partnership with local agency partners.

Coordination with those partners is essential to ensure projects successfully meet active transportation needs on Caltrans roadways. Local partners and the public can contact their District 9 Active Transportation Project Lead for more information about local projects in their communities, to provide input, and to coordinate on project development and implementation. Your Active Transportation Project Lead is Andrew Besold. For additional information or assistance contact:

District 9 Public Information Office // D9PublicInfo@dot.ca.gov

Sources

American Community Survey (2016)
CALED
California Statewide Travel Demand Model
California Transportation System Network Caltrans Active Transportation Asset Inventory Pilot, District 9 Facility Inventory
Caltrans HQ Bicycle Prohibited/Not Prohibited Layer
Caltrans Transportation System Network
Caltrans Transportation System Network 2016 Traffic Census
Cambridge Systematics, LOCUS (2019)
District 9 Native American Liaison
District 9 staff
OpenStreetMap
SB127 Main Streets Layer
SWITRS, 2015 - 2019