Caltrans District 5 Active Transportation Plan

Many SHS roadways were built specifically to serve motor vehicle trips. As a result, 30% of SHS roadway miles in District 5 prohibit walking and 15% prohibit bicycling. Approximately half of all of segments of the District 5 SHS that prohibit walking and bicycling are on rural roads. People can, however, walk and bicycle on virtually all Main Street and Intercommunity Rural Connector SHS segments in the district. This leaves many opportunities available to adapt roadways for enhanced safety and comfort for people walking and bicycling, especially in places where active transportation demand is relatively high.

Sidewalks and crosswalks on the SHS in District 5 are largely in good or fair condition, which helps support comfortable as well as increased walking along and across those highways. This plan prioritizes needs in places where sidewalks or crosswalks are in fair or poor condition.

This map shows an example of sidewalk and crosswalk conditions along Highway 1 in Pismo Beach, where sidewalk conditions are mostly good but crosswalk conditions are fair or poor. Click on "Explore the data" at the top of this page to see sidewalk and crosswalk conditions elsewhere in District 5.

Caltrans organizes bicycle facilities into four classifications:

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

The District 5 SHS has 24 centerline miles of dedicated bicycle facilities, mostly along Main Streets, providing access to destinations many people visit frequently. The data mapped in this plan include Class I and II facilities but not Class III facilities; no Class IV currently exist on the SHS in District 5. While the plan emphasizes the enhanced safety and comfort of dedicated bicycle facilities, people frequently also bicycle along roadway shoulders in the absence of such formally designated facilities. This plan prioritizes closing gaps in bicycle networks.

This map shows examples of bicycle facilities in the Monterey Peninsula area. Click on "Explore the data" near the top of this page to view bicycle facilities elsewhere in District 5.

This map displays the density of collisions within approximately 164 feet (50 meters) of the SHS involving people walking or bicycling. This is a measure of safety. Collisions are concentrated in population centers, where the mixing of cars and people increases the likelihood of crashes involving both. This plan prioritizes needs in places with higher densities of collisions involving people walking and bicycling.

This map uses an example location near Santa Maria to display the density of collisions involving people walking or bicycling on or near the SHS as a measure of safety. Click on "Explore the data" near the top of this page to view crash density data for locations elsewhere in District 5.

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 CalEnviroScreen and from local and regional planning agencies. The maps shown here use only the local and regional data.

Disadvantaged communities are most likely to be in rural places in District 5. This map shows an example of disadvantaged communities near Santa Barbara. Click on "Explore the data" near the top of this page to view disadvantaged communities elsewhere in District 5. Refer to the Public Engagement section of the Summary Report for more information about disadvantaged communities.

In parallel to the process of identifying location-based needs as described above, partner agencies and the public also identified need locations in their communities. The map shown here illustrates the concentration of needs identified by the public or partner agencies.

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 divided into smaller segments that approximate in scale the 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 interchanges, which aren't included in those segments, are also scored.

Step 3: Scored segments (and freeway interchanges) were ranked and sorted into tiers; Tier 1 represents the highest intensity of need.

This map shows highway segments and freeway interchanges 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 5 page of the  Caltrans Active Transportation Plans website .