Protected Bike Lanes for Graham School Delayed a Year

We were SO excited about the protected bike lanes designed and approved to be built for Graham Middle School students this summer.  We were planning a huge celebratory bike ride at the end of the summer to try out the facilities en masse.

Alas, the festivities will have to wait a year.  The construction has been delayed.

According to a staff memo on May 24th, only one construction company bid to build the project, but the grant funding required at least two bids.  The city is required to open up the bidding process again, but it's too late for the project to be built this summer.  We'll just have to hold our excitement for another year.

We will still ride down Castro Street in front of Graham School for our annual Summer Family Bike Ride and Picnic this year on August 27th at 10am, but rather than a huge celebration, it will be the first installment of a before and after tour.  This year we'll get the "before" pictures, showing how this road needs a change.  Next year we will ride it again for the "after" tour, and see what a difference a bike lane can make.

Please ride with us!  Be part of the movement for kid-safe road designs.  There will be a raffle and free Baskin Robbins ice cream.  : )

RSVP

Protected Bike Lanes are Coming to Castro Street!

Mountain View's inspritation: 4th Street, bordering San Jost State University

Mountain View's inspritation: 4th Street, bordering San Jost State University

Mountain View is going to build a protected bike lane on Castro Street from El Camino to Miramonte this summer.  This will make it much safer for students to get to Graham Middle School.

On March 29th, Mountain View City Council gave their final approval of the project. Construction is due to begin the first day of summer.

Stay tuned for an innaugural ride date in late summer or early fall.

VTA Countywide Bike Plan Update

The VTA is updating their Countywide Bicycle Plan and would like to hear your vision for bicycling in Santa Clara County. Three workshops will be held for community members to: 1) learn what the VTA Countywide Bicycle Plan is and what it can do, 2) share where you bike and how trips can to be better, easier, safer, and more connected, and 3) tell VTA how it can improve the bike-transit connection.

Castro Street Project Moving Full Steam Ahead!

Students at Graham Middle School are one big step closer to having a safe route to school.  The city of Mountain View's Castro Street project includes safety enhancements for both cyclists and pedestrians from El Camino to Miramonte.  The most notable improvements are: protected bike lanes which Safe Mountain View advocated for, blinky lights at crosswalks, and a reduction in speed limit.

If all goes well, here's what happens next:

Great News on Mountain View 's 2015 Bicycle Transportation Plan Update

On November 17th, 2015, Mountain View City Council adopted an updated Bicycle Transportation Plan.  Alta Planning + Design did a great job gathering and incorporating feedback from the community into the plan.  They identified gaps and put together a lengthy list of recommended improvements.  They highlighted the best improvement recommendations in a list of top ten priority projects.  These are big, expensive projects that will have huge impats to the bike network long-term.  They also identified a list of projects that can be implemented quickly and at relatively low cost which will dramatically improve bikeability in the city.  These are called the fast five.

While the above recommendations are fabulous, there were two things Safe Mountain View lobbied hard to get into the Bike Transportation Plan Update:

SAFE MOUNTAIN VIEW AT LOCAL CLIMATE RALLY

At the Silicon Valley People's Climate Rally on October 14th, Cherie Walkowiak and John Scarboro gave a talk on the work of Carbon Free Mountain View and the safe bicycling advocacy of Safe Mountain View.  The portion of the talk dealing with carbon free electricity is available on the Carbon Free Mountain View site.  An excerpt of the talk dealing with improving bicycling safety is below: