BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: ab 2971
SENATOR ALAN LOWENTHAL, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: DeSaulnier
VERSION: 5/23/08
Analysis by: Jennifer Gress FISCAL: yes
Hearing date: June 24, 2008
SUBJECT:
Bicycling and pedestrian facilities
DESCRIPTION:
This bill requires Caltrans to review periodically analyze
fatality rates of all modes of travel. The bill also permits a
local government to charge a fee as permitted by the Subdivision
Map Act in order to defray the cost of constructing pedestrian,
bicycle, transit, or traffic-calming facilities.
ANALYSIS:
Subdivision Map Act
The Subdivision Map Act governs the division of real property
into parcels or condominiums and requires that a subdivider file
a tentative map for approval by a local agency. Once a
subdivider satisfies any conditions imposed on the tentative map
by the local agency, it is a ministerial action to approve a
final map.
Existing law specifies that a local ordinance may require the
payment of fees as a condition of approving a final map or
issuing a building permit to defray the costs of constructing
roads, bridges over waterways, railways, freeways, and canyons,
according to specified conditions.
This bill adds other transportation facilities such as
pedestrian, bicycle, transit, and traffic-calming facilities to
the types of infrastructure that may be constructed using the
fees collected for approving a final map. The bill requires
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that fees paid shall be deposited into a multimodal fund.
Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP)
The federal transportation act - Safe, Accountable, Flexible,
Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users
(SAFETEA-LU) - provides for the Highway Safety Improvement
Program (HSIP). To fully obligate HSIP funds for safety
projects, each state is required to develop a Strategic Highway
Safety Plan (SHSP) and an annual Five Percent Report that shows
locations with the highest number of fatalities and severe
injuries.
Under state law, 50 percent of HSIP funds are directed towards
projects on local streets and roads and 50 percent are for
projects on the state highway system. Eligible projects include
any highway safety improvement project on any public road,
publicly owned bicycle, pedestrian pathway, or trail.
This bill requires Caltrans to periodically analyze fatality
rates of all modes of travel and encourages Caltrans to
apportion federal transportation safety funds. The bill also
states that Caltrans shall fund projects that provide safety
benefits to both bicycle and pedestrian travel.
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose . This bill, co-sponsored by the California Bicycle
Coalition and Contra Costa County, takes two distinct
approaches to improving infrastructure to support bicycling
and walking. With regard to federal safety funding, the author
explains that at present, approximately one-half of one
percent of transportation funds administered by Caltrans are
allocated to non-motorized projects pursuant to the Safe
Routes To Schools Program and the Bicycle Lane Account. Yet,
according to crash data compiled by the state roughly 20
percent of roadway fatalities are bicycle and
pedestrian-related. Cycling in the state is growing in
popularity as both a form of commuting and as a recreational
outlet. Tragic bicycle-related events highlight the need for
enhanced funding and awareness to encourage safe non-motorized
passage. This bill seeks to address the imbalance that exists
between the number of pedestrian- and bicycle-related
fatalities and the funding available to address these types of
fatalities. In addition to improving bicycle and pedestrian
safety, these funds will assist in underwriting projects that
reduce greenhouse gas emissions through an expanded state
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non-motorized transportation network that will serve to
increase the "walkability" and "bikability" of communities
throughout the state.
With regard to adding pedestrian, bicycle, transit, and
traffic-calming facilities to the types of facilities that
local jurisdictions may impose fees to build, the author
states that Contra Costa County's circulation element of its
General Plan provides for a balanced transportation system
that helps to reduce cumulative traffic impacts, harmful air
emissions, and single-occupant commuting, and encourages use
of transit. For some time the county has wanted to update its
transportation fees for new development to fund off-site
pedestrian, bicycle, transit, and traffic calming facilities.
The state statute authorizing local agencies to adopt
ordinances to require the payment of fees for transportation
facilities under the Subdivision Map Act is limited to bridges
and major thoroughfares.
The public's concern over greenhouse gas emissions and the
impact of auto-oriented development on public health has
spurred Contra Costa County's efforts to secure additional
funding for transportation facilities that can help encourage
more walking, bicycling and transit use. Revising the
Subdivision Map Act to allow fees for these transportation
facilities, to be deposited into a Multi-modal Transportation
Fund, would support the County's public policy goals,
consistent with its General Plan circulation element.
2.Current process for allocating safety funds . Under Caltrans'
current process Caltrans for allocating safety funds, road
segments are selected for funding according to whether their
score on Caltrans' Safety Index exceeds a particular
threshold. If Caltrans notes a road segment that appears to
be particularly dangerous, it uses the Safety Index to
determine whether or not the segment should become a priority
to receive funding. Road segments that exceed a particular
threshold are given priority. Fatalities are a factor in the
Safety Index.
This process has a number of limitations that disadvantage of
bicycle and pedestrian facilities. First, while fatalities
are heavily weighted in the index, the types of roads under
consideration are those on the State Highway System, many of
which simply do not attract large numbers of bicycles and
pedestrians. While these roadways may be dangerous for such
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users, there are relatively fewer pedestrian and bicyclist
fatalities on these roadways. In other words, a roadway that
is safe for vehicles, but not bicyclists and pedestrians, may
not score well using the Safety Index. Second, assessing
whether bicyclist and pedestrians are at particular risk
depends on knowing the number of pedestrians and bicyclists
who use the road. Caltrans has little, if any, data regarding
the number of bicyclists and pedestrians that use roads on the
State Highway System, a problem the committee has encountered
in previous legislation regarding establishing double fine
zones in San Francisco.
The number of pedestrians and bicyclists on the road is
increasing and with it an increasing concern about their
safety. Given the data limitations that serve to disadvantage
pedestrians and bicyclists, it may make sense to require
Caltrans to develop a process for identifying those road
segments that pose particular danger to both pedestrians and
bicyclists.
In addition, the committee may wish to consider establishing a
set-aside program that targets safety funds to improve road
segments with a high proportion of bicyclist- and
pedestrian-related collisions and fatalities relative to
comparable road segments.
3.Technical amendments . The author or committee may wish to
make the following technical amendments:
Correct references to the Strategic Highway Safety
Implementation Plan.
Because fatality rates require knowing the total number
of pedestrians and bicyclists, information that is not
currently known, change fatality rate to proportion of all
traffic fatalities that involve a pedestrian or cyclist.
RELATED LEGISLATION
AB 1419 (Yee) establishes a double fine zone in San Francisco to
address a road segment with a high incidence of pedestrian
fatalities. On the Assembly Floor.
AB 534 (Smyth, 2007) would have increased annual funding for the
Bicycle Transportation Account from $7.2 million to $12 million.
Passed this committee on a 6-2 vote but was then gut and
amended to address a different subject matter.
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AB 57 (Soto), Chapter 673, Statutes of 2007, extends
indefinitely Caltrans' authority to establish and administer the
Safe Routes to School program and requires that any state funds
appropriated to fund the Safe Routes to School program be in
addition to any federal funding received by the state for the
program. The bill also declares the Legislature's intent that
federal safety funds be allocated in approximately equal amounts
between state highways and local roads.
Assembly Votes:
Floor: 44-33
Appr: 12-5
Trans: 8-4
L. Gov: 5-1
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the Committee before noon on
Wednesday,
June 18, 2008)
SUPPORT: California Bicycle Coalition (co-sponsor)
Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors
(co-sponsor)
California Park and Recreation Society
California Transit Association
East Bay Bicycle Coalition
Marin County Bicycle Coalition
Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates
Sierra Club California
Transportation and Land Use Coalition
OPPOSED: None received.