January
2002

SBCAG approves bicycling projects



Downtown Summerland lies ahead for this bicyclist and for extensive traffic circulation improvements. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• On December 13, the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments (SBCAG) Board of Directors approved nine proposed bicycling projects worth $4.1 million. The nine had been recommended for approval by SBCAG staff out of 14 submitted, so the vote wasn't surprising, but we're still thankful. The projects are the following:
• Santa Maria Valley Railroad Bikeway, Santa Maria
• Santa Maria Levee Bikeway, Santa Maria
• Airport Bikeway Connection, Santa Maria
• Riverbend Park Bikeway, Lompoc
• San Jose Creek Bikeway study, Goleta
• Citywide Bicycling Improvements, Santa Barbara
• Shoreline Drive Park Expansion, Santa Barbara
• Mission Street Bikeway at 101, Santa Barbara
• Carpinteria Bluffs Bikepath, Carpinteria
• In addition, two other projects of interest to us were funded:
• Hollister Avenue (Goleta) reconstruction study, $250,000
• Summerland Downtown circulation improvements, $2.6 million
• The County had originally requested $500,000 for the Hollister Avenue study, but it received low priority. Then at the SBCAG meeting, several people from the new City of Goleta spoke in its favor. The SBCAG Board agreed to fund half of it. Our lesson is that funding can change at the last moment if people speak out.
• Overall, we have a group of fine projects coming in this two-year funding cycle. Now we have to watch just how they proceed. Thanks to all of you who wrote or emailed or spoke in favor of these important projects.

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New Goleta bridge brings us smoother biking



The new bike bridge provides a wider, safer span over Maria Ygnacio Creek. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• An important bicycling and walking link between North Goleta and UCSB/Goleta Beach has a fine new bridge thanks to County Supervisors and staff, plus broad support from the Bicycle Coalition and other community groups. The bridge is located on the popular Maria Ygnacio Creek Bikepath between Hollister Avenue and Highway 101.
• After the old bridge was damaged by flooding in 1995 and 1998, the County made immediate repairs to keep it open. More work was needed, but because the bridge had a substandard width, it was decided to replace it with a new one instead of repairing the old one.
• Funding for the new prefabricated bridge came from a $100,000 grant from the State Coastal Resources Grant Program and other County funding sources. Our thanks to County staff members Wilson Hubbell, Doug Anthony, Ron Bensel, Eric Pearson, Mark Rynkiewicz and others who helped make our bike trips better.

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Bridge opening ceremony

• Join Supervisor Susan Rose and Bicycle Coalition President Wilson Hubbell for the new bridge dedication ceremony. Bicycle there to show the press and everybody else that we care about facilities.
• Saturday, January 12, 2002, 11:00 AM
  Bridge entrance near Lassen Drive

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Learn by bicycling

• "It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle."
• — Ernest Hemingway

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Coalition considers Goleta biking



Location of a proposed traffic roundabout on Hollister Avenue. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• On December 18, the Bicycle Coalition's Planning meeting attracted 13 people and lasted three hours. The discussion was about plans for Old Town Goleta. The main concerns were two proposed roundabouts on Hollister Avenue near Highway 217, and one at the proposed Ekwill Street exit/entrance from 217. Matt Dobberteen from County Planning was there to explain current design progress. In addition to the three roundabouts, plans call for Kellogg Avenue to dead end just north of Ekwill. A new access road will be constructed next to Highway 217, starting at the Hollister roundabout, passing through the Ekwill roundabout, and continuing south to serve new Goleta development.
• There was an overall concern that novice bicyclists would be intimidated by the roundabouts, especially those on busy Hollister Avenue. Three suggestions arose:
• Have a bike/ped path circling the roundabout, 10-20 feet outside the traffic circle. A European study said it was the safest design for cyclists in roundabouts.
• Construct an east-west bikepath between the Maria Ygnacio Bikepath to Old Town Goleta via a new bike bridge over Highway 217. It would mitigate the "Berlin Wall" effect of the 217 freeway.
• Put a bikepath along the Union Pacific Railroad as existing Goleta Bikeway plans propose. This will be difficult.
• One unanswered question is how will the new San Jose Creek bikepath, that consists of bikelanes on Kellogg but becomes a bikepath further south, get through the Ekwill roundabout that will have five streets feeding it?
• Dobberteen said that County Planning will be working on preliminary concept drawings in the coming months. Public input will be invited in February or March. An unknown factor is the new City of Goleta.
• We plan to carefully watch the Goleta design process. It will be very important for us to attend public meetings to express concerns from the beginning.

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LAB bike course in SB

• In response to increased interest in bicycling instruction, two local groups have arranged with the League of American Bicyclists (LAB) to conduct a two-day training course in Santa Barbara this spring. The groups are the Bicycle Coalition's Safe Routes to School Through Safe Communities, and the PTA's Safety Committee.
• There are lots of details to be worked out, especially concerning stipends to pay the $175 course fee, and commitments to teach kids afterwards. The idea is to have a pool of experienced instructors around to teach kids how to bike to school and elsewhere. Currently, over 10 people have signed up for training. See details about the LAB program at: www.bikeleague.org/involved/howto.htm

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Olympic torch

• The Olympic torch will be carried through Santa Barbara on January 16th on its way to Utah. Although there are no winter Olympic bike events, there are at least two Santa Barbara bicyclists who will be carrying the torch: Cheri Savage and Mary Ross, both triathletes.
• The Torch Relay began on December 4 in Atlanta and will end at Salt Lake City on February 8. According to torch lore, the thing is being carried by more than 11,500 torchbearers. It will travel via automobile, airplane, train, boat, dogsled, skier, horse-drawn sleigh, snowmobile, ice skaters and covered wagon. Alas, where's the bicycle?

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Thank you

• We are very grateful to Gary Nett and Anna Nett who have been ongoing supporters of the Bicycle Coalition. A recent contribution from them was accompanied with this note: "Please use this gift to support the efforts of the SBBC in making Santa Barbara safer and better for everyone." Be assured, we'll do our best.

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“Safe Routes” grant

• County Alternative transportation coordinator Wilson Hubbell's proposal to Caltrans for "Safe Routes to School" funds was accepted. It will provide $485,000 for new sidewalks near six schools in the North County. There were 500 applications for funding, and only 100 received a total of $24 million.
• In the past, Safe Routes to School money has funded bikelanes in our County, and with the California program's extension by passage of SB 10 last year, we hope that more will be used to make biking to school safer for kids.

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Bike and win $200

• If you bike to work in Downtown Santa Barbara and your company is participating in the "Try Something New" program, you just might win $200! The program is sponsored by Traffic Solutions and other Santa Barbara groups. Each day you bike, you get another entry in the drawing. For details, contact Shannon McEttrick at 961-8918 or shannon@sbcag.org.

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Velo Santa Barbara

• A new bike shop opened last month in Downtown Santa Barbara. It's conveniently located near the SB Roasting Company, a magnet for local cyclists, at 331 Motor Way, a block off State Street. The owner Doug Knox, shown in the photo, has been active in local cycling for years. The shop is featuring road and mountain bikes by Litespeed, Colnago, and Marin, combined with careful maintenance and custom build-up of bikes. Stop by and introduce yourself.

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Roundabout policy

• The Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition, after intense email and discussion during our December 4th meeting about cyclist safety in roundabouts, crafted a policy statement. It was published December 14 by the Santa Barbara News-Press along with other observations about roundabouts. Here's the statement:
• "The Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition endorses use of intersection control devices that allow bicyclists and pedestrians to co-exist safely with automobiles. Such devices may include roundabouts and other traffic calming measures, and must be reviewed on a case by case basis to ensure bicycle, pedestrian, and automobile compatibility.
• The important point is that, while each proposal is looked at separately, the basic principles of compatibility apply to each site no matter what traffic engineer's tool is used.
• For motorists, roundabouts are clearly advantageous: crash rates drop while roadway capacity increases 30%. For the community, there's a reduction in pollution, noise, construction and maintenance. As for pedestrians and bicyclists, statistics are less clear. However it seems that, if carefully designed, roundabouts can help us as well."

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John SB leads kids to bikes
by Ralph Fertig

• I wondered whether anybody would show up because rain was falling as I biked to Mike's Place restaurant. As I approached, I saw a mob of bikes and John Seigel-Boettner surrounded by 13 kids, chatting away and eating breakfast on the outdoor terrace. Rain didn't stop them.
• John is a teacher at Santa Barbara Middle School (SBMS), an independent school for grades 6-9. Their optional Friday morning "Breakfast Club" that attracts over 20 kids some days, is an indication of John's success in encouraging bicycling. After breakfast, it was time to bike. Helmets on, jackets zipped up, backpacks shouldered. The mile ride to school in the increasing rain was done with careful single-file riding, watching for cars, foot-down stopping at signals and stop signs, warnings like "car back" called out. It was heart warming to see.
• "The bike is a wonderful thing," noted John, "for 12 and 13 and 14-year olds. Before they get their car keys, it's an incredible freeing experience. To our generation, it's just what you did. To this generation, it's a whole new thing. And I'd like it to come back."
• At SBMS, John is the Sixth Grade Dean. He teaches social studies, volleyball, bike maintenance, mountain biking and helps the school's "bike monkeys" plan the bike tours that define the school's exemplary outdoor program. In addition, he teams with Jim Brady for summer bike tours all over the US and abroad. His book Hey Mom, Can I Ride My Bike Across America describes the adventures encountered during a bike ride with five kids. (See below to get your own copy.)
• The school has three trips a year. Every student must participate. The fall and spring ones are mountain bike trips where everything is trucked for the kids to each night's campground. The winter trip is self-contained and the students can choose a backpack trip or a BOB-trailer bike trip. Until eight years ago, all the biking was done on roads. However, the motorized traffic has increased so much that the emphasis is now on mountain biking on fire roads. "We talk about cars," observes John, "as boulders that are moving in unpredictable directions." In off-road cycling, kids may scrape and sprain, but it's not a boulder that will hit a kid, the kid will hit it. That we can control.
• The school has done outreach to the community with bike rodeos, helmet safety, and safe bike training. John would love to expand to teach all local kids, but has a full plate already. He feels that training should be specific to each neighborhood, because conditions and traffic challenges are different. His vision is to show kids how to get around town without Mom or Dad taking them there. I couldn't agree more.

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Hey Mom, Can I Ride My Bike Across America?

• "Every so often you read a book so surprisingly good, and which etches itself so indelibly in your mind, that you want to share it with everyone you know. Hey Mom is that book for me.
• I came to this book looking for inspiration. Little did I know how much more than a simple travel book Hey Mom would be. It's a story of bonding into a family, of courage and guts, of growing up and of reaching arms out to hug our country. It's a supreme adventure, built mile by mile with stories of an America few of us ever experience first hand. It's a book with true soul and terrific characterizations of kids you can only grow to love." — Richard Vallens.
• You can purchase this great book directly from the author. Send a check for $17.95 payable to John Seigel-Boettner at PO Box 91616, Santa Barbara, CA 93190.

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Our years of email

• The Bicycle Coalition's email forum was started in April 1998, putting us in the forefront of the digital revolution. For the past two years, we've been at topica.com, where our messages have been archived since December 15, 1999. There have been 1621 messages sent—over two a day. Wonder who's been posting them? Here's a list of our frequent contributors:
• Robert Bernstein 300
• Ralph Fertig 173
• Michael Hecker 131
• Wilson Hubbell 97
• Sandra Wintermoss 90
• Eva Inbar 75
• Dru van Hengel 61
• James Wagner 55
• Grant House 54
• Ann and Mike Lawler 44
• Art Ludwig 36
• Chuck Anderson 28
• Jonathan Humfrey 28
• Gary Wissman 28
• David Madajian 27
• David Lawson 26
• Alex Pujo 25
• Don McDermott 22
• others 321

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Castillo patched



Castillo Street, patched but wet. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• On December 15th, a local bicyclist crashed at night after hitting a hole on Castillo Street in Santa Barbara. It was at the undercrossing of Highway 101, an area plagued with seepage. A few years ago Caltrans replaced the asphalt with concrete paving blocks. Apparently, one or more of the blocks had come out, had been patched, and the patch had deteriorated, leaving a hole that filled with water.
• Thankfully the cyclist is all right, but her wheel was bent beyond repair. Upon being told about the accident, Pat Mickelson at Caltrans immediately went to the location, confirmed the problem and marshalled workers. The hole was filled right away. Our thanks to Mickelson for her action. Now, how about a long-term solution?