Santa Rosa groups work to educate community on pedestrian, bicyclist safety as city, county efforts fall short

Alexa Forrester tells her kids to ride their bikes on sidewalks along Hoen Avenue because the bike lane isn’t safe.

She believed biking on the sidewalks to be illegal. “I would rather them be alive and break the law than be the victim of traffic violence,” she said.

While biking on sidewalks in Santa Rosa is only illegal in downtown areas where signage exists, Forrester’s sentiment signaled an urgency for safer city routes.

Forrester, co-founder of Bikeable Santa Rosa, a volunteer group that advocates for safer walking and biking routes, raised her concerns, alongside those of other parents and students, during a March 15 meeting at Rincon Valley Union School District offices to discuss pedestrian safety issues.

Representatives from the school district, the city of Santa Rosa, the Santa Rosa Police Department and the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition organized and attended the meeting in the wake of multiple people being hit by cars, or coming close, at crosswalks and roads in and around the city’s Bennett Valley neighborhood.

Engineering, enforcement and education were identified during the meeting as the three elements necessary to ensure bicyclist and pedestrian safety.

Alexander Oceguera, active transportation planner for the city, addressed a question on Sonoma County’s Vision Zero, which aims to have zero traffic deaths and severe injuries on roads in the county by 2030. He discussed the action plan attached to the goal, which included creating safer speed limits under a 2021 California law.

“We created an actual implementation plan to create safe speeds, eliminate impaired driving, create a culture of safety and build safe streets for all, make vehicles safe and reduce private vehicle use, and improve data for effective decision making,” he said.

But Chris Guenther, Bikeable Santa Rosa co-founder and Forrester’s husband, said he does not believe the city is living up to goals set forth in Vision Zero. He asked officials what more could be done.

“I think part of why the community is here is the feeling that what we have isn’t adequate under the circumstances,” he said during the meeting. “I think we all want to see a higher level of action and results.”

The Bike and Pedestrian Masterplan, the city’s vision for improving walking and bicycling in Santa Rosa, was updated in 2018 and one of its chief goals is to increase the number of students walking or bicycling to school to 10% by 2025 and to 20% by 2040.

The city plans to accomplish this through different policies and initiatives, such as integrating bike and pedestrian network needs into city planning projects, designing a low-stress bikeway network and to “continue and enhance the city’s annual commitment of local funds for bicycle and pedestrian project implementation,” the document said.

Yet, during the March meeting, Sprinkle said the transportation and public works team did not have the money for some of the fixes requested, like turning the crosswalk at Yulupa Avenue by Manzanita Elementary School into a traffic light. That could cost between $500,000 to $750,000, he said.

Christina Panza, Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition’s education director and its Safe Routes to School director, collaborates regularly with the city and local schools and is working to establish a task force which would routinely discuss student and school concerns regarding traffic safety decisions.

Panza said more money needs to be allocated to improve multiple crossings in the county.

“There needs to be an investment,” she said. “We need to invest. Not just the city but the country. We need to invest in improving infrastructure to make streets safe for all.”

Guenther said in a later interview that he recognizes there are not easy or cheap answers. But he suggested alternative cheaper methods to modify streets for safety, such as using temporary barriers to form protracted and protected bike lanes.

Bikeable Santa Rosa submitted an application, with the city of Santa Rosa’s support, for an independent audit of the city’s existing sidewalks, crosswalks and trails by City Thread, a national nonprofit that helps communities build better mobility networks. City Thread would then offer the city a plan on how to facilitate more mobility.

Santa Rosa, along with eight other cities, was accepted for the program in December.

Changing streets, adding signs and cracking down on motorists who violate traffic laws are integral to keeping people safe as they cross the street, officials said. But so, too, is education of non-motorists.

“Your ability to navigate our local area is your freedom and your autonomy,” Spring Lake Middle School Principal Hannah Bates told students during the March meeting.

“That’s important for you to have and to learn how to do it in a way that keeps you safe,” she added.

Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition’s Safe Routes to School program works continuously with 43 schools — including Spring Lake Middle School — in the county to ensure students know how to walk and ride safely, Panza said. Another 20 local schools participate in at least one of the program’s events.

Depending on each school’s priority, the organization sets up a series of courses, experiences or challenges for different student age groups.

Second graders get an in-class pedestrian safety lesson and walking field trip. Fourth graders can participate in a bicycle “rodeo,” where students can get their helmets fitted, have their bicycles adjusted, and get skill and safety instruction while cycling. Middle schoolers can watch video modules or participate in an after-school bike club.

The program encourages children and families who live within a reasonable distance of a school to walk. And schools hold “walk and roll days,” when kids are encouraged not to ride to school in vehicles.

“We want choices for everybody and want it to be safer for everybody,” Panza said. “We just want drivers to be more aware, thinking about their alternative choices if they can.”

You can reach Staff Writer Madison Smalstig at madison.smalstig@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @madi.smals.