A bike lane that is routed onto the freeway. That design for the new Fairview overcrossing was helpfully presented to me by Project Engineer Joe Blommer as we stood on the site in the spring of 1999. Blommer, himself a cyclist, was not happy what Caltrans had planned. 

The design had a double right turn lane with a bike lane to the right of it. The only possible legal route for a cyclist would be to continue onto the freeway southbound. If the cyclist somehow got past this, she would find herself in the long-standing mixing bowl that routes cyclists onto the freeway northbound. 

A series of meetings have been held over the past year with various County, City and State officials and elected representatives to work out a solution. Because of the outrageousness of the Caltrans design, I was motivated to look beyond small patches. I actually observed what young children were doing to navigate this hostile maze, full of hazards waiting to squash a child like a bug in the motorized machinery that passes for our transportation system. 

The kids had worked it out long ago, and their solution was to ride their bikes on the pathway on the west side of the bridge. They would start at the golf course parking lot, make their way over the bridge, then down through a hole in the fence and drop down to Calle Real near Orchard Supply. 

I sketched this out and presented it at the first meeting, suggesting we formalize the design by widening the path and paving the unpaved sections of it. There was no question that out of over eighty feet of bridge width, a ten foot wide path could easily be accommodated. They had already allocated five feet to it in their design. 

The design was a big hit. Bret Stewart, County Transportation Division manager, smiled widely. He said he grew up in that neighborhood and did exactly that route at the urging of his safety-conscious parents. 

Only one wet blanket in the crowd: Caltrans Project engineer Tom Houston said there was no way to move the traffic lanes to get the extra width for the widened path because they were committed to an outdated traffic sensor in the roadway. The County has long since replaced these antiquated sensors with optical sensors mounted above. 

In subsequent meetings it was discovered that Caltrans had designed an overly wide shoulder of eight feet. By making the shoulder five feet, the path could be widened to eight feet. Not perfect, but better than five feet. 

Houston claimed that this would violate "standards" that Caltrans must follow. I asked what "standards" Caltrans was following when it routed bikes onto the freeway or gave no proper space for pedestrians. This was not answered. 

He said the shoulder width had to match the width of the shoulder on the approach roads. City and County officials went out and photographed and measured the shoulder on the approach roads and on the existing overcrossing. At no place were they wider than five feet, as was true on the adjacent crossing at Los Carneros Road. We had won! 

Not so fast, Houston said at a subsequent meeting. The answer was still "no" unless the County signed off on taking responsibility for and paying for the change. "No problem" was the answer back from the County. 

But then Houston said that he would not abide by that anyway. He demanded that the County apply for a "design standard exception request." I thought this was totally out of line, given the fact that we were not asking for an exception to any relevant standard. But Gail Marshall's office, which has worked tirelessly on this matter, said to go along with it. "It lets Caltrans do the right thing and save face." 

Nope. Caltrans summarily turned down the request. They applied a standard that treated Goleta's street called Fairview as a "highway" and demanded every last inch of space for that shoulder. They also declared that children should not be bicycling on what they called a "sidewalk". They offered no alternative of how children can cross the freeway. Children are forced to stay at home or they are forced to break the law. 

State representatives Jack O'Connell and Hannah-Beth Jackson, who have lobbied hard for the wider path, were blocked by Caltrans. No matter how high they went in the State Dept of Transportation, they were told Houston's arbitrary judgment would be upheld. What do you call it when a government agency refuses to obey elected officials? I think it is called a coup. 

"Caltrans improves mobility across California." That is the entire mission statement for our state transportation agency. No mention that mobility only means moving as many cars as fast as possible. No mention of widening roads at the expense of non-motorized access. 

"We will be responsive and accountable." 

"We will work in partnership with other agencies and the public to assure that our work is done in a way that is sensitive to the need of the environment and communities." 

"We anticipate and plan for changes." 

These are all part of the short vision statement of Caltrans. 

Children should not be held prisoner by bad policy that only cares about moving cars. A parent pushing a stroller over the bridge should not have to move onto a roadway in a humiliating and dangerous maneuver to squeeze past another person on a narrow five foot path. 

And there is a broader issue: Accountability. To a legal mission statement. To elected officials. And to the ten million Californians -- one third of the population -- who cannot or do not drive. Caltrans needs to be held accountable to the rights of all people to have access to their daily needs, with or without a car. 

Anything less is a denial of basic human rights. Let us hold Caltrans accountable. Let us widen that path.  *****************************************

You can view the County's request on-line at: 

http://www.silcom.com/~rdb/oshare/FairCalLtr.PDF/ 

It is this lawful request that Caltrans has refused to comply with. 

BY ROBERT BERNSTEIN