Pleasanton City Council Adopts Updated Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan

PLEASANTON, CA - From the desk of the City of Pleasanton: The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday evening to adopt an updated Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan, which was originally drafted in 2010.

Much of the work around the plan update was spearheaded by the Bicycle, Pedestrian and Trails Committee (BPTC), which served as the steering committee for this latest update. Prior to Tuesday’s Council meeting, the proposed updates to the Plan had been reviewed and discussed over the past 18 months by numerous residents and organizations. The BPTC met almost monthly, in addition to public workshops, field reviews, and meetings with the Parks and Recreation Commission and the Planning Commission.

The plan, required to be updated every five years, retains a wide range of policies and programs; it also adds two new goals—creating a “low stress” bicycle and pedestrian network that everyone can use and enjoy, and focusing improvements on completing overall corridors as opposed to individual projects to improve overall usability and reduce gaps in the City’s existing bicycle network.

Specific examples of a low stress network include providing protected or buffered bike lanes and separated sidewalks. The addition of looking at the network through a lens of complete corridors involved the creation of a detailed scoring matrix. The matrix identifies 16 corridors in Pleasanton’s bicycle and pedestrian network, along with an 18-point ranking system to assess the following issues: safety, safe routes to schools, connectivity, demand and feasibility. The top two priority projects include West Las Positas Boulevard and Santa Rita Road, which would provide a better connected bicycle and pedestrian network in proximity to several schools.

The plan recommends a goal of five years to complete near term projects, which includes all 16 corridors. Currently, $1.1 million in funding is available for some of this work, though the total overall cost to complete everything in the plan exceeds available funding. The Council committed to exploring additional funding and grant opportunities.

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Image via Pixabay and City of Pleasanton