Guest Opinion | Keep Pasadena Moving: “Let Our Residents Design Our Roads”

On October 24th, the Department of Transportation (DOT) gave a presentation to the City Council’s Municipal Services Committee about the current state of the city’s Bicycle Transportation Action Plan. A major focus was on the Greenways—four streets that will have elements added to make them more bike-friendly. These streets are El Molino, Wilson, Sierra Bonita and Craig. DOT currently plans on spending $12 million to change those streets.

Members of a local activist group showed up to the meeting to demand that the committee force DOT to use NACTO All Ages & Abilities design standards for designing the Greenways. DOT’s plan is to use the standards only when appropriate; DOT does not want to be forced to use the standards. Forcing them to use those standards would take decisions out of their hands and the community’s hands.

But, what is involved in the NACTO All Ages & Abilities standards? Two major aspects: traffic circles and partial street closures. Some examples of street closures that could be incorporated into the Greenway plans if DOT was forced to incorporate in NACTO designs are:
• Concrete islands on east-west streets in the middle of intersections that would stop drivers from being able to drive north or south, including people who live on the street.
• Concrete islands blocking a northbound or southbound lane so drivers could not continue to drive on the street.
• Converting some portions of the streets to one-way streets for cars but keeping them as two-way streets for bikes.

What is NACTO? It is not a government agency (even though it sounds like one). It is not part of the national Department of Transportation. It is a special interest group out of New York City, with twenty employees and five board members. Cities (such as Pasadena) pay to be members of NACTO (Pasadena pays $7500 a year to be a member). In return, NACTO issues publications such as “Bike Share Intercept Survey Toolkit” (about how to carry out surveys on bike share), along with conferences where members can network. It is just one of a number of activist groups across the country with a particular point of view.

Keep Pasadena Moving applauds DOT for planning the Greenways for bicyclists and recommending flexibility in design based on street characteristics and community outreach. Do we think adding signage and other simple safety elements for cyclists and pedestrians, old and young, are great ideas for those streets? Definitely. Do we think the streets need to have traffic circles and partial street closures added to them? Only if our neighbors – not the activists – think it’s appropriate. DOT currently has an outreach plan which, in their words, is the most concentrated outreach for any project they have ever created in order to create full community consensus across the city. If the choice is between being locked into a set of standards for a plan, or letting the community decide what those standards should be, we’re for letting the community decide. And the community may decide that small changes such as the ones we’ve suggested are only needed for those streets and that we do not need to spend $12 million after all.

Is an advocacy group out of New York City looking out for our quality of life? No. Do we all as residents know what’s best for our community? Yes. And the way to make sure we get what we need on our streets is to not tie DOT’s hands by forcing them to use NACTO standards, which are only advisory. Let the community – and thousands of Pasadena residents – decide how these Greenways should be designed.

We at Keep Pasadena Moving are a grassroots volunteer organization with the goal of promoting safe streets and common-sense traffic alternatives. It begins with and ends with the community – we live here, raise our families here, we work here, we shop here, we vote here. Protecting our neighborhoods and our quality of life is our highest priority.