Healdsburg plans for people power

The City Council unanimously approved a first-ever Active Transportation Plan (ATP) for Healdsburg on January 21, 2025. Active transportation refers to “human-powered” modes of travel, like walking, biking, or using mobility devices. The ATP will focus on increasing access to active transportation modes by developing an investment plan for infrastructure improvements to guide City investment priorities.

The Plan was developed with critical input from an ATP Advisory Committee, including three members of the of the Move! Healdsburg leadership team, as well as some regular participants in our events.

At the City Council meeting, many members of Move! Healdsburg supported ATP adoption and called for the Council to prioritize its active transportation investments during the next 2-year budget cycle. Move! specifically advocated for two Council actions related to the ATP:

• Investing in West/East bike corridors with bike lanes safe for all riders, including school children. One of these will be realized along March Avenue (more on that below).

• Creating a standing Bike/Pedestrian advisory committee to oversee implementation of the ATP.

The response from the Council was muted. There was little appetite for a standing advisory committee, and three of the five Council members did not seem eager to pursue active transportation projects independent of road projects that are already on the agenda of Public Works.

This is despite the fact that the City Council had previously adopted the goal of achieving a 15% share of active transportation by 2030, only five years from now. Move! will continue to advocate for the Council to prioritize the necessary active transportation investments to meet this goal.

On February 3, 2025, the City Council unanimously approved the engineering services agreement for the March Avenue Reconstruction & Pedestrian Upgrades Project, which is expected to include pavement reconstruction, curb ramp upgrades to comply with current standards and additional crossing and crossing enhancements. The agreement does not give specifics with regard to the final design of March Avenue, and Move! members are calling for specific safety measures for cyclist and pedestrians:

• Parking-protected bike lanes, as recommended in the Active Transportation Plan (Project 75)

• Traffic calming measures, such as well-marked bulb-outs

• Clear signage on the street to indicate that the road will be shared by vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians

• Robust ADA pedestrian improvements

• A transparent public input process during the design phase.

Construction is anticipated to begin in late Summer of 2025.

If you are interested in joining the Move! advocacy effort, please let us know at admin@movehealdsburg.org