photo credit: City of Santa Rosa
The Prince Memorial Greenway bike and pedestrian path runs along
Santa Rosa Creek near the city's downtown.

May 15th is "Bike to Wherever" day around the Bay Area, meant to encourage people to get out and about on their bicycles.

It's the same day the City of Santa Rosa's plan for improving infrastructure and policies to support human-powered transportation gets a last look from the city's Bike and Pedestrian Advisory Board.

So what is the future for bikes in Santa Rosa?

They might be a big part of it, but Torina Wilson, a transportation planner, said it's not just bicycles that are the focus of Santa Rosa's Active Transportation Plan.

"So you think about your third grader that you want to have an opportunity to bike to school, or you think about a parent that's pushing a stroller and wanting to feel safe wherever they're going," Wilson said. "Or you even think about your elderly grandparent and them being able to access the services that they need safely."

Active transportation is focused around three things: walking, biking, and rolling.

The first two are fairly self-explanatory, but rolling can be on a skateboard, scooter, wheelchair, or any other kind of mobility device.

Those three modes of transport are at the core of the many active transportation plans being worked on around Sonoma County.

Wilson said making the city's street safer for people outside cars, also makes it safer for those in them.

"When you slow vehicles down, if you improve site distance and things like that, car collisions decrease significantly," Wilson said. "So even for folks who are going to continue to drive, even me, right, it's nice to know that this infrastructure also would help me in a time where I might be driving."

One of the major barriers to walking, biking, and rolling according to Santa Rosa residents: the way in which major road ways like Highway 12 and Steele Lane slice through neighborhoods.

Between 2017 and 2021, there were 18 major collisions between cars and cyclists or pedestrians on Santa Rosa Avenue, Steele Lane, and Sonoma Highway alone.

The city's active transportation plan recommends quick build projects like curb extensions, and more "no right on red" light intersections to make Santa Rosa's streets safer, sooner.

Even with Santa Rosa's budget woes, Wilson said bike and pedestrian improvements are often tied into pavement maintenance prices or grant funded.

Santa Rosa's Active Transportation Plan is on the agenda for the May 15th meeting of the city's Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board meeting. That starts at 4PM at the Municipal Service Center on Stony Point Road. The plan is expected on the Santa Rosa City Council agenda on July 8th, 2025.