Lighting Improvements, Green Infrastructure, and Low Stress Bike Facilities

Part of the Access & Mobility Plan Effort

These three strategies focus on lighting improvements, green infrastructure, and low-stress bike routes. “Lighting Improvements” calls for better visibility at new developments, on streets, and at transit stops. “Green Infrastructure” has the goal of adding trees and green elements on our streets. “Low Stress Bike Facilities” seeks to make biking more pleasant and safer for everyone.

Strategy 4: Lighting Improvements

Require better lighting for new developments, street reconstruction, and at transit stops to increase visibility and personal safety while walking, using a wheelchair or other assistive device, biking, and waiting for transit at night.

Strategy 5: Green Infrastructure

Add more trees and other plants on streets to create shade, lower temperatures, and make walking, using a wheelchair or other assistive device, and biking more pleasant.

Strategy 6: Low-Stress Bike Facilities and Slow Streets

Make biking safer and more pleasant, creating low-stress routes to help attract more people to biking. This can involve lanes that are protected from car traffic with barriers or planters. It can also include slow streets where people walking, using a wheelchair, or biking are prioritized and through traffic is prohibited.

Bike lanes will be ADA compliant, ensuring:

  • Lanes are made with either concrete, asphalt, packed gravel or soil, etc.
  • Surface slopes meet established requirements.
  • Designs of lanes, barriers, planters, parking spaces, etc. do not decrease the visibility of wheelchair users at crosswalks.
Example: Picture features people riding their bicycles down Jackson Street during Viva CalleSJ in San Jose. Each year’s event opens upwards of six miles of streets for people to bike and play for the day. Credit: Randy Vazquez/Bay Area News Group, The Mercury News