The San Jose Creek Muti-Use Path will bring critical pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure to Goleta.
Public Comment #1:
Tell Caltrans and Union Pacific to cooperate with the Goleta Public Works Department.
About this form
This web form was created to simplify the process of emailing the Caltrans District 5 office and the Union Pacific southern California public projects manager (Lupe Valdez).
Upon submission, this form will generate an email addressed to info-d5@dot.ca.gov and lcvaldez@up.com with the subject heading "San Jose Creek Path (Goleta, CA)," signed by the provided name and zip code (to indicate local residency or otherwise). Your provided email address will also be cc'd.
The San Jose Creek path must pass through land owned by Caltrans and Union Pacific. Both are stonewalling the Goleta Public Works department's attempts to coordinate construction with them. Fill out this form to send them an email urging them to cooperate with Goleta.
Suggested talking points are provided here, however users of the form are strongly encouraged to personalize the contents of the email:
Caltrans and Union Pacific are impeding the progress of an important public infrastructure project meant to increase safety and quality of life for Goleta residents.
By refusing to communicate with Goleta Public Works, they're endangering the entire San Jose Creek path project and the $18 million grant provided to Goleta by the state of California.
Failing to make use of the grant money (ie. not completing the path and having to return the provided funds to the state) is anticipated to have significant negative impact Santa Barbara and Goleta's ability to obtain active transportation grants in the future, ultimately hampering future public infrastructure projects.
Caltrans claims to prioritize non-motorized, vulnerable users, etc., so the San Jose Creek path should be high on their priorities list. https://dot.ca.gov/about-caltrans
Public Comment #2:
Tell Goleta's City Council that the path's intersections with Hollister and Calle Real need to be safer.
About this form
This web form was created to simplify the process of emailing the Goleta City Council.
Upon submission, this form will generate an email addressed to mayor Paula Perotte (perotte@cityofgoleta.org) and project manager Teresa Lopes (tlopes@cityofgoleta.org), signed by the provided name and zip code (to indicate local residency or otherwise). Your provided email address will also be cc'd.
Suggested talking points are provided here, however users of the form are strongly encouraged to personalize the contents of the email:
The northern and southern portions of the San Jose Creek path are not connected across Hollister; the northern portion ends abruptly at a sidewalk mid-block leaving users to navigate to the southern portion of the path by either biking/walking down the sidewalk to the Kellogg/Hollister intersection or simply going down Kellogg itself (where there aren't any bike lanes), and crossing 6 lanes of traffic to then bike down Kellogg on the road with cars until finally linking up with the southern portion. This design leaves users vulnerable at what the city has already identified as a particularly collision-prone road.
Similarly, the northern portion of the path appears to dump path users out on Calle Real with no apparent facilities to cross the road to the Class II bike lane on the other side.
Further, a the Ekwill and Fowler road extensions to be completed in the future include bike/pedestrian paths, however said paths do not appear to connect to the San Jose Creek Path in any way despite being one block apart on Hollister. This is tremendously short-sighted. Safe bicycle infrastructure should be connected for ease of use and maximal safety.
The San Jose Creek Multi-Use Path
After being in the planning stages since 2009, on October 4, 2022, with overwhelming community support, the Goleta City Council finally approved the mitigated negative declaration for the San Jose Creek Multi-Use Path project . Construction is set to begin in Spring 2024.
In constructing a pedestrian/bicycle path adjacent to San Jose Creek, the project will fill the gaps for the regional path network, remove the barriers to active transportation, connect the disadvantaged community of Old Town Goleta to key destinations, and provide a separate, dedicated non-motorized path between areas north and south of the 101, while also connecting UCSB and Goleta Beach to important shopping and community resources in north Goleta.
Funding for the project was obtained in 2019 by a State of California-provided Active Transportation Program(ATP) grant for $18 million. The ATP program is highly competitive, and the money must be used by a state-appointed deadline. Failing to utilize the grant money for its intended purpose in time will result in Goleta having to give the money back to the state, likely having significant negative impact on its ability to obtain additional grants for other projects in the future.
Because the southern portion the path is adjacent to State Route 217 and within Caltrans Right of Way, the project will require Caltrans approval. Likewise, the northern portion will pass through Union Pacific Rail Road Right of Way, necessitating their cooperation as well. Caltrans agreed in 2020 to coordinate the plans for two upcoming bridge replacements with the San Jose Creek Multi-Use Path plans being developed by Goleta Public Works in order to ensure the future path would be accommodated beneath said bridges, however they, along with Union Pacific, have been reported to be slow/non-communicative in responding to Goleta Public Works, effectively stalling project progress and putting the funding for it in danger.