2023
Impact & Outcomes 

2023 was an exciting year in which the speed of progress seemed to accelerate.

We saw previous advocacy efforts materialize into important advancements in bike infrastructure—as with the completed Highway 29 underpass and Napa County’s first buffered bike lanes.

With the support of our Safe Routes to School Advisory Committee and Napa Police Department’s partnership, we secured new grant funding to expand bicycle and pedestrian safety education countywide.

American Canyon’s active transportation advisory committee was elevated to a commission, we brought back Napa Bikefest, and we installed our first pilot projects in St. Helena and Calistoga (more on that below).

It was again a very busy year at NCBC! We hope our supporters will share in the progress we made toward safer and more accessible riding and walking in 2023. The following highlights are a sampling of the year’s successes—which they enabled. Thank you to all who are in  coalition with us.

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

Safe Routes to School bike safety education – In Fall 2023, we launched our three-day Safe Routes to School in-class bike safety education for Napa County 4^th and 5^th grade classes, which includes two days of in-class instruction and one day of on-bike instruction (bike rodeo). We provided 9 weeks of education at 6 schools, teaching over 850 students about the benefits of walking and biking to school, bike safety, and traffic laws.

Bike rodeos – We led 18 bike rodeos in schools and summer learning programs, including those mentioned above, providing valuable bicycle safety education and on-bike practice that benefited over 1,750 students. Starting in fall 2023, we began providing helmets to students who needed them during bike rodeos. We distributed and fit 226 helmets.

Bike, walk & roll days – We celebrated Bike to Work & School Day on May 18, with 991 students and residents who stopped at or rode by our 36 countywide energizer stations (25 schools, 11 public), which we stocked with bike swag and snacks to fuel all those bike commutes. We also organized a record-breaking Walk and Roll to School Day on October 4, with 2,135 local students walking, biking, and rolling to school. Students at the 25 participating schools were greeted at welcome tables by encouraging volunteers handing out healthy snacks and fun swag.

Community bike rides – Between Bikefest rides like Kidical Mass and monthly TGIF rides, we were joined by 149 youth and adult riders for 11 community bike rides, which provide more opportunities for riders of all ages and abilities to ride in a positive, group environment.

Safety workshops – We held 15 bike safety-oriented workshops throughout the county at various community locations, ranging from safety summits with parents at schools to Family Biking Workshops in public parks, reaching 86 attendees.

Free bike valet – Provided at Napa Earth Day, BottleRock, the City of Napa’s Fourth of July celebration, DoNapa’s Friday in the Park concert series, Mare Island Pedalfest, and St. Helena Harvest Festival, we parked 1,535 bikes, helping to make local events more bike-friendly and sustainable.

Volunteer engagement – A whopping 96 volunteers contributed just over 1,500 volunteer hours. To our bike mechanics, bike rodeo specialists, our incredible Board of Directors, and event and bike valet volunteers, we truly could not have done it without you.

ADVOCACY HIGHLIGHTS

First separated bike lane plans by City of Napa. Separated, also called protected, bike lanes have long been a recommendation of NCBC. These on-street lanes that include an element of vertical separation cut crash risk in half or more. Over the course of 2023, we advocated for them consistently in meetings with City staff and electeds, and at several public meetings, and we celebrated in August when the City of Napa responded by sharing its first plans for parking-protected bike lanes, slated for portions of Browns Valley Road/First Street and scheduled for implementation in spring or summer of this year.

Bike lanes coming to Napa’s Laurel Street. In 2022, the City of Napa shared design alternatives for the segment of Laurel Street from Browns Valley Road to Griggs Lane. The two alternatives that included installing bike lanes faced big challenges. NCBC felt, and the Napa Bike Plan concurred, that this segment was not appropriate for a “share the lane” approach due to complaints of speeding and its use as a bus route. As well, the addition of a traditional bike lane can reduce crashes by up to 30%. NCBC issued an action alert, spoke to neighbors, and shared evidence at the Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee that removal of some parking along the segment to make room for bike lanes would be a minimal inconvenience given that the street had ample, and often underutilized, parking. The City shared designs in August of 2023 that included bike lanes, and in further considering the project, they were able to keep parking loss to a minimum.

Pilot projects in St. Helena & Calistoga. In partnership with Blue Zones Upper Valley, NCBC installed two quick build pilot projects—bulb-outs at an intersection in St. Helena and a separated bike lane in Calistoga—along with a separated bike lane demo project during Safety Day in Calistoga. These projects, situated along routes to schools and afterschool centers, allowed students and residents to experience these safer and lower-stress infrastructure improvements and to provide feedback. One of the projects is now being recommended for permanent installation, and one is being evaluated for the same.

Howell Mountain improvements. When the fate of Old Howell Mountain Road, closed since 2017, went before Napa County’s Board of Supervisors, NCBC submitted comments asking Supervisors to preserve the road as a bicycle and pedestrian path, given the route’s popularity with bicyclists and hikers, and the higher-stress conditions on Deer Park Road (the alternative route). County staff are now looking into ways to preserve the route. Meanwhile, County staff shared repaving designs for Howell Mountain Road, and NCBC engaged area residents in providing input on bicycle and pedestrian improvements. So far, the feedback has resulted in: better signage, more shoulder width, slope repair to prevent a slippery area, additional signage around the Linda Falls area (a popular area for biking and walking), and higher visibility crosswalks, striping, and bulb-outs.

Regular broom-sweeping of bike lanes. NCBC’s Advocacy Working Group identified debris in bike lanes as an advocacy priority and took an inventory of where debris was most hazardous in the City of Napa. We then included those street segments in our supporter survey for wider input and shared the final list with Public Works, discovering that broom-sweeping (which is needed to pick up glass and gravel) was not regularly occurring. The City responded by beginning regular, monthly broom sweeping of all of the segments on the list, in addition to spot sweeping an additional list of segments we provided that needed attention. With the rainier winters, it may be that improvements are tougher to recognize, but these key bike lanes would have been much worse off without this increase in maintenance.