{"id":314375,"date":"2026-05-13T22:39:32","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T22:39:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/314375\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T22:39:32","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T22:39:32","slug":"caltrans-joins-secretary-advocates-to-promote-bike-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/314375\/","title":{"rendered":"Caltrans Joins Secretary, Advocates to Promote Bike Month"},"content":{"rendered":"

SACRAMENTO \u2013 More than 100 bicycle riders joined Transportation Secretary Toks Omishakin, state and local leaders, and advocates on May 7 outside Caltrans Headquarters to promote May is Bike Month<\/a> celebrations.<\/p>\n

Sponsored by the California State Transportation Agency, Caltrans, Office of Traffic Safety, city of West Sacramento, 50 Corridor TMA and Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates, the 7-mile spin May is Bike Month Caltrans Leadership Ride, from midtown to West Sacramento and back, also highlighted the continued growth of bike riding for fitness and fun.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is about quality of life,\u201d said Secretary Omishakin, who is both an avid bike rider and long-time advocate of alternative transportation options. \u201cThere are places in our state \u2013 L.A., for example \u2013 that are known for their car culture. It\u2019s events such as this that will help change that. We want alternative transportation to become the default option.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWe recognize that everyone, regardless of how they choose to travel, whether they are walking, biking, rolling, riding or driving, everyone should arrive at their destination safely,\u201d OTC Director Stephanie Dougherty.<\/p>\n

\u201cCaltrans is working to make biking easier and more comfortable by adding bike lanes, crossings, and stronger connections to transit across the state,\u201d said Susan Lindsay, lead advisor for Caltrans\u2019 Complete Streets<\/a>\u00a0program. \u201cThese long\u2011term improvements will help more people choose biking as a convenient, reliable, and fun way to get around their communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been managing May is Bike Month for the last five years, and the whole idea is to get people to leave their car keys at home and to ride their bike for a short trip around town,\u201d said Deb Banks, of Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates. \u201cWe so recognize that everyone, regardless of how they choose to travel, whether they are walking, biking, rolling, riding or driving, everyone should arrive at their destination safely.\u201d\u00a0 <\/p>\n

An estimated 5 million Californians regularly ride a bike, a trend that has been on the upswing since the end of the pandemic, according to a 2026 industry survey. To address that new demand, California has invested nearly $1 billion over four years to add some 250 miles of new and improved bike lanes and pedestrian paths statewide. <\/p>\n

Among those drawn out of the office on the warm spring afternoon was Rebecca Mowry, who works at the Caltrans headquarters office. She said the ride creates attention and more attention will bring higher awareness of the needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think that awareness and education will probably go a long way in making gains for biking,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd for bike safety too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Charles Crowder, a right-of-way agent from Marysville, agreed. \u201cI have five kids,\u201d he said. \u201cI worry about them and wish we could do more to make school routes safer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Bicyclists<\/p>\n

\"Cone-bike-picture\"<\/p>\n

\"Bicyclists<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SACRAMENTO \u2013 More than 100 bicycle riders joined Transportation Secretary Toks Omishakin, state and local leaders, and advocates…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":314376,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122],"class_list":["post-314375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}