May 2023 I Will Ride Update

STUDENT COMMENTARY: Celebrating May is Bike Month 2023

As construction of the nation’s first high-speed rail system progresses, the California High-Speed Rail Authority (Authority) continues to partner with station communities to emphasize the need for multi-modal access to users, including making the high-speed rail stations bike-friendly by including bike lanes and providing bike parking.

As a student at UC Davis, you see folks like me enjoying the sun and commuting by bike everywhere. While going to school full time, I continue to work with the Authority as a Student Assistant. In the mornings, I ride my bike from my apartment near the University to the Davis Amtrak station. The station is connected to the Davis bike network, which includes bike lanes and dedicated bike trails, making it convenient to get to the station by bike. The station also has plenty of bike parking, so I leave my bike at the station until I come back in the evening. I then take an Amtrak Capitol Corridor train into downtown Sacramento to the Authority’s headquarters office.

Though commuting by bike and rail in the United States is not the most popular form of transportation, with the Bureau of Transportation Statistics reporting that in 2021, only 0.4 percent of the U.S. population commuted via bicycle and close to 68% commuting via driving alone, it is very common in other parts of the world. According the Statista survey, about 9.1% of people surveyed in Germany ride a bike nearly every day. Train stations all over the world often have entire parking garages dedicated to bikes, while the trains themselves will have onboard bikes storage spaces. These and other strategies make using bikes with trains as transportation very convenient, and we are working to implement similar measures when building high-speed rail here in California.

*This story was written by one of the Authority’s Student Assistants Sean L’Estrange.

Authority Named Employer of Year by International Women in Transportation Organization

 The Authority accepted the 2023 Employer of the Year recognition from the international chapter of the Women’s Transportation Seminar (WTS) at their annual conference. The recognition marks the culmination of a string of regional “Employer of the Year” awards given to the Authority by the Sacramento, Los Angeles, and San Francisco Bay Area WTS chapters over the past 18 months.  The award was given to the Authority for its efforts in promoting the progression of women’s careers in the traditionally male-dominated transportation sector. To date, over half the Authority’s employees are women, including the majority of the executive team.

High-Speed Rail Completes Signature Structure in City of Fresno

With California high-speed rail construction progressing every day, there is yet another major structure completion to celebrate. Earlier this month, partners Tutor Perini/Zachary/Parsons and the Authority announced the completion of the Cedar Viaduct, a 3,700-foot structure that travels over State Route (SR) 99 and Cedar and North Avenues in Fresno.  This viaduct structure is equivalent to the length of over 10 football fields! Viaducts are a tremendous part of separating the high-speed rail system from existing highways and rail networks, and the arches are a critical engineering design, which is detailed in one of our #WonkWednesday videos. In the last few years during construction, we’ve utilized the Cedar Viaduct to provide student construction tours and have allowed dozens of students to speak with high-speed rail engineers about design and construction of the Cedar Viaduct and many other structures. The next steps on the structure will be installing track, an electrical overhead catenary system and test trains all in the next coming years.

#Wonk Wednesday Highlights Climate Resiliency

This month, the Authority celebrated Infrastructure Week (May 15 to19) by dedicating its #WonkWednesday social media campaign to highlighting climate resiliency, which prepares California’s high-speed rail for climate risks now and in the future. The thread describes the Authority’s Climate Adaptation Plan, a framework that describes the Authority’s blueprint in withstanding extreme climate in both construction and operation. This plan includes creating resilient rail infrastructure and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Follow along in our 23-tweet thread to learn more about how the Authority incorporates climate resiliency in its project.

See the #WonkWednesday