Bike Lanes

Caltech is a biking community. The area around campus is full of people on bikes! Wilson is a critical link in the bike network, connecting Caltech, PCC, and areas north of the freeway with the planned Union Street and Cordova Street bike lanes.

Unfortunately, Wilson Avenue currently has dangerous, unprotected bike lanes, where people on bikes are squeezed between parked cars and moving traffic. These bike lanes end abruptly, dumping riders into traffic just north of campus.

In the Wilson for All plan, the bike lanes adjacent to Caltech should be:

• upgraded to protected or buffered bike lanes, for increased safety;

• extended north to connect to the bike lanes on Cordova St. and Union St.

The Union Street bike lanes are currently getting an upgrade, and the Cordova bike lanes will get an upgrade in 2023, so making this connection will allow students to ride from Caltech to near the Del Mar Metro station in a buffered bike lane.

Walking

Caltech owns property on both sides of Wilson. Students and staff need to cross the street to access the Caltech Y, the parking office, the parking garage, and other campus services. To connect the campus, we need the street to be safe and inviting to cross. Elements that could make Wilson easier to cross include:

• A raised cross-walk, to slow down cars and improve ADA access

• One or more mid-block crossings

• A pedestrian curb extension on the east side of the street

Parking

On Wilson Avenue, there are two Caltech owned parking garages, with parking spaces for around 1,200 cars. The parking garages generally have hundreds of empty spaces in them. So, it makes no sense to also have a small number of on-street parking spaces on Wilson right in front of the garages. The on-street parking represents a negligible fraction of the total available parking, while clogging up the road.

The on-street parking makes it dangerous to cross Wilson, with students routinely walking out from between parked cars into the roadway. The on-street parking also creates dangerous conditions for people on bikes, who can easily be "doored" as people get out of their cars. Moreover, the current design makes 3% of parking free, creating a perverse incentive for Caltech commuters to arrive 2 hours early to work, while penalizing parents who drop off their kids at school before commuting. A more rational system would charge the same amount for parking, regardless of what time a person arrives at work.

In the Wilson for All Plan:

• Parking on the West side of Wilson should be repurposed for buffered or protected bike lanes

• Parking on the East side of Wilson should be kept, but some spaces should be converted to handicap parking and/or loading zones for para-transit vans and ride-share.