Bike, Walk & Roll

HCAOG is teaming up with the Bike Month Coalition to sponsor another year of the Bike Challenge! All events are free and open to everyone in the County. Find a full list of Bike Month events and details on BikeMonthHumboldt.org

• Join the Bike Challenge! Create a free account at lovetoride.net/humboldt to join the challenge. Whether you want to get in better shape, save money and improve the environment by driving less, or simply have fun riding a bicycle- the bike challenge is a great way to track your rides and get motivated by others in the Humboldt biking community. 
• The Bike-Friendly Business program is back! This popular initiative is a win-win-win. Get some fresh air and ride your bike to a participating local business, boost the local economy, AND get a free perk or discount! See the list of participating bike-friendly businesses and the perks offered last year. Look for the orange window sign and just show your bike, helmet, or a Bike Month Humboldt sticker to get the discount.  

The Bike Month Coalition is comprised of members representing Humboldt Bay Bicycle Commuters Association, North Coast Co-Op, Coalition for Responsible Transportation Priorities, DHHS Healthy Communities, Humboldt Bicyclists, Redwood Coast Mountain Bike Association, Caltrans District 1 Active Transportation, and other bike enthusiasts.

Safe Routes to School (SR2S) is a nationwide movement to make it safer for children to walk and bicycle to school.  SR2S promotes walking and bicycling to school through targeted education, encouragement, enforcement, and engineering projects. SR2S programs are alive and active in Humboldt County.

In September 2021, HCAOG launched the online interactive bike map! The result is the most accurate bicycle map for Humboldt County as we had a dozen volunteers verify the data on the ground.

How to use the online bike map:

1. Navigate to https://hcaog.net/map from your mobile phone, tablet, or desktop internet browser. 

2. In the upper right, click the compass symbol to navigate to your location.

3. Use the toggles on the side-bar to explore different bike routes and points of interest. 

• Existing bike routes are shown in solid colors
• Connector routes are roads often used by cyclists, and are designated in dashed lines by their relative comfort level
• Icons show bicycle shops, bike rental locations, and tool stations

At this time, the tool does not work like Google Maps where you can get directions between two locations. There is no best way to get places by bicycle, as every person will have a different level of comfort. Using our map as a reference can help plan a route. Also note that Google Maps has some inaccurate bicycle route information.

2018 Humboldt Bay Area Bike Map (PDF)

Hundreds of these free bike maps were provided at local bike shops, book stores, hotels, and visitor centers. Printed copies are out of stock , but you can still view the map and print it, below.

The "level of traffic stress" (LTS) is a metric for assessing the level of comfort or stress that people would feel when they are bicycling and/or walking and rolling on streets/roads.  

Different people have different tolerances for the kinds of places they will walk, bike, or roll. Generally, research shows that a relatively small number of people have a confident or fearless attitude and will bike or walk almost anywhere, but on busier streets most people require more comfortable infrastructure like good sidewalks and bike lanes. Researchers and planners quantify this idea as the level of traffic stress, or LTS, which is a score ranging from 1 to 4.  LTS 1 represents conditions that almost everyone—including most kids—can tolerate.  LTS 2 represents conditions that most adults will tolerate, while LTS 3 and 4 represent conditions that only smaller numbers of adults will tolerate.

In 2024-2025, HCAOG has been partnering with the Coalition for Responsible Transportation Priorities (CRTP) to create LTS methodology for Humboldt, and apply it to the Greater Humboldt Bay/Wigi Area.‡ 

CHECK OUT the ONLINE, INTERACTIVE APPLICATION

Before you review the LTS results, it's important to understand the methodology.  For example, the pedestrian LTS results show the vast majority of streets and roads in the area are "high stress," meaning they scored LTS 3 or 4. The score depends on conditions at the exact location, but common reasons for a higher stress pedestrian score are that (i) a street's sidewalk is less than 4-feet wide at its narrowest point (which may be next to a utility pole or a tree), or (ii) an intersection doesn't have a curb ramp. Such criteria are meant to reflect the experiences of people using wheelchairs, strollers, and other devices.  Where a bike lane exists, a higher stress bicycle score may reflect that the lane is too narrow (due to a drainage grate, for example). Conversely, a combination of a wide shoulder, a buffer, and low traffic volume may result in a lower stress outcome than a street segment with a bike lane. 

The draft results of the LTS assessment are now publicly available here. 

Considering the experiences of everyone in the local population is key to getting the LTS scores right. 

We encourage everyone who walks, bikes or rolls in the area to check out the scores, and provide feedback on whether you think we got it right. You can email your comments to info@hcaog.net, or call HCAOG, (707) 444-8208.  Give your comments by Sept. 1, 2025.

‡This subject project area consists of: Eureka (Jaroujiji*), Arcata (Goudi’ni*), Bayside, McKinleyville (Dalhagali'*), Fortuna (Vutsuwitk Da'l*), Manila, Samoa, Fairhaven, Cutten, King Salmon, and Loleta (Guduwalha't*) including the Wiyot Tribe Table Bluff Reservation (Rraloughugu'w*).   *Place name in Wiyot language, Soulatluk.

~ HCAOG aims to make a tool that will be valuable for local jurisdictions to refer to, periodically update, and to utilize when evaluating where, what, and when to invest in transportation planning, programs, and projects.  HCAOG will expand the LTS assessment for the rest of Humboldt County in the near future, as stated in our Regional Transportation Plan ("VROOM 2022-2042").   

The LTS assessment is part of the “Humboldt Multimodal and Vibrant Neighborhoods Planning” project, funded by a Caltrans Sustainable Transportation Planning Grant and local matching funds from Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) member agencies and other partners. 

"Pedestrian Level of Traffic Stress" diagram from Florida DOT:

Graphic source: FHWA. For more info, visit FHWA's Bicycle & Pedestrian Program webpage: https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/bicycle_pedestrian/

Walkability and Complete Streets innovator and expert Dan Burden visited our neighborhoods to perform walk audits in Arcata, Eureka, Manila, and McKinleyville. (July 2023)

 Local Coverage

Lost Coast Outpost Article "How Do We Make Our Communities More Walkable? Dan Burden Knows, and He’s Coming to Humboldt to Help Us Out" 

Times Standard Article "Humboldt County Walkability Audit Presentation Well-attended"

"The Econews Report: What’s a Walkable Community?" (30-min podcast; aired July 29, 2023) (transcript available here (Lost Coast Outpost))

Walk Audits & Presentations

Schedule of local events (325 KB)

City of Arcata video - Arcata Walk Audit  (50 minutes) - July 22, 2023

Arcata Photos (29 MB)

City of Eureka video- Old Town Eureka Walk Audit (66 minutes) - July 23, 2023

Technical Meeting-Local Agencies Presentation (City of Arcata video) (79 minutes) - July 24, 2023

Humboldt - Technical Meeting slide deck  (151 MB)

IT'S HERE! Video of Humboldt presentation at the Wharfinger Building (1hr43m) - July 24, 2023 (Access Humboldt archive)

Humboldt presentation - slidedeck  (146 MB)

Blue Lake - Walk audit presentation video (72 minutes) - July 25, 2023

Blue Lake - slide deck  (100 MB)

McKinleyville (McK Municipal Advisory Committee special meeting) - slidedeck (110 MB) - July 25, 2023

Articles by Dan Burden

"Making the Healthy Choice the Easy Choice" (126 KB)

"Why Walkability Matters"  (157 KB)

This Humboldt Regional Bicycle Plan is foremost a regional plan, intended primarily to facilitate projects and programs that will help build a bikeway system that makes bicycling throughout Humboldt County a safe, convenient, and practical means of transportation for all residents and visitors. Priority infrastructure projects will link adjoining jurisdictions’ bicycle routes and thereby build a regional bicycle network. The Bike Plan’s recommended projects and programs have the potential to considerably increase the number of bicycle trips in Humboldt County.

HCAOG has prepared two documents to facilitate quality bicycle parking in Humboldt: "Countywide Bicycle Parking Guidelines: Recommended Policies & Requirements" and "Bike Parking Sourcebook: Sample Policies, Municipal Codes, & Programs."

The Humboldt County Regional Pedestrian Plan is a guide for developing future pedestrian infrastructure in the county. The Plan aims to make walking an integral transportation mode by proposing improvements to the pedestrian network. The study area is all of Humboldt County, although it focuses on places with the highest density of destinations within walking distance. (The Plan was prepared by Alta Planning + Design, Redwood Community Action Agency, and SHN Consultant Engineers.) 

The City of Arcata, Cal Poly Humboldt, and Tandem Mobility have teamed up to bring bike share back to Humboldt County. With 40 bikes at 8 stations and affordable pricing, exploring Arcata and the campus has never been easier. Visit www.tandem-mobility.com/humboldt for more information.

Bike rentals, and guided biking and hiking tours. Visit www.wildtrailtours.com.