Keeping Our “Community Heart” Beating Strong
Fall is almost here, and with cooler temps, it’s much easier to enjoy walking and biking around town and on our local trails! That sentiment is reflected in the number of people who can be found enjoying our parks and vast trail network—relieved that the hottest days are behind us! Many of us swear that the heartbeat of this community—that foundational element of this unique place—can be felt most intensely when walking, biking, or scootering along the beautiful Sacramento River surrounded by other people—our community—enjoying the sights, sounds, and smells of this incredible natural landscape.
Redding has been steadily gaining a reputation as a place for awesome recreation experiences. Visit Redding is doing a bang-up job curating Redding as a destination to enjoy (with a cool downtown, safe walkable and bikeable trails, great restaurants and breweries, and vibrant shops) rather than just somewhere to get through. Our community has over 250 miles of trails, 2 large beautiful lakes within 20 minutes, Lassen National Park and beautiful Mt. Shasta within an hour, and 44 local parks within the city limits to enjoy. As Redding’s community assets are shared, discovered, and revisited, growth is bound to follow and a recent report confirms that this is indeed happening!
How can we keep our “community heart” strong as we grow?
One of the biggest negatives felt in towns and cities as they experience growth is the loss of connection and sense of community. Typical sprawling growth design means neighborhoods get stretched further apart and further away from the heart or core assets of their community, weakening the tether that binds a community together. That disconnection will rip the fabric of any community when all of its members are no longer able to easily access those assets. The importance of designing connectivity between neighborhoods and supporting easy access to the community’s assets from those neighborhoods—using a variety of transportation options—is gaining traction across our country. This multimodal infrastructure concept is directly linked to creating, enhancing, and ensuring a seamless community experience for everyone.
The key to going multimodal is not just building specific separate spots for cars, buses, rail, bicycles, or walking, but designing a coordinated system that incorporates various modes of transportation. Because transportation and land use patterns are inextricably linked and have the power to shape development, influence property values, and determine a neighborhood's character and quality of life, creating infrastructure that provides a multimodal approach is essential to enhancing the overall livability and vitality of a community. A system that provides expanded access to assets and a variety of mobility options for ALL people within a community, helps keep the heart of that community beating as growth occurs. It also simultaneously improves public health and safety and boosts their local economies. In other words, this investment pays a multitude of dividends.
Is Redding building the infrastructure needed for a more multimodal approach?
YES! It feels like we are on the right road to embracing and building a fully multimodal transportation system. Over the past 15 years, our City has built the core infrastructure for an ever-growing trail network centered around the Sacramento River, expanded green streets on local roadways, created numerous additional trail connections between new developments and community assets, and have or are in the process of building new park and open spaces for community members and visitors to enjoy. Organizations like Shasta Living Streets have been urging the adoption of this multimodal infrastructure concept for many years, and they now offer the only E-Bike Share Program between the Bay Area and Portland! Recent collaboration between numerous stakeholders has resulted in a revitalized downtown that is more walkable, bikeable, accessible, and enjoyable!
AND…our City’s new DRAFT General Plan 2023–2045 indicates that our policy going forward will be one that is committed to preserving and enhancing that thing that makes us grateful to live, work, and play in the north state: our community connectivity!
“Community design direction included in the General Plan will strive to ensure that all new development connects to existing paths, trails, and roadways where reasonable. An important feature of all new development is that the street improvements accommodate all modes of travel by what is known as development of “Complete Streets."
Among the concepts for modifications to the City’s roadway are:
Expanded use of roundabouts at appropriate locations
Reducing arterial street right-of-way widths where analyses indicate that currently planned improvements are not warranted
Addressing long-term street maintenance needs
Ensuring adequate bicycle, pedestrian, bus, and similar multimodal facilities can be accommodated
Each of us can play a role in supporting ongoing efforts to expand and strengthen multimodal infrastructure by voicing our opinions with our elected leaders and supporting local non-profits working in these areas.
Be sure to GET OUT this fall and feel the strength of Redding’s heartbeat by walking, biking, or scooting with your family, coworkers, and friends on a trail, bikeway, park, or open space—it’s what WE DO here in the north state!
