Pasadena Bike Advocates to Launch Their Own Network Plan Ahead of City’s

Before the city finalizes its next bike plan, a group of volunteers has produced theirs.

The Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition, an all-volunteer advocacy organization independent of the city, will launch its Community Bike Plan at McDonald Park on Wednesday, June 3 — World Bicycle Day.

The plan reportedly proposes a connected, all-ages-and-abilities network of Greenways on low-speed streets and protected bike lanes on faster roads across Pasadena.

Councilmember Rick Cole and Transportation Commissioner Becky Hartung are scheduled to speak at the event, according to the coalition’s Eventbrite listing.

The timing, the coalition says, is deliberate. The event listing states that the city is expected to begin developing its Active Transportation Plan the following month.

The City of Pasadena is preparing to produce its own Citywide Active Transportation Plan, a federally funded effort that will consolidate and update the city’s 2006 Pedestrian Plan, 2015 Bicycle Transportation Action Plan, and other existing documents into a single comprehensive blueprint.

In January 2026, the City Council considered a contract of up to $890,989 with transportation consultant Fehr & Peers to produce the plan, drawing roughly 80 percent of the funding from a Federal Highway Administration Safe Streets and Roads for All grant.

The coalition’s plan, released earlier this year, calls on city leaders to complete the nine high-priority routes it identifies from the 2015 plan — the plan itself outlines 10 corridors — expand the network to create connections to transit, schools, and shopping, and adopt an all-ages-and-abilities standard — Greenways on streets with traffic speeds under 20 miles per hour, and physical protection for bike lanes on faster streets.

As of 2014, the most recent publicly available inventory, Pasadena had approximately 82 miles of bike facilities, including 21 miles of dedicated bike lanes and 61 miles of bike routes.

The city has added infrastructure since, including the Union Street Two-Way Protected Bikeway. But the coalition’s website describes the current network as limited, with gaps and unsafe segments marked only by paint.

Between 2020 and 2024, four corridors targeted for Greenway improvements — El Molino, Wilson, Sierra Bonita, and Craig avenues — saw 220 injury collisions, including 15 that were severe or fatal, according to city data cited in a Pasadena Now report.

“Biking can be healthy, convenient, fun and environmentally-friendly. But first, it must be safe! …” Cole said during a Bike Month event, where he and Councilmember Jason Lyon co-led a 10-mile guided ride along the planned Greenway corridors.

Hartung, who serves as vice chair of the city’s Transportation Advisory Commission representing District 2, said during Bike Month: “Pasadena’s bike infrastructure could absolutely use some improvement, but we do have some great areas to bike.”

The city is not starting from zero. The Council voted 5-0 in October to approve a Greenways contract as part of a $12 million active transportation initiative funded through Measure R and other sources.

Pasadena also received more than $1.5 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation for a demonstration project testing safety treatments on El Molino Avenue. And the city’s Vision Zero commitment targets eliminating traffic fatalities by 2035.

The Complete Streets Coalition, which has been advocating for safer streets since at least 2013, has hosted dozens of events drawing thousands of attendees over the years, according to its Eventbrite history. The group also partnered with the City Department of Transportation and Day One to organize Pasadena Bike Month, which ran throughout May.

The June 3 event runs from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at McDonald Park, 1000 East Mountain Street, in the Bungalow Heaven neighborhood. It is free and includes food and games. Registration is available at the coalition’s Eventbrite page.

More information about the Community Bike Plan is at pasadenacsc.org/bike-network.

June 3 is World Bicycle Day, designated by the United Nations General Assembly in 2018 to promote cycling as a sustainable, affordable, and healthy mode of transportation.