Santa Barbara Bicycle Master Plan

Santa Barbara’s controversial Bicycle Master Plan goes up for a final vote today.

A grassroots effort — making an 11th hour plea — popped up at the intersection of Micheltorena and Chino Streets Monday.

If approved, parts of Chino Street, as well as Sola Street, would be transformed into so-called Bicycle Boulevards.

Local residents were able to convince the City of Santa Barbara to do away with the Micheltorena portion of the Bicycle Master Plan, which would have eliminated 100 parking places and instead, created the bike corridors on other streets.

Many local residents and city officials believe the change would make those streets safer for bicyclists who rely on bikes to get to work or school. Others say sacrificing cars isn’t the answer.

“It would affect my mother and my father who take this road to get to work, causing them to choose a different route and possibly arrive later or make it more difficult for them to get to work and back,” Amanda Rocha said.

Tuesday’s meeting starts at 2:00 p.m. at Santa Barbara City Hall.