City Council Working to Expand Mobility Options

With traffic being the number one complaint among Irvine residents, Mayor Larry Agran and his Council colleagues are working on a number of measures to explore and improve transportation options to meet the evolving needs of the City’s residents, students, and workers.

In April, Mayor Agran secured Council approval to add new Irvine CONNECT shuttle routes so that more residents — particularly the City’s students and seniors — can take advantage of the free bus service.

The Council is also focused on bike safety to encourage more residents to leave their cars at home, when traveling around town. Last year, Irvine opened its first Class IV protected bikeway. This bikeway, located on Cadence between Radial and Chinon in the Great Park area, provides a physical barrier between cyclists and vehicle traffic, enhancing safety and encouraging more people to bike.

In addition, the City is expanding the Jeffrey Open Space Trail, with a new pedestrian and bicycle bridge now under construction that will soon span the entire I-5 Freeway. When it opens next summer, the Jeffrey Open Space Trail bicycle and pedestrian bridge will connect 3.5 miles of the existing trails to an additional 1.5 miles of trails being added south of the freeway. A recent extension of the Hicks Canyon Trail added a tunnel under Portola at the north end of the trail. Once the segment of the Jeffrey Open Space Trail north of Portola is complete, the Hicks Canyon Trail will connect to it via a tunnel under Jeffrey — keeping pedestrians and bikers safe.

During the July 8th Council meeting, Councilmember Betty Martinez Franco won unanimous Council approval for her proposal to direct City staff to study a “bike share” program to provide affordable, accessible, and sustainable mobility to connect Irvine neighborhoods, business districts, transit hubs, and community centers. While introducing the agenda item, Martinez Franco said a bike share program could help reduce vehicle trips and support the City’s mobility goals. Martinez Franco’s proposal includes docking stations at City Hall and UCI that she says are “high-traffic locations that provide an ideal environment to test demand, gather user feedback, and assess operational logistics ahead of a broader rollout.”