The City of Tacoma is building the successor to the Streets Initiative that ran from 2015–2025, and they want to hear from you before the package goes to City Council.
The new program — Connect Tacoma — will fund residential street repairs, arterial improvements, and safety upgrades across the city. An open house on Thursday, April 2nd is your chance to help shape how the city prioritizes those investments.
Here are the details:
Connect Tacoma Open House Thursday, April 2, 2026 — 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM Asia Pacific Cultural Center 4851 South Tacoma Way, Tacoma, WA 98402 RSVP at EventBrite
Doors open at 6:00 PM with investment area stations where you can provide direct feedback. A formal welcome begins at 6:50, followed by context-setting from city staff and a Q&A session before the event wraps at 8:00.
Connect Tacoma will determine which streets get repaired, which arterials get redesigned, and whether safety upgrades include infrastructure that protects people on bikes. TWBC members can provide vital input because of our knowledge of Tacoma streets. Our lived experience is exactly the kind of input the city needs to hear.
Connect Tacoma lands at a critical moment. The City's Vision Zero Action Plan aims to eliminate all traffic fatalities and serious injuries by 2035, and the data is sobering: 384 fatal and severe injury crashes between 2016 and 2020, with 75% of the high-risk network in neighborhoods with the lowest access to opportunity. The most dangerous locations — intersections on arterials at 30–35 mph — are exactly the kind of corridors Connect Tacoma investments could reshape.
An August Vision Zero ballot measure is also on the horizon, with advocates pushing for protected lanes, lane reductions, sidewalks, and traffic calming. The more cyclists who engage now, the stronger the foundation for all of these efforts.
What You Can Do
Show up on April 2nd. Walk the investment area stations. Tell city staff what you see on the roads you ride — the intersections that feel dangerous, the arterials that need protected lanes, the residential streets where poor pavement forces you into traffic. Be specific. Be constructive. Bring your route knowledge.
Spread the word. Share this post with fellow riders. Forward it to your riding groups. The more cyclists in the room, the harder it is for decision-makers to treat bike infrastructure as an afterthought.
Stay engaged. This open house is one step in a longer process. Watch for updates here on the blog and plan to keep showing up as Connect Tacoma takes shape.
We want a seat at the table when transportation dollars get allocated. On April 2nd, we have that opportunity.
Tacoma Washington Bicycle Club — Community & Government Relations