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10-17-08, 09:21 AM
I hope it's paved so all cyclists can utilize it!!
http://nctimes.com/articles/2008/10/16/news/sandiego/z42226887aa7af00a882574e200666a3d.txt
A proposed 500-mile regional bike network of continuous, connected paths would allow cyclists to ride all over San Diego County without stopping and in relative safety, away from much faster and bigger motor vehicles.
The preliminary proposal, drawn up by the San Diego Association of Governments, a regional planning agency, after meetings with cyclists over the last several months, will be rolled out at a pair of public workshops next week, including one in North County.
In North County, the plan calls for extending the bike path along the San Luis Rey River in Oceanside east to Interstate 15, completing the Coastal Rail Trail along the Coaster tracks, further developing the Inland Rail Trail along the Sprinter line and building a path south from San Marcos along Twin Oaks Valley Road, among other projects.
A bikeway in the I-15 corridor is planned, incorporating the lanes striped on Old Highway 395 and building bike paths in Rancho Bernardo and Poway that tie into the bicycle bridge under construction over Lake Hodges.
"People don't stop biking once they hit the city limit," said Kathy Keehan of Rancho Bernardo, executive director for the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition. "People are biking all over the county and they need to be able to connect all over the county."
The meetings are set for 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Carlsbad Senior Center, 799 Pine St., and for 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Hall of Champions Sports Museum in Balboa Park, near downtown San Diego.
After getting more feedback from the public and from elected officials, association planners expect to refine their proposed plan and take it to the agency board for adoption in March or April.
So far, the plan seems to be headed in the right direction, said Howard La Grange, chairman of the Oceanside bicycle committee.
"When you talk to cyclists on the road, one of their biggest concerns is safety," La Grange said. "They're always concerned about being hit from behind. And with the high gas prices, we've seen a lot more cyclists on the road."
But as the plan is rolled out, La Grange said, he hopes the association will push for completion of the North County system, particularly the crucial Oceanside portion of the Inland Rail Trail where a narrow right of way is making progress slow.
Chris Kluth, pedestrian and bicycle program manager for the agency, said the final plan will contain about 30 proposed bike path projects. He said was unclear how much those projects will cost or how the region will pay them, but that the $280 million set aside in the recent TransNet sales tax measure for cycling projects will be a primary source of funding.
The association has just completed a plan. Details are available at www.sandag.org/bicycleplan.
Keehan, who has been working with the agency on the strategy, said the region needs to close the numerous gaps in the existing system. Too often, she said, people ride for short stretches, only to have paths disappear abruptly.
"It's as if we built a couple miles of I-5 and then left a gap ---- and then started up again," Keehan said.
The association is proposing a variety of bicycle-travel facilities, including some unconventional ones.
About half of the facilities, totaling 265 miles, would be so-called Class I bike paths that are physically separated from motor vehicles by concrete barriers or strips of landscape. Those tend to be favored most by cyclists.
"But we can't do that everywhere," Kluth said. "There is not enough room."
So the agency also is proposing something called a "cycle track" and a "bicycle boulevard."
The cycle track, like the bike path, separates cars and bikes. But it incorporates the track into an existing roadway and does not require additional land. The idea is to have one-way tracks for bikes on either side of a street, and to separate those from vehicle traffic by raised concrete barriers.
Keehan is wary of the cycle track because, she said, it is not as safe as the bike path.
"While I think it's an interesting idea, and maybe something we want to experiment with, I'm not sure we want to do 74 miles of them in San Diego County," she said.
The association also is proposing 30 miles of bicycle boulevards. Those are residential streets shared by cars and bikes that rely on traffic circles, stop signs and narrow lanes to slow down vehicles.
The preliminary plan calls for about 135 miles of striped bike lanes on streets.
http://nctimes.com/articles/2008/10/16/news/sandiego/z42226887aa7af00a882574e200666a3d.txt
A proposed 500-mile regional bike network of continuous, connected paths would allow cyclists to ride all over San Diego County without stopping and in relative safety, away from much faster and bigger motor vehicles.
The preliminary proposal, drawn up by the San Diego Association of Governments, a regional planning agency, after meetings with cyclists over the last several months, will be rolled out at a pair of public workshops next week, including one in North County.
In North County, the plan calls for extending the bike path along the San Luis Rey River in Oceanside east to Interstate 15, completing the Coastal Rail Trail along the Coaster tracks, further developing the Inland Rail Trail along the Sprinter line and building a path south from San Marcos along Twin Oaks Valley Road, among other projects.
A bikeway in the I-15 corridor is planned, incorporating the lanes striped on Old Highway 395 and building bike paths in Rancho Bernardo and Poway that tie into the bicycle bridge under construction over Lake Hodges.
"People don't stop biking once they hit the city limit," said Kathy Keehan of Rancho Bernardo, executive director for the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition. "People are biking all over the county and they need to be able to connect all over the county."
The meetings are set for 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Carlsbad Senior Center, 799 Pine St., and for 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Hall of Champions Sports Museum in Balboa Park, near downtown San Diego.
After getting more feedback from the public and from elected officials, association planners expect to refine their proposed plan and take it to the agency board for adoption in March or April.
So far, the plan seems to be headed in the right direction, said Howard La Grange, chairman of the Oceanside bicycle committee.
"When you talk to cyclists on the road, one of their biggest concerns is safety," La Grange said. "They're always concerned about being hit from behind. And with the high gas prices, we've seen a lot more cyclists on the road."
But as the plan is rolled out, La Grange said, he hopes the association will push for completion of the North County system, particularly the crucial Oceanside portion of the Inland Rail Trail where a narrow right of way is making progress slow.
Chris Kluth, pedestrian and bicycle program manager for the agency, said the final plan will contain about 30 proposed bike path projects. He said was unclear how much those projects will cost or how the region will pay them, but that the $280 million set aside in the recent TransNet sales tax measure for cycling projects will be a primary source of funding.
The association has just completed a plan. Details are available at www.sandag.org/bicycleplan.
Keehan, who has been working with the agency on the strategy, said the region needs to close the numerous gaps in the existing system. Too often, she said, people ride for short stretches, only to have paths disappear abruptly.
"It's as if we built a couple miles of I-5 and then left a gap ---- and then started up again," Keehan said.
The association is proposing a variety of bicycle-travel facilities, including some unconventional ones.
About half of the facilities, totaling 265 miles, would be so-called Class I bike paths that are physically separated from motor vehicles by concrete barriers or strips of landscape. Those tend to be favored most by cyclists.
"But we can't do that everywhere," Kluth said. "There is not enough room."
So the agency also is proposing something called a "cycle track" and a "bicycle boulevard."
The cycle track, like the bike path, separates cars and bikes. But it incorporates the track into an existing roadway and does not require additional land. The idea is to have one-way tracks for bikes on either side of a street, and to separate those from vehicle traffic by raised concrete barriers.
Keehan is wary of the cycle track because, she said, it is not as safe as the bike path.
"While I think it's an interesting idea, and maybe something we want to experiment with, I'm not sure we want to do 74 miles of them in San Diego County," she said.
The association also is proposing 30 miles of bicycle boulevards. Those are residential streets shared by cars and bikes that rely on traffic circles, stop signs and narrow lanes to slow down vehicles.
The preliminary plan calls for about 135 miles of striped bike lanes on streets.