Advocacy & Safety - Cal Park Tunnel Opens!

A great use of an old abandoned rail tunnel if you ask me:


http://vimeo.com/17784597

I thought that tunnel looked pretty narrow! Less than half the original tunnel to make a awakwardly narrow bike/pedestrian path.

We will see if they can keep the homeless out, keep the crime out and keep it clean. Hope so.

+1 on too narrow, what happened?

We will see if they can keep the homeless out, keep the crime out and keep it clean. Hope so.

+1 on too narrow, what happened?

Just guessing, but how wide is a train?

at 2:16 in the video you can see they only used about half the tunnel for the path.

Light rail is going to use the other side of the tunnel eventually, hence the skinny bike tunnel. Skinny is better than no tunnel in this instance.

I'm now awaiting some blind A&S harshness to be directed at Tim Blumenthal, or his organization.

at 2:16 in the video you can see they only used about half the tunnel for the path.

Why not just use the whole thing? Any reason not too?

It looks like the remaining portion is big enough for a vehicle to drive through.

Does anyone have any idea what this cost. We have one here and one on the way that are much shorter and does not have the bells and whistles that the Cal Park tunnel has. Ours cost 3+ million each and only go under 6 lanes of traffic. Just curious

Only noticed one guy with a headlight on his bike. If those lights go out, that 1,100 foot tunnel is going to get very dark.

I think I saw something about $22 million in an article.

Why not just use the whole thing? Any reason not too?

It looks like the remaining portion is big enough for a vehicle to drive through.

You missed a spot, check the post directly above yours.


Light rail is going to use the other side of the tunnel eventually, hence the skinny bike tunnel. Skinny is better than no tunnel in this instance.

You missed a spot, check the post directly above yours.

Thanks. I was probably typing as they were posting...

Dual re-purposing is a good idea.

Just guessing, but how wide is a train?


at 2:16 in the video you can see they only used about half the tunnel for the path.


Light rail is going to use the other side of the tunnel eventually, hence the skinny bike tunnel. Skinny is better than no tunnel in this instance.

I'm now awaiting some blind A&S harshness to be directed at Tim Blumenthal, or his organization.


Why not just use the whole thing? Any reason not too?

It looks like the remaining portion is big enough for a vehicle to drive through.

Yeah apparently they did only use half of the tunnel... I finally got a chance to check out the video, and as fordmanvt points out at about 2:16-2:20 you can see the whole tunnel and how the MUP only used half. Apparently the other half was set aside for some future use. "Smart car use" was suggested in the video... who knows what it will be used for though eventually. On the other hand setting up these bike paths at least allows cyclists to have a short cut of some kind.

No, it is not ideal... you may not be able to move at 20MPH through this thing when it is crowded. Does anyone know how long you would have to ride to bypass the tunnel? Is 10MPH through the tunnel still faster than 20MPH going around the tunnel?

Yeah apparently they did only use half of the tunnel... I finally got a chance to check out the video, and as fordmanvt points out at about 2:16-2:20 you can see the whole tunnel and how the MUP only used half. Apparently the other half was set aside for some future use. "Smart car use" was suggested in the video... who knows what it will be used for though eventually. On the other hand setting up these bike paths at least allows cyclists to have a short cut of some kind.

No, it is not ideal... you may not be able to move at 20MPH through this thing when it is crowded. Does anyone know how long you would have to ride to bypass the tunnel? Is 10MPH through the tunnel still faster than 20MPH going around the tunnel?
In this case, SMART probably means Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonoma-Marin_Area_Rail_Transit).

I've been trying to find a map of where the tunnel is at to see what the alternates would be. I'm not familiar at all with the area though...

I thought that tunnel looked pretty narrow! Less than half the original tunnel to make a awakwardly narrow bike/pedestrian path.

Too narrow

I also was thinking that, it would be great for riding in inclement weather. But rain can leak into the tunnel.

Only noticed one guy with a headlight on his bike. If those lights go out, that 1,100 foot tunnel is going to get very dark.

I think I saw something about $22 million in an article.

I saw the headlight as well and was wondering about emergency lights. Surely the have some. At a $22 million price tag one would think they would.

I love how the procession was led by a motorcycle cop. No bike cops?

I saw the headlight as well and was wondering about emergency lights. Surely the have some. At a $22 million price tag one would think they would.

22 million... jeeze... the hole was already in the mountain.

One of the interviewees stated the tunnel cut 15-20 minutes off of a bike commute.

I'd brave the skinnyness for an extra 15 minutes.

One of the interviewees stated the tunnel cut 15-20 minutes off of a bike commute.

I'd brave the skinnyness for an extra 15 minutes.

Sure, but is that 20 minutes at 18MPH? What if the "skinnyness" meant you could only go 9MPH? (playing devil's advocate here)

22 million... jeeze... the hole was already in the mountain.And if they used the entire width of the tunnel, rather than building that fancy CMU wall and facade, the project could have been done for 5 million and would have allowed 25 mph travel with safe passing.

PS - and riding through an old train tunnel that looked like an old train tunnel would be way cooler.

Sure, but is that 20 minutes at 18MPH? What if the "skinnyness" meant you could only go 9MPH? (playing devil's advocate here)
go play in traffic instead

Reminders to Posters:

Knee jerk criticism of cycling projects does nothing to establish your credentials except as a knee-jerk critic.
A perfect project would be a sure sign that non-human space aliens walk among us.

I think its a great multi-use development. From the articles, they intend to use half the tunnel for a rapid transit line. Cyclists/peds get the other half. What a wonderful idea. The rapid transit line would probably go through the tunnel regardless, so they made do with what they could. In a perfect world they would have bored another tunnel and given cyclists a very wide path.

:popcorn This is going to be good.

Reminders to Posters:

Knee jerk criticism of cycling projects does nothing to establish your credentials except as a knee-jerk critic.
A perfect project would be a sure sign that non-human space aliens walk among us.
Your knee jerk criticism does nothing to establish your credentials except as a knee-jerk critic.

That's tremendous.

Amazing, too, to hear a county commissioner speaks so well about bicycle use. They don't say those things where I live.

Important to note that this project took over a decade of advocacy. Good things for cyclists don't happen on their own.

Sure, but is that 20 minutes at 18MPH? What if the "skinnyness" meant you could only go 9MPH? (playing devil's advocate here)

1100 ft @ 18 MPH ~ 45 sec
1100 ft @ 9 MPH ~1 min 30 sec

So the worst you could do is lose 45 sec. This reminds me of motorists who think cyclists make them late for work because they have to wait 10-20 seconds for an opportunity to pass you.

great news for Marin county.

Too bad there aren't plans to open the corte madera tunnel to bicyclists.