BIKE PATH: A two-way, first-class bikeway and walking path along Highway 273 will be taking shape beginning later this month. An artist depicts how the bike lane will offer separation from traffic, a striped line for two-way travel and separate bridges over streams and the ACID Canal. Map below, right, shows the route from Wal-Mart north to South St.
Anderson is one step closer to having a state-of-the-art bikeway built along State Highway 273 between South Street and Pleasant Hills Drive near the Wal-Mart Super-Center.
That section of state highway is heavily traveled by pedestrians, motorized wheelchairs and bicycle traffic as people travel from low-income housing and apartments either to downtown or to the Wal-Mart SuperCenter at the south end of town, Public Works Director Jeff Kiser said.
In May 2009, the city's Redevelopment Agency proposed using $156,800 in unspent Tax Increment Bond proceeds to pay for plan preparation, engineering and environmental findings of a two-lane paved bike- and walk-way that would be completely separated from traffic, Kiser said.
"It's really a first-class project. There will be a line striped down the middle (to keep northbound and southbound pedestrians separated). It will also have traffic crossing signals at the appropriate intersections. It is not just a paved pathway," he said.
The city then applied for a Bicycle Transportation Account Grant from the California Department of Transportation and, in September 2009, received $620,000 to construct the bikeway.
"The project will not only provide a safe passage for bicyclists and pedestrians traveling to work, school or shopping in the south end of town, but would significantly improve the appearance of Highway 273 along the west side," Kiser told the Anderson City Council Tuesday, Aug. 17, as they prepared to award a construction bid of $548,000 to Site Work Solutions Inc. of Redding.
The bid was the lowest of five submitted for the project, Kiser said.
With council member Butch Schaefer absent, the remaining four members unanimously awarded the bid and adopted a resolution that would appropriate the grant funds for spending in the 2010-2011 city budget.
"I am excited to see this happen," Councilman James Yarbrough said once the vote was recorded.
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
Comments » 2
patagain46 writes:
$156,800 in unspent Tax Increment Bond, a Bicycle Transportation Account Grant from the California Department of Transportation and, in September 2009, of $620,000 ... then a construction bid of $548,000 to Site Work Solutions Inc. of Redding.
This is just one heck of a lot of money... being bandied about.
I say start a fee for every bicycle sold, and then register those bicycles every year. They are using our streets, plus getting privatized paved trails at our expense..... It isn't fair.
I_drive_5 writes:
It sure does sound like a lot of money when you first think of it. But I have a different point of view about what is unfair.
What has been unfair is that north american city planners have taken so very long to start recognizing the importance and value of providing alternative transportation beyond the automobile. Now, many US citizens are starting to realize the economic, social and environmental need for those popular transportation modes that have l-o-n-g been utilized by so much of the global population: such as the bicycle.
So the spending to provide space and support for alternatives comes off as an expensive afterthought when in fact, there was lack of information, comprehension and adaquate planning that lead to this current deficit of intelligent alternatives. That was unfair!
Thirty-five years ago the bicycle was all the transportation I had, could afford and needed. Things declined since back then, even as it was tricky at that time to find safe routes and commuter understanding!
These options in this great nation are long overdue, and we deserve better options than simply automobile-ways.
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