Walnut Creek mobility gripe no. 4: Where the bike lane ends on California Boulevard

A reader alerted me to both this possible “gap” in thinking on Walnut Creek’s proposed Bicycle Plan, as well as a challenging gap for bicyclists trying to travel up and down California Boulevard between the BART station and Newell Avenue.

The bike lane along California Boulevard ends at Mt. Diablo Boulevard. If the bicyclist is determined to push to Newell Avenue on south to the end of California Boulevard, well good luck to the bicyclist. He or she has to compete with motorists for space, especially in those two blocks between Olympic Boulevard and Newell Avenue.

As I’ve said before, I don’t ride a bike, but I’ve been a motorist coming upon someone on a bike trying to squeeze into the right-hand lanes of traffic going in both directions on California Boulevard between Olympic and Newell.

Basically, there is no room for both a car and a bike in those right-hand lanes. Of course, I’ve been the motorist, annoyed that I have to slow way down and essentially follow behind the bicyclist. And I’ve been stuck in a slow-moving column of cars, stuck behind a much slower moving bicyclist.

It happens fairly frequently. It makes sense that, if you’re a bicyclist trying to get from one end of town to another, that you’d use the full length of California Boulevard. I’ve seen kids on bikes trying to get to and from school on California Boulevard, and what looks like adults on bikes trying to get to and from work.

According to the draft Bicycle Plan, which the city council has begun discussing, creating a “Class III” bike route in both directions from Olympic Boulevard to Newell Avenue is a high priority. A Class III bike route can basically be any city street, and doesn’t require a special bike lane. It is “usually established on low-volume local neighborhood streets,” which we know California Boulevard, leading to Plaza Escuela, Trader Joe’s, and Kaiser medical center, is not. It is recommended that Class III bike routes that serve as routes to school, for younger bicyclists, have “wider outside lane widths (fourteen to sixteen feet)."

With the current state of sidewalks and retail space on California Boulevard, between Oympic and Newell, I'm not sure how they would squeeze in any extra space in the right lanes for bicyclists.

As I wrote earlier, the city has begun discussing ways to make Walnut Creek more bike-friendly. The city has to work on this effort. It is mandated to do so by the General Plan 2025 and if it wants to become eligible to receive special state funds. Unfortunately, the draft Bicycle Plan says that many roads are not currently bicycle friendly (could we be talking this stretch of California Boulevard?), and connections to downtown, transit, and work centers are not clearly established.

Should Walnut Creek become more bicycle friendly? If so, how? And, can’t we all—cyclists and motorists—be friends?

Actually, it’s mandated in the Walnut Creek General Plan 2025 that Walnut Creek become more bike friendly. According to its draft Bicycle Plan, the city wants to “provide a safe and attractive environment for bicycle travel, promote bicycle use as a sustainable and healthy mode of transportation, and provide facilities that encourage and support bicycle use for travel and recreation in Walnut Creek.

Besides these lofty, eco-friendly goals, the city needs to develop a comprehensive Bicycle Plan to become eligible to receive state funds alloted by such agencies as the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, and the Bay Area Air Quality Management Distirct.

Okay, so Walnut Creek must become more bicycle friendly. The “how” is what the City Council will begin discussing at its meeting Tuesday night.

Background: Over the past 10 years, the city has spent about $2 million to ease bicycle transportation around town. These new facilities include building a “Class 1” bicycle- and pedestrian-only bridge along the Iron Horse Trail crossing Ygnacio Valley Road and installing 50 new bike racks in the downtown area.

But the city would like to do more to encourage more people to bike to work or to school or to use bikes to shop, go out to eat, take in a movie or show at the Lesher Center, and get themselves to our parks and open space areas.

The Draft Bicycle plan says that many roads are not currently bicycle friendly; connections to downtown, transit, and work centers are not clearly established; bike parking facilities are inadequate; and improvements should be made in bike safety programs. Also, the unincorporated pockets surrounded by the city (like my neighborhood) create gaps in bike routes.

The city has identified a long list of destinations for cyclists that includes 31 schools, 27 parks and open spaces, two BART stations, and eight commercial centers. The city would also like to improve the bike networks between us and neighboring cities.

One consideration: The 2000 Census shows that only 0.6 percent of Walnut Creek residents bike to work on a regular basis. That number is slightly higher than the national average and, of course, doesn’t include kids who ride their bikes to school or people who ride recreationally.

A disclosure: I don’t ride a bicycle and don’t foresee myself taking up cycling, but I have co-workers who bike to work and relatives who are serious recreational cyclists. For these people, I know cycling saves them money for commuting, and gives them a chance to exercise and enjoy the outdoors.

One major concern is bicycle safety for cyclists. However, it appears that the people most in need of bicycle safety education are the cyclists themselves. Of the 109 bicycle crashes in Walnut Creek from 2004 to 2008, the majority were caused by the cyclists, primarily by riding on the wrong side of the road. Remember, as the draft plan says, every person riding a bicycle upon a street or highway is subject to the all the duties applicable to a driver of a vehicle.

Hmm. I’ve seen a fair share of cyclists, especially those weekend groups riding in packs fail to stop at stop signs in my neighborhood …

Well, here are some of the specific ideas for making Walnut Creek more bicycle friendly, and you can read more in the draft plan:

--Require major development and redevelopment projects be reviewed by the Bicycle Advisory Committee to ensure that bicycle facilities can accommodate various users, including the provision of temporary facilities.
--Require appropriate bicycle-related improvements as a condition of design
review or subdivision approval.
--Require routine accommodations for all modes of travel when implementing city street-widening projects
-- Consider sidewalk widths greater than 10 feet whenever bicyclists are allowed or encouraged to use sidewalks on a designated bicycle facility.
--Where feasible, integrate new bikeways when designing new or modifying existing roadways.
--Support the development of a bikeway network that provides connections to bikeways in neighboring communities.