Walnut Creek "mobility gripe No. 3: Where the sidewalk ends on Ygnacio Valley

I'm sure city planners had good reason at some point, allowing this notable gap in the sidewalk between John Muir Medical Center and San Carlos Drive. And, I'm sure there are readers out there who can explain how this came about and correct my ignorance.

And, yes, there is something nice about the idea of building a "green" sound wall to protect residents along Los Altos Avenue from the heavy traffic noise of Ygnacio Valley Road.

And, I know that you can take what can be a pleasant detour north of John Muir hospital, onto the trail that takes you into San Miguel Park.

And, I know you can cross Ygnacio there from the south side to the north. Yeah, and you can wait and wait for the "walking man" signal that lets you cross...

But still. This gap is just that: a gap, which hinders easy pedestrian and bicycle mobility from one point on Ygnacio to another....

I've come across it frequently my little jogs, like this morning, around town, when I choose to climb up and over Ygnacio Valley Road. And, this sidewalk stop has always mystified me.

Oh, and to the left is peek at the fence on the other side of the soundwall.

Walnut Creek "mobility" gripe No. 2: Where the sidewalk ends on Newell Avenue, and it shouldn't...

First, I should explain the use of the term "mobility" in both these post and the one prior.

"Mobility" was the catch-all term that arose during the city-hosted Community Conversation workshops this fall to apply to all issues that pertain to how cars, trucks, buses, bikes, and people move in around town.

Mobility.

And, so here is one of my Walnut Creek mobility gripes. It has to do with how you're strolling along Newell Avenue, or South Main Street, and you come to the southeast corner of the Newell Avenue and South Main intersection. If you want to walk east on Newell, along the south side of the avenue, between Newell and San Ramon Creek, you immediately lose the sidewalk once you come to the Terrace Shops strip mall.

If you want to walk between Newell Avenue and San Ramon Creek, you have to leave the sidewalk and pass through the mall's parking lot. This is true for anyone passing from downtown, the Kaiser medical center, and Pacific Bay Coffee Company or George's Giant Hamburger in the Terrace Shops mall towards Whole Foods and the northern entrance to Las Lomas High School.

Sure, coming to the end of the sidewalk and passing through the parking lot is not that big of deal. But there are cars coming and going and backing in and out of a bustling small mall.

And the thing is, this gap in a pedestrian walkway in a downtown commercial area runs counter to the goals of Walnut Creek's General Plan 2025. In the Plan's Chapter 5, the Transportation section, the city established some guidelines.

The plan says that the city should require "full-frontage" curb and sidewalk improvemtns in all commercial areas, and that these sidwalks should be a minimum of 10 feet wide.

The Terrace Shops were built a while back. The center has been in Walnut Creek from the time I was a kid. So, no doubt, the city government, way back then, probably didn't impose any sidewalk requirements on the original developer. In the General Plan 2025, the city says it wants to require that sidewalks be installed at the time of development. However, it acknowledges that "the burden to install as well as maintain sidewalks in most cases rests with the property owner."

Still, the General Plan makes it clear that the city hopes to correct the development mistakes of the past, and presumably that would one day include adding a sidewalk to the Newell Avenue frontage of the Terrace Shops mall. On the other hand, that's a pretty narrow parking lot. Making room for a sidewalk would take serious width away from an already narrow, crowded parking lot.