Safety concerns surround endpoint of new bridge bike-pedestrian path
By Lisa P. White
Contra Costa Times
7/23/2009
MARTINEZ — The newly built path along the Benicia-Martinez bridge offers sweeping views of the hills along the Carquinez Strait, but its abrupt ending on the Martinez side has raised concerns about safety.
The path deposits cyclists and pedestrians onto a narrow road in an industrial area. At that point, people must dodge big rigs and remote-controlled locomotives to reach Marina Vista Street, the gateway to downtown Martinez.
To provide safer passage, the city and the East Bay Regional Park District have called on Caltrans to fulfill its obligation to extend the bike-pedestrian path from the endpoint at Mococo Road over the railroad tracks to Marina Vista, where there is an existing bike lane.
“We think it’s a little nutty that they spent all that money on the bridge and all that money on the bike path and then are dumping pedestrians into what is a reasonably dangerous corridor,” said Jim Townsend, trails development program manager for the East Bay Regional Park District.
“Caltrans should provide a safe bicycle and pedestrian connection to Marina Vista “… it’s a matter of protecting the people that cross the bridge from getting mashed by a chemical truck or mashed by a train.”
Caltrans did not return calls seeking comment.
The bicycle-pedestrian path is part of a $43.5 million renovation of the Benicia-Martinez bridge which also added a fourth lane for southbound vehicle traffic and wider shoulders on the roadway. The work on the bridge began in January 2008 and a ribbon-cutting for the bike-pedestrian path is scheduled for Aug. 29. The path is a segment of the San Francisco Bay Trail and the Bay Area Ridge Trail.
The San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission issued permits for the path construction which called for Caltrans to build a nearly 12-foot-wide extension to Marina Vista. But Caltrans reportedly has had a hard time trying to acquire additional right of way from the railroad.
There is agreement the path ends in a “complicated” spot. Still, the Martinez City Council and the park district board of directors recently passed resolutions calling on the transportation agency to abide by the permits and complete the path as quickly as possible.
Martinez City Engineer Tim Tucker said Caltrans is working with the California Public Utilities Commission and the railroad to get the space to continue the bike-pedestrian path by putting in an 8-foot-wide lane on both sides of the railroad tracks. In the short term, the lanes on either side of the tracks will be about 5 feet wide, he said.
“They are trying to widen it so there is more room for pedestrians, but pedestrian access to that area is very difficult,” Tucker said.
At the urging of the city and the park district, Tucker said Caltrans also is considering putting in a 12-foot wide path on the east side of the tracks. But such a project would cost between $500,000 and $1 million and could take about a year to approve and build, he said.
Jaime Michaels, coastal programs analyst at the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, said her agency is working with Caltrans to find a solution, which could come as early as next week.
“I think the goal for all of us is really to get some kind of access out there as safe as it can be given the constraints.”