Bike East Bay is as committed as ever to building a safe network of bikeways in the Danville and Diablo area. We have some good news to share and important elections coming up.
New Bikeways
This summer, the Town of Danville will implement a safety project for cyclists and motorists on Diablo Road. These safety enhancements are part of the Townwide Bicycle Plan CIP C-621. They consist of street facilities along a 1.8 mile segment of the Diablo Road, between the intersection of Green Valley Road/Diablo Road and Hartz Ave/Diablo Road. These upgraded bikeways include an improved intersection design at Green Valley Road to get you over to the paved Diablo Road Trail leading to the Diablo community and Calle Arroyo. Also, the project includes Bike Boxes, Bike Conflict Striping, Green Bike Intersection Markings and Bicycle Detection boxes. More on these Diablo Road improvements from our local partners at Bike Danville. Later this year, Danville will update their Master Bike Plan, and we look forward to working with Bike Danville and supporters in the area to further develop a robust network of safe bikeways. Our vision is a connected Danville, Diablo, Blackhawk: including connections to the many schools and parks in this area at the foot of Mount Diablo.
Important March 3 Local Ballot Measures to Support
On March 3, Danville voters get to say Yes on Measure Y to preserve open space and help build a bikeway along the south side of Diablo Road extending east. If Measure Y is approved, this new path will extend Diablo Road Trail to Blackhawk Road, where the county recently made some modest bike improvements. Measure Y builds half of this new path and dedicates an easement for the other half. Danville has secured over $1 million to build this other half of the path, but needs more. Enter Measure J. Contra Costa County voters on March 3 get to say Yes on Measure J, a new 35-year, half-cent sales tax funded transportation plan, which includes hundreds of millions of dollars for building safe bikeways throughout Contra Costa County. It also significantly boosts transit funding thanks to our advocacy leadership. Bike East Bay is actively campaigning for Yes on J and you can too. Volunteer here.
Diablo Lawsuit
On January 28th, a court heard arguments for preserving a public easement on the gravel path between Alameda Diablo and Mount Diablo Scenic Blvd to the South Gate Road entrance to Mount Diablo State Park. This issue is part of the lawsuit Bike East Bay has been involved in over the past two years, to defend public access on the roads in Diablo. We are supporting a local resident who joined the lawsuit to have the Pathway declared an Easement. We don’t expect a court ruling on this for a while.
In December last year, right before the holidays, we agreed to a settlement of a cost award in the above-mentioned lawsuit. As you may recall, the court in the case ruled that Calle Arroyo Road is private, but also ruled that Diablo Community Services District has no authority to enforce who uses the road, nor will the county sheriff do so. The plaintiffs were awarded costs on the private road issue, and in an attempt to reduce our liability, we negotiated to have the costs reduced under certain conditions. However, the settlement has become difficult to implement in a way that will ensure and improve your safety on the roads in this region, and we are now concerned that the agreement could make safety worse. In addition, the plaintiffs have misconstrued things. With your immediate safety as our highest concern, we have decided to pay the plaintiffs their full award costs due and make them whole, and are no longer committed to conditions stated in the settlement. We think it is very unfortunate that the plaintiff is demanding money from a bike safety and advocacy organization. Calle Arroyo is still a private road but, as you may imagine, issues are still contested.
We welcome your support of this advocacy work. Join and support Bike East Bay.