LAMORINDA WEEKLY | Cycling Through the Process


Alta Planning + Design's Ian Moore (center, blue sweater) talks with interested residents during a site tour.

Don't hold your breath. The three and a half mile Lafayette Class I bike path proposed along East Bay Municipal Utility District right of way is a long way from holding cyclists. Even the westernmost section would likely be five years or more in the making, or so says Alta Planning + Design's Ian Moore. Moore spoke during a public workshop May 12 at the Lafayette Community Center. The workshop followed a site tour of the route May 7.

For now, the project is just a feasibility study using staff from Alta Planning, Mark Thomas Engineering and Fehr and Peers Consultants and funded by a California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) grant. The proposed trail section runs between Highway 24 and Mt. Diablo Boulevard from Risa Road to Brown Avenue. Moore calls this a "critical piece" along a Highway 24 bike corridor striving to connect cities from Alameda to Walnut Creek via a continuous network of pathways.

The project is included in Lafayette's Bikeways Master Plan, which is part of the city's General Plan. Its current design shows a paved pathway with switch backs, retaining walls, a pedestrian bike overcrossing, street improvements where vehicles and cyclists interact, and one or two traffic signals. To keep the path Americans with Disability Act compliant, limits are set on how steep the inclines and how sharp the switchbacks. Current cost estimates are 3.5 million per mile with an additional $38,000 annually spent in upkeep. Multiple million dollar grants between one and 1.5 million from Caltrans, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, Contra Costa Transportation Authority or the Federal Highway Administration could fund the project.

Moore says Orinda's St. Stephen's bike trail is a good comparison. It has no overpass or signals but needed retaining wall work done. The mile long trail runs near the eastbound lanes of Highway 24, connecting Orinda to the Lafayette Reservoir. Its cost was 1.8 million. In contrast, Walnut Creek's Treat Boulevard pedestrian overpass cost 12 million.

For details about the proposal, go online to http://www.lafayettepathway.com/