These Sacramento-area roads could get bike and pedestrian upgrades in California budget
Safer, wider sidewalks. New bike paths, separated from the street. More help for the disabled to get around.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s May budget revision calls for $500 million in new funding for such projects, money that should be of particular help locally to people who use busy streets like Watt Avenue and Folsom Boulevard.
Safety experts see an urgent need. More than 1,000 pedestrians died in California last year, up slightly from 2019.
Over the last decade, cyclist-related deaths in Sacramento County have ranged from six in 2019 to 18 in 2017. In the state, since 2013, cyclist deaths have ranged from 173 in 2018 to 130 in 2014
Government officials are trying to move quickly to get the numbers down. “Locals have already submitted their applications, so the existing proposed projects will be considered for this additional funding,” said Matt Rocco, a Caltrans spokesman.
The California Transportation Commission will approve funding for additional projects. More than 400 projects across the state were left unfunded in the current grant cycle.
The potential changes are very welcome, said Debra Banks, executive director of the Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates.
She called the efforts to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act very important, though she had mixed feelings about the projects’ buffered bike lanes.
“I am a fan of buffered bike lanes in general. They make many cyclists feel safer,” Banks said.
“However, those constructed on roads where speeding is a regular occurrence due to multi-lane one-way roads do not make cyclists feel safer or those who use wheelchairs or other active assist devices,” she said. She did like how all sorts of consumers are being taken into account as the projects are being developed.
Help for pedestrians & bicyclists
More than 400 projects across the state are seeking funding. In a addition to the Watt Avenue and Folsom Boulevard projects, potential recipients in Sacramento County and nearby include:
▪ Citrus Heights. Old Auburn Road project. Includes landscaping, bike lanes and sidewalk improvements.
▪ Elk Grove. Laguna Creek inter-regional trail crossing at Route 99.
▪ Folsom. Riley Street sidewalks project to help make pedestrians safer on a route often used for school access.
▪ Rancho Cordova. Safe Routes to School safety enhancement project.
▪ Rancho Cordova. Olson Drive safety enhancement project.
▪ West Sacramento. Convert the upper deck of the historic I Street railroad bridge from motor vehicle access to a dedicated bikeway/walkway, connecting the cities of West Sacramento and Sacramento. A new bridge for vehicle traffic is planned nearby.
Dry Creek Greenway extension in Roseville
Map: City of Roseville
Newsom’s budget says the additional funding aims to help projects that “increase the proportion of trips accomplished by walking and biking” and make roads and paths safer.
On Watt Avenue, the project involves a six-lane segment of the road with a speed limit of 45 miles per hour that had carried about 53,000 vehicles each day.
Currently, bicyclists have to either ride on sidewalks or in the gutter.
And, said a Sacramento County transportation department report on the project, “The existing sidewalk is attached and mostly with rolled curbs and is not ADA compliant. There are missing crosswalks at intersections which increases travel distance and decreases safety.”
There have been seven bicycle-related accidents in the area over the past five years, and “the primary causes of collision have been bicycles getting rear-ended or bicyclists riding on the wrong side of the road,” the report said.
Watt Avenue and Folsom Boulevard
Construction is expected to begin in September on a Watt Avenue project, and be completed sometime next year. Sacramento County is seeking additional funding from the state for the work.
Among the project’s tasks:
▪ Build buffered bike lanes and separate pedestrian-friendly sidewalks on Watt Avenue between Winona Way and Roseville Road.
▪ Build disability access features.
▪ Add bicycle detection, new crosswalks, disability and audible and countdown pedestrian heads at intersections with signals.
▪ Rehabilitate and resurface the existing pavement.
▪ Build improved transit stops with bus turnouts and provisions for shelters.
The Folsom Boulevard project is aimed at making it easier for pedestrians and bicyclists, as well as improving the aesthetics of a mile along the road’s south side between Mayhew Road and Bradshaw Road in Cordova.
Among the improvements on the entire road: Buffered bike lanes, landscaped frontage with decorative street lights, a separated sidewalk, update sidewalk ramps to meet current federal disability standards, and metal rail fencing for separation from the Sacramento Regional Transit light rail tracks.
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