cfforum

The Sierra College stretch from Lincoln to Taylor road in Loomis is a great stretch of road to ride on. However, as you approach Taylor from the North, the bike lane squeezes in to nothing for about 1/4 mile, which is really dangerous, as it is coming around a blind curve. Does anyone know how one could go about "lobbying" to get this paved? It wouldn't take much, as the "lane" is already there, it is simply chewed up gravel and pavement though.

After seeing two fellow club/team riders killed in LA last fall, when they were squeezed into traffic by an intermittent lack of bike lane, I am acutely aware of such situations now.

Also, Taylor, from Sierra College to Rocklin Road, going West, has a massive gravel lane already graded, but again, this stretch is not rideable, and you are squeezed into the flow of traffic without a paved lane until Rocklin Road. I had a massive Monster truck brush me, and give me the finger, for simply riding at 25 mph as far right as I could get. Good stuff. Anyone know why Loomis is seemingly not as bike friendly? Anyone have any contacts I could pursue to see if these could be paved with a light top?

I am so happy that my wife and I have decided to settle in this area. Once we realized that we were moving to the area, I was so psyched to see all of the riders and bike lanes! After 25 years, in both large and small cities across the US, I am finally part of the norm, not the exception, as a bike rider.

Report it to SABA as a hazard - it won't probably fix the issue but SABA is pretty good at passing along complaints to the proper authorities:
http://www.sacbike.org/hazard/

The authorities in this case are Placer County Transportation Planning Agency and you can see their site here: http://www.pctpa.org/modes/bikeways.htm

warning - the information on this site is woefully out of date in some cases.

I do think that if we all agree on the priority of a given improvement we think needs to be made, that we can collectively make noise and that cannot hurt. These are all elected officials and at all costs, they want to stay that way.

Steve,

I really appreciate that. I just joined SABA. Hopefully, with the time that I have during the day, I can start pursuing some of these things with the right people and try to help out.

CB

It seems to me I know the person in who mans Placer County's top post for all bicycle related issues. Scott Snyder and I had beers with him one night down at Streets of London in Folsom.

He's a great guy, we traded a few emails in the past; he was aware of our web site and who we are before we met him - so he's been doing his homework. I'll try to find his email address and we can think about the best way to approach him to make the greatest impact.

Wow. Awesome. Sounds like a plan. I'll wait to do anything until I hear from you.

CB

some interesting reading:

Sac/El Dorado County: http://www.sacog.org/bikeinfo/pdf/maste ... n_2007.pdf

Placer county: http://www.pctpa.org/library/bikeplans/ ... an_web.pdf

Note - that Place county's plan is 5 years out of date....

Steve,

I appreciate it. It looks like Sierra College to Taylor might be on their radar, albeit the plan looks old as you say. I added it to the hazards area of sacbike, and it looks like it was forwarded to Loomis.

Interestingly enough, they quote the cost of putting down pavement over already graded gravel at $475,000 per mile! Awesome.....Nothing like gov't budgets. Must be the flagman making $30 an hour to hold the orange flag.

CB

Think of the cost savings if someone could invent a device for a flag to stand up all by itself!

Hmmmm - let's get our top scientists on that one.

))))))))))))))))))))))))

btw, looked at Loomis site specifically, and the changes needed for Sierra College approaching Taylor, and Taylor itself going West to Oak Street, are on the list of things to do, BUT, they are listed with the caveat, "these areas could be modified as part of larger future city improvements and modifications", thus alleviating any time pressure. So, I think I may have to head over to a town meeting, and start asking some questions with some photos. Hopefully I have some time coming up.

CB