Cyclists finally cruising with BART
By: Katie Worth
Examiner Staff Writer
February 19, 2009
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| Future travel: Biking enthusiasts say the new $6.5 million BART path is making the north-south trek easier, and they envision the route extending from Colma to Millbrae. (Juan Carlos Pometta Betancourt/Special to The Examiner) |
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO — To commute to his job in Millbrae by bike, Al Meckler had two choices: brave busy El Camino Real or take a circuitous back route that danced across the railroad tracks multiple times.
Both seemed indirect or unsafe.
As a result of a 19-year-long process that was circuitous in its own right, at least one portion of that commute will get a little easier next month.
The city has built a 3-mile bicycle path atop the buried BART tube between the transit agency’s San Bruno and South San Francisco stations.
Biking enthusiasts say the new $6.5 million path — half of which was completed last year — has already made the convoluted north-south trek a little simpler, and they envision a future in which that route extends both north and south along the BART right-of-way, creating a continuous dedicated bike route from Colma to Millbrae.
That vision dates back to 1990, when BART officials said they would open up the right-of-way to Peninsula cities that wanted to use it for a bike path and community parks. Around 1998, South San Francisco began talking to BART about how to make this happen, said Meckler, a bicycling advocate.
Things slowed down when the logistics became complicated. Although BART had initially dreamed up the project, it later hesitated to give up land for which it had found profitable uses, according to Sharon Ranals, the city’s Recreation and Community Services director.
Eventually, the problems were ironed out and funding was secured from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and 12 other grants, Ranals said.
Similar funding could be found if other cities wanted to extend the bike path, said Ranals.
Meckler said the cities farther down the BART line — Millbrae and San Bruno — may have to wait to see what comes of the High Speed Rail Corridor, which will follow BART tracks through those cities, before investing in a bike lane.
Colma has in the past expressed concern that a bike path could increase noise at several cemeteries that line BART tracks.
Longtime cycling advocate Pat Giorni said there may be federal stimulus dollars available for extending the bike lane into other cities.
“If something like this had been shovel-ready today, we might well have been able to garner funds for it,” she said. “But nobody, apparently besides South San Francisco, has been thinking about it until now.”
kworth@sfexaminer.com
