3 days ago
Sacramento considering new 2-mile shared pathway for pedestrians, bikes
( — The City of Sacramento is looking for community feedback on its three different proposals for the Norwood Mobility Project.
The project seeks to improve mobility along a roughly 2-mile stretch of Norwood Avenue from Main Avenue to Arcade Creek, including a section that crosses over Interstate 80.
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Alternative 1 is the simplest and the cheapest of the three plans.
The city would widen the west side sidewalk to 8 feet, add a sidewalk north of Berthoud Street, build signalized crosswalks and add some benches and bus stop shelters.
The speed limit would also be lowered.
According to the plan posted online, the section of Norwood Avenue that crosses over the freeway would not have the sidewalk expanded.
The second plan adds dedicated lanes for a third type of transit: bikes.
In addition to being one of three proposals, Alternative 2 also has three variants.
All three variants would keep the changes listed for Alternative 1 with the exception of widening the west side sidewalk to 8 feet.
All Alternative 2 plans also add street lighting, replace a lane of car traffic in each direction with separated bike paths and turn three intersections into roundabouts.
Where the variants deviate is how they separate pedestrians and bikes from car traffic.
In Variant A, cyclists are at the same level of the street as motor vehicles, separated by a 3-foot buffer. Pedestrians on both sides of the street are elevated on the sidewalk and separated from bikes with a buffer that includes a 3-foot-wide planter section
In Variant B, the planter section is removed from one side of the street and expanded to 7 feet on the other to allow for the possibility of planting of trees.
In Variant C, the bike lanes are elevated to the level of the sidewalk and the planter sections is placed between the bike lane and traffic. By removing the need for the two 3-foot buffers between bikes and traffic, there is room for one side of the street to have the 7-foot planter strip and for the other to keep the smaller 3-foot planter strip.
Like in Alternative 1, most of the improvements would not be included on the part of Norwood Avenue that crosses over the freeway.
Alternative 3 is the most expensive. It would involve creating a 12-foot-wide shared-use path on one side of the street for bikes and pedestrians separated by an expanded planter strip and gutter.
The other side of the street would also get an expanded planter.
According to the plans posted online, Alternative 3 is the only option in which a major part of the improvement would run continuously from Main Avenue to Arden Creek, including on the overpass.
The plan also keeps the reduced lanes of vehicle traffic, lowered speed limits, benches, signalized crosswalks, and roundabouts.
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