City Council Looks at Bicycle Master Plan Proposal

Coronado is one step closer to becoming a more bicycle friendly town. On Tuesday, the accepted a draft proposal from the and directed its staff to develop a comprehensive master plan for the council to vote on at a future meeting.

Recommendations in the draft ranged from placing pedestrian- and cyclist-activated crossing signals on Third and Fourth Streets to the building a bike path on Ocean Boulevard on the beach side of the rocks.

The complete draft has been discussed at two public meetings and has been on the city’s website for several weeks. This was the council’s first opportunity to see and discuss the proposal.

“I’m excited about the plan,” Mayor Casey Tanaka said. “We are going to need more time to review and consider what we like and what we wouldn’t touch.”

Among the untouchables was a recommendation to paint a green strip down the center of Orange Avenue, so cars and bikes could share the right lane. “If we were to support putting a green line down Orange Ave., we would be forever known as the Green Strip Council,” he said.

Although cycling is popular, there are more cars than bikes on the island.

“The majority of people who visit and live here drive cars,” Councilman Al Ovrom said.

“At some point, the minority is going to run into a buzz saw called the majority,” Tanaka added.

Councilman Mike Woiwode, an avid cyclist who represented the council on the ad hoc committee, pointed out that “it is legal to ride a bike on Orange Avenue.” He said he does it all the time. “Bikes belong and are not a burden to be tolerated.”

Councilwoman Barbara Denny pointed out that the state will be enacting stricter air quality standards. “Creating a town were bikes are welcome will help us meet those targets,” she said.

The report also addressed safety issues with the Bayshore Bikeway crossing at the entrance to the Coronado Cays. The issue has been around for sometime and residents of the Cays have been lobbying hard to get it resolved.

Few cyclists heed the stop sign at the intersection in front of the kiosk on Coronado Cays Boulevard. "They're supposed to stop, get off their bikes and walk across the intersection, but they don't," said Larry Peterson, general manger of the Coronado Cays Homeowners Association.

Just last week there was a serious accident involving a car and a bike in front of the entrance. A cyclist sped past the kiosk, just as a car was coming out. When he spotted the car, he swerved, hit a curb and was catapulted off his bike into the traffic lane.

"It took the paramedics a while to stabilize him,” Peterson told the council on Tuesday. “He didn’t die, but it’s only a matter of time before someone does.”

The draft master plan suggested two alternatives—moving the bicycle crossing closer to the Strand-pedestrian intersection, so cyclists would be forced to obey the traffic signal there, or building an undercrossing beneath Coronado Cays Boulevard, so cars and bikes wouldn't come into contact with each other. 

Both alternatives would be costly. The City Council and the city manger made it clear at the meeting Tuesday night that they wouldn't entertain a project or concept that wasn't fundable or that required an environmental review.  

Councilwoman Carrie Downey said a low-cost, short-term solution might be to place a large mirror at the kiosk, so drivers and cyclists could see each other. Peterson has suggested placing rumble strips on the bike path to slow the cyclists down.

Denny, who has been working with Cay’s residents for sometime on this issue, told the council that the Traffic Safety Committee was dealing with this matter. Woiwode said, “If the committee has this, it needs to take a more aggressive approach.”