You Asked, We Got the Answer

A cyclist rides his bike westbound on the Del Paso Road shoulder, near Sorento Road in Valley View Acres.

THE NATOMAS BUZZ | @natomasbuzz

“Why hasn’t the city painted bike lanes on the busy section of Del Paso Road from Blackrock Drive to Northgate Boulevard? There is quite a lot of bicycle traffic (especially around the Natomas Charter School) and have been a number of accidents involving vehicles and bicycles recently. That stretch is very dangerous, as the average speed is over 50 MPH.”

-Anonymous via e-mail

Sacramento Vice Mayor Angelique Ashby sent us an answer:

“We agree connectivity is critical for safe bike travel in Natomas. The City portion of the path in question is in place now. The bike path stops at the County line and starts back up again as a widened shoulder lane where the road comes back to within the City limits in front of Valley View Acres. In the past there were discussions about annexing this area (called the Panhandle) into the City. If that happens, or when a project moves forward on that parcel, a bike line will connect the two.”

Added Patrick Carpenter, Principal Civil Engineer with the Sacramento County Department of Transportation:

“The roadway in question is included in the County’s bikeway master plan indicating that it is the County’s policy to have on-street bicycle lanes on that road. Currently a significant portion of this roadway segment is too narrow to accommodate the addition of bicycle lanes. Roadway widening of this section of roadway is expected to come when the abutting large area of land along the northerly side of the road develops. Our office has not been approached by the property owner about developing that land and so there is no information available as to when the roadway will be improved. It would appear that it will be some years before the desired bicycle lanes will come to this roadway.”

Officials noted the other side of the road has a completed sidewalk which could be used by cyclists if necessary.