The Sacramento River bike path and Redding’s bicycle circulation in general will advance, thanks to a $1.2 million state grant.
The California Natural Resources Agency announced earlier this week it would award the City of Redding $1.2 million of Proposition 84 money. The grant will fund a variety of improvements on 62 acres – known as Turtle Bay East – along the Sacramento River, between Highway 44 and North Bechelli Lane.
Most of the money will go toward restoring riparian habitat along the river, according to Redding community projects manager Terry Hanson. With assistance from the California Conservation Corps and the nonprofit organization River Partners, the city will remove nonnative species – Scotch broom, Chinese tree of heaven, blackberries – along one mile of river frontage and plant native species.
The city also intends to pave the access road from the end of North Bechelli Lane and the parking lot, construct a picnic pavilion, and build a crushed rock trail. Thanks to a partnership with Caltrans, a concrete bike path will be built from a new Turtle Bay East parking lot, under the Highway 44 bridge, to the Dana-to-Downtown extension of the river bike path, which is scheduled to open later this month.
Thus, people who live off Bechelli will gain great bicycle access to the river trail and to the Hilltop Drive area. Once the Cypress Street bridge is complete, Parkview residents may ride a bike across the new bridge, up Hemsted Drive to North Bechelli, then onto Turtle Bay East and either the bike path or Hilltop.
Currently, Turtle Bay East “doesn’t get that much use,” Hanson said. “People take their dogs there. People go fly fishing down there. But it has never provided any access to the river trail.”
Once the city signs a contract with the state – which is dependent on passage of a state budget – the city may begin formal planning and design work. All of the improvements should be complete by mid-2012, according to Hanson.
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• Speaking of bicycles … the folks at Healthy Shasta need volunteers for the third annual bike and pedestrian count. They’ll be counting cyclists and walkers at 22 intersections from 7 to 8:30 a.m. and again from 4 to 6 p.m. for three days beginning next Tuesday, September 21. These tallies help advocates and local officials decide where best to spend money on sidewalks, bike paths and such. Want to help out? Contact Sara Sundquist at (530) 245-6457 or click here.
• National Park Service rangers will lead a full moon hike at Whiskeytown Lake during the autumn equinox, September 23, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Organizers say the four-mile hike may be an “easy” one but are coy about the exact location unless you register in advance, which is required. I’ll simply say that moonlight reflecting off the lake can really light up the Oak Bottom Water Ditch Trail. To register, call (530) 242-3462.
Paul Shigley is senior editor of California Planning & Development Report, a frequent contributor to Planning magazine and owns twice as many bicycles as cars. He lives in Centerville. Paul Shigley may be reached at pauls.anewscafe@gmail.com.
