Dear Mr. Haile:
Walk Bike Walnut Creek strongly supports the City of Walnut Creek's application for funding for the Newell Avenue Bikeway Improvement Project between Maria Lane and California Boulevard.
Newell Avenue is one of the major arterial roads surrounding Downtown Walnut Creek and today acts as a significant barrier between downtown and the neighborhoods, schools, businesses, and medical facilities immediately to the south and east. For people walking and bicycling, reaching destinations such as the Iron Horse Trail, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Kaiser, and the rest of downtown can require stressful and circuitous crossings of a wide, busy roadway.
The existing bicycle facilities on Newell are inadequate for such an important connection. Replacing shared-lane facilities with Class IV protected bikeways, together with the improved Broadway/Newell crossing, shorter crossing distances, and new mid-block crosswalk, would make this corridor dramatically safer and more comfortable for people walking and biking.
The project also closes an important gap in the larger Olympic Corridor Trail connection and improves access to the regionally significant Iron Horse Trail, strengthening a broader network connecting neighborhoods, schools, employment, downtown destinations, and regional trails.
In my view, this is the most significant and exciting walking and biking improvement proposed for Downtown Walnut Creek that I have seen. It directly addresses one of the most difficult barriers around downtown and has the potential to transform how people reach the area on foot and by bicycle.
Walk Bike Walnut Creek strongly urges CCTA to fund the Newell Avenue Bikeway Improvement Project.
Thank you for your consideration.