Tehachapi News

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The city council approve going out to bid for construction of the first phase of a proposed bike lane along Valley Boulevard between Tucker Road and Curry Street at their June 16 meeting.
“This plan is a full concept plan for all of Valley Boulevard, long term” said Jay Schlosser, city engineer. “All we're asking for now is [approval for construction on] the south side of the road from Tucker Road to Oakwood Street.
The completed bike path would eventually run from Tucker Road to Curry Street, approximately one mile in length along Valley Boulevard. The development of the path would include asphalt and concrete paving, handicap access ramps, residential driveway improvements, small masonry walls road striping and signage improvements.
Phase one is to include Class 1 bike path on the south side of the road from Tucker Road to Oakwood Street.  
The estimated cost of phase one is about $700,000 for construction with some additional funds for engineering, etc. The city has a grant of $561,000 from the state for the bike path along with $400,000 in Proposition 1B funds for road improvement that would be used to cover the project.
“By combining the two projects, improving the road and putting in the bike path, we hope to save some money, “said City Manager Greg Garrett.
When ask about a possible connection to the county bike path to other paths, Schlosser replied, “ The intent would be to provide linkage from our bike path to the Antelope Run bike path which hopefully, long term would connect to the county bike path on Tehachapi Boulevard and extend on into Golden Hills.”
Council member Stan Beckham questioned the plans for left turns on to Beech Street once the medians shown in the drawings are put in place. He also expressed concerns about traffic congestion in the area with more to come, with the market, church and the new medical center and park to be built in the area.
Schlosser agreed this would be a good idea at Beech Street, but explained that the drawings were only concept drawings. He said “ The medians would be controlling traffic through the access in them but they will be the last thing built.” He continued, “You have to be careful where you allow access through the medians to address safety issues. We will definitely not be able to allow right and left turn access to every single lot that fronts Valley Boulevard.”
The council voted to approve going out to bid for Phase 1 of the project with a 4-1 vote, council member Beckham casting the dissenting vote.
Once the bids are received the project will come back to city council for final approval before construction begins.