Construction is starting on a new segment of the Bayshore Bikeway in National City, with the goal of easing congestion and making the streets safer for cyclists and drivers.
“I'm a longtime South Bay person,” cyclist Mary Elliot tells NBC 7. “I used to ride my bike as a child to Imperial Beach when there wasn't so much traffic. I think this new infrastructure is going to help the next generation to be able to do that.”
The new segment will start at the border between San Diego and National City and end at the National City marina, 2.25 miles later. It will eventually be part of a 24-mile bikeway that will loop around San Diego Bay.
The new section of the bikeway is expected to cost $1.7 million and will be funded by tax payer money.
“You want to have your bicycles and your cars separated to make you feel safer,” Hillcrest resident Hazelruth Adams says. “So when you see the city investing in things like bike lanes and you see support, it makes it more likely for people to ride their bicycles.”
The money for the project is part of the half cent Transnet tax that all San Diego county residents pay. The Transnet tax also pays for highway projects and mass transit.
“If we can get some people leaving their car at home and on their bikes, then that's going to be less congestion, less pollution, greenhouse gasses, all those benefits. And it also creates a healthier population,” Stephan Vance, Senior Regional Planner, SANDAG, says.
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Construction on the new section of the bikeway is expected to be finished next summer.
