Final Infrastructure Ride 2019 - Los Gatos
The last infrastructure ride of 2019 was a great finale! It was a great mix of participants and knowledge sharing, leaving all the participants more inspired to work towards improving bicycle infrastructure and policies. Participants included town staff, VTA employees, BPAC members and also Los Gatos Council member Rob Rennie. The ride began on a chilly Friday morning with hot coffee from Los Gatos Roasting Company and some baked goods from a local bakery – Icing on the Cake. A big shout out to the staff of Los Gatos for putting this entire ride together!
We rolled off through the “spine” of the Los Gatos Creek trail network, where the staff spoke about commute, recreation, regional connectivity, and other significant uses of the trail network. They also introduced the Highway 9 Creek Trailhead Connector project. Currently, the creek and the Highway 9 bridge are connected by informal dog paths. The proposal is to make a ramp on one side and stairs on another, connecting the bridge to the trail, to make it convenient for use by all.
The ride wheeled through a part of the Winchester complete streets project highlighting improvements made for people biking and walking. The Winchester is an interesting example since the street further continues to Campbell and Santa Clara and continuous bike/ped infrastructure improvements can make it a great regional connector. The town has also received Air District Grant for upgrade from Class II to Class IV protected bike lanes for a part of the project. We also rode by the improvements made on Roberts road which has made biking and walking, especially for kids going to Fisher middle school a lot easier and safer.
The other projects that were discussed included Connect Los Gatos, Winchester complete streets, Safe Routes to school (SR2S) improvements, and the Kennedy sidewalk project.
Lastly, a big thanks once again to Los Gatos staff and BPAC members for speaking about various projects and improvements as we rolled-by on our 8-mile ride. Thank you – Ying Smith, Maria Ristow, Areli Perez, Matt Morley, Bobby Gonzales, Jeff Thompson, Sheldon Gilbert and Bill Ehlers.
