For Alternatives 1, 2 and 4, plans call for a Class 1 facility. It would be much like the American River bike trail: a 10-12-foot wide path off to the side of the roadway. We’re talking now about the enhancements that could be part of this trail, like small park areas with shade trees and picnic benches, drinking fountains and restroom facilities.

We’re also talking about integrating a way-finding system with this facility, to provide context of locations and distances, as well as where streets or intersections lead. It would be a self-contained system for pedestrians, bicyclists and equestrians. I believe a facility of this nature would be a real community asset.

With Alternative 3, plans are shaping up for the trail to be a five-foot wide Class 2 bikeway. The path would be attached to the roadway, similar to the bike paths you see in cities and counties throughout the region. With this option, instead of building a new facility, we would strive to provide linkages between existing trail facilities. There are a multitude of trail systems throughout the region, such as the Laguna Creek Trail System and the Deer Creek Hills Preserve Trail System, but they don’t all connect. The Connector would, as the name suggests, connect them.

This trail wouldn’t offer users the same experience as the Class 1 trail, but it would improve the existing system and provide more recreational interconnectivity. We’re not able to plan a Class 1 trail along this alternative because there are driveways and businesses next to the roadway, and a Class 1 trail would interfere with access.

With either option, we would strive to design the path to facilitate multimodal travel and remove as many barriers as possible. It can be difficult to travel by bicycle or foot because of intersections with roadways, but we would try to guard against that and provide bicycle interchanges, bridges or tunnels to allow a free flow of traffic for all types of travel.

But we can’t plan these trails in a vacuum—we need help from the community to determine the best option. We are developing cost estimates for both options and will begin an outreach program in the September-October timeframe to gather input before making a recommendation to the Board.