City awarded $500,000 for
pedestrian/bike bridge study

By Andrea Rosen
Viewpoint Staff Writer

Late last year, the city of Sacramento received $500,000 to study the feasibility of and to design a pedestrian/bike crossing between the City College Light Rail station and the future Curtis Park Village. The funding was awarded by the Sacramento Area Council of Governments.

The city began soliciting bids last month for a firm to undertake the preliminary engineering necessary to support a feasibility study and the preparation of environmental documents. Selection and negotiations with the chosen firm should be completed by May and the chosen contractor is expected to start the study in June, according to Senior Engineer Ryan Moore with the Sacramento Transportation Department. Public input will be part of the study.

The goal of the feasibility and design study is to evaluate alternatives for spanning the numerous Union Pacific tracks to make the connection between the City College Light Rail station and the proposed Curtis Park Village. City engineers are hoping to get not only the feasibility study and preliminary design finalized but also to complete environmental documents in order to better position the city for state and federal dollars that will be needed for construction of a pedestrian/bike crossing.

The idea of a connecting Curtis Park Village to the west was one of the most often mentioned suggestions during the initial scoping meeting that kicked off the Curtis Park Village environmental impact report process. The need for a pedestrian/bike crossing was also one of the key recommendations made by Council Member Hammond's Curtis Park Village Advisory Committee. Hammond successfully got the project included in the city's Transportation Programming Guide, an important pre-requisite to the city's application for these design funds.

"I am happy the planners followed through with my directive to apply for the SACOG Community Design funds for this pedestrian/bike bridge," said Hammond. "I hope the neighbors design a bridge that is unique to the region."

Most recently, the SCNA Board re-affirmed its commitment to this potential project in its Strategic Plan update. At its March meeting, the board endorsed an objective to "spearhead the development of a multi-agency bridge group to develop a funding and implementation strategy for a pedestrian/bike bridge between Curtis Park Village and City College."

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