Important City of Phx meeting tomorrow (Thursday)

Please attend an important meeting this week to show your support for an important bicycle/pedestrian overpass which is on the chopping block. A plan to build a bridge over 19th Avenue, just south of Greenway Road is in jeopardy. The City of Phoenix Street Transportation Department is scheduled to present options for the proposed 19th Avenue Bikeway/Pedestrian Bridge and Multiuse Path project at 10:00 AM Thursday January 6, 2011, to the Transportation, Sustainability, and Infrastructure (TS&I) Subcommittee for their consideration and possible action. This public hearing will be held in the Assembly Rooms in City Hall., 200 W. Washington Street. There is a potential of a change in meeting location, please check the here for additional information on this item and potential changes in location. (scroll down and click on 1/6/2011, 10:00 AM "TRANSPORTATION, INFRASTRUCTURE AND SUSTAINABILITY SUBCOMMITTEE").


The Cave Creek Wash Trail (CCWT) currently runs from Union Hills Drive, south for 7 miles. At its south end at Dunlap Avenue, the CCWT meets the Arizona Canal multi-use path, in the Metrocenter area. The Arizona Canal path which is part of the nearly 70 mile Sun Circle Trail, established in the 1960's, should probably be considered the crown jewel among the area's multi-use trails. With it's miles of paved surface and dozens of underpasses beneath busy roads, the Arizona Canal path is one of the most popular trails in the area. The CCWT also intersects the Greenway Parkway multi-use path. The Greenway Parkway trail provides a connection to the Phoenix Sonoran Bikeway's 50 miles which run from South Mountain Park to the Phoenix Sonoran Preserve just south of Carefree Highway. At the north end of the CCWT, Union Hills Drive features 6 miles of designated bike lane to the west, all the way to the Arrowhead area, and 6 miles to the east, to Tatum Boulevard.

Unfortunately, today, the Cave Creek Wash Trail is not continuous. Even though it sits at a crux in the middle of the Metropolitian Phoenix area, two gaps, totaling a mere few thousand feet, stand in the way of connecting literally hundreds of miles of bike paths and bike lanes into a functional network. The CCWT provides access to the Rose Mofford Sports Complex but not for the thousands who live north of Greeway Road. Without completing the CCWT, the substantial investment we have made in our Multi-modal transportation network falls well short of its potential. Anyone who doesn't see the critical importance of this bridge simply isn't looking at the big picture.

here is some previous info: blog.cazbike.org/2010/11/19th-av-greenway-multi-use-bridge.html about the project.