It's great news that the City of Davis is implementing changes on 14th St-Villanova that will make this important corridor safer and more comfortable for students at Davis High School, North Davis Elementary... and many cyclists, pedestrians and other street users.
Academy Lane Apartment Homes at the east end of the corridor has a parking lot on its north end that runs between F St. just south of 14th to H St. This is a very popular cycling shortcut to and from East Davis via the H St. tunnel, in particular for students heading to DHS and North Davis Elementary from the east and to Homes Junior High from the west.
It's clear that it will become more popular with the 14th St. improvements, and even more so when the H St. tunnel renovation is complete.
Fortunately the Bicycling, Transportation and Street Safety Commission (BTSSC) was recently able to add a shortcut officialization for F to H to the list of the City's Transportation Improvement Projects (TIP), but only as a deferred project, meaning that many other projects in the TIP will receive greater administrative support, unless special opportunities present themselves for the F to H Shortcut.
The F to H Shortcut adds tremendous value to the current, funded 14th St. corridor and H St. Tunnel projects. In aggregate the help create a safe cycling route from West Davis to East Davis. Without the formalization of the parking lot route, safety could actually degrade at 14th, just south of F St, in particular from eastbound users making a left turn from the center turning lane into the parking lot, and also from westbound user exiting the parking lot and crossing F St. in order to make a left onto 14th.
As frequent users of this corridor and/or citizens with a great interest in increasing the cycling modal share in our town, we would like the city officials and staff to do everything possible to formalize the F to H Shortcut, such as placing it higher up the TIP priority, or, even better, to see if it can be incorporated into the 14th St. corridor improvement project, if only as a second phase.
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Click here for the City's project infomration page.
