Editorial
Marin Independent Journal

Saturday, October 7, 2000

"Yes" On Bikeway

It would be foolish to pass up a chance to include a bike path safety running parallel to a Marin-Sonoma rail line.

What's important is not to focus on the entirety of a 68-mile-long corridor stretching from San Rafael to Cloverdale, but to view it as a bicycle parkway that can get cyclists from, say, Novato to Terra Linda or from Petaluma to Novato, so that they don't have to take circuitous routes or fight auto traffic on busy city streets.

Bikes are a piece to the Marin-Sonoma transit puzzle that is critical to unsnarling our daily traffic jams. If designed properly - and if there is room without intruding on surrounding wetlands - this bicycle parkway could provide a safe and scenic way to travel up and down the Highway 101 corridor without a car or other motor vehicle.

Local officials need to look hard at the economics and overall benefits of building a bike lane. An innovative combination of rail and bikes could be the ticket to ride for bringing home the federal and state funding needed to make it a reality.

The Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit Commission's decision to consider adding a bike lane is a smart move.