A large part of our work focuses on the need for a single nonprofit organization, through contracting with the public agencies (state and county) owning the Parkway, to provide the daily management that has the potential to eliminate this type of degraded care along the entire Parkway bike trail.
It is the type of arrangement that works well with New York’s Central Park and the Sacramento Zoo, and is desperately needed for the Parkway, as this article and the threatened closure of the county part of the Parkway a couple of years ago revealed.
An excerpt.
Trail upkeep has cyclists downcast
By Blair Anthony Robertson -- Bee Staff Writer Published 12:01 am PDT Thursday, July 27, 2006
The eight-mile stretch of the American River bike trail controlled by the state is taking the much-admired wild and scenic experience one step further.
It has become a jungle out there.
And the formula is a simple one: neglect.
Cyclists, runners and walkers who frequent that hilly, curvy, wooded section of the trail these days say they are hard-pressed to find any sign of maintenance or upkeep.
The weeds are overgrown and getting worse, pushing users into a narrow swath in the center of the pavement in some stretches, sometimes along blind curves.
Several overhanging branches force cyclists to duck or be swatted in the face.
And perhaps most alarming of all, the hundreds upon hundreds of cracks in the asphalt have prompted some to begin calling it an eyesore and an embarrassment -- and perhaps a danger zone.
The problems are a distinct contrast to the largely well-run 23-mile lower section of the trail controlled by Sacramento County, where crews are regularly seen with string trimmers and blowers and where weeds are cut back several feet from the wide, decomposed granite shoulders.
The upper section -- from Hazel Avenue to Beals Point and a separate section on the south side of Lake Natoma -- is under the jurisdiction of the Folsom Lake State Recreation Area.
Regular users of those trails have become increasingly frustrated, especially given the entire trail's acclaim as perhaps the region's most-loved recreational facility and one of the finest bike trails in the nation.
"They really need to get out there and be concerned about it. I don't know what's going on," said cyclist Kevin Regan. "There are a couple of spots where the vegetation isn't being cut. It's a hazard and it's getting worse. … There is a risk of a collision."
