City, County and Neighborhood News

Talking to a politician recently, I mentioned the need for elected officials to support public access along the Sacramento River Parkway.

This politician understands the problem: private fences blocking public access, a few homeowners trying to delay completion of the levee bike trail.

“I agree with you,” the politician tells me. “The city needs to finish the bike trail. The public needs access. But we have to respect those homeowners. They need compensation.”

Now I get frustrated. The politician, whom I’ve known for years and consider smart and informed, sounds oblivious to the biggest obstacle slowing the bike trail through Pocket and Little Pocket.

Communication should be easy. Just open your mouth and talk. Which makes me wonder why the city gets tongue-tied about a bicycle bridge.

I’ve found a half-dozen experts eager to talk about the city’s doomed bike bridge over Interstate 5 at Riverside Boulevard—engineers, lawyers, even a guy who investigated construction fiascos for insurance companies.

They are knowledgeable and informative. One word at a time, they helped me understand what probably went wrong when the city accepted a low-bid contract for a $12 million bridge connecting the Del Rio Trail to the Sacramento River Parkway bike path.

The city’s condemned bicycle bridge over Interstate 5 and Riverside Boulevard insults a local icon. Recently poured substandard concrete embarrasses a 52-year-old monument.

I’m talking about the railroad bridge next to the doomed bike span.

These days, the old rail bridge is defaced by graffiti and brutalized by construction framework related to the new span next door. But there’s nothing wrong with the old freeway overpass.