After hearing from the mayor of Garden City and Citizens for an Open Greenbelt, the ACHD Bicycle Advisory Committee will recommend 3-foot-wide bike lanes with appropriate signage line the roads in Garden City's planned Greenbelt bypass.
Committee members said that although 5-foot-wide bike lanes are standard, the roads were to narrow for that.
"If you put a bike lane on a street, you take away parking, and most residents like to be able to park in front of their house," said John Wasson, assistant traffic engineer for Ada County Highway Department. "(On-Street parking is) not a right, though."
Garden City police and Ada County Sheriff's deputies would be responsible for enforcing the no parking in bike lanes. Mayor John Evans showed the committee and about 20 members of the public maps recent Greenbelt improvements, where the Greenbelt disconnects at 52nd Street, and where the bypass route on the north side of the Boise River would go.
He also presented a map indicating where the proposed path on the south side of the river would lead to a bridge, connecting Greenbelt users to the Eagle path on the north side.
Garden City's jurisdiction ends where the current path ends on the south side now, but Evans said he has sent letters to Ada County about the proposed path and that "the easements are in place to make the connection."
Evans left immediately after his presentation and was not available for comment. Garden City officials have insisted a quitclaim deed absolved them from building a bike path along the north side that the state mandated in 1980.
No other members of the Garden City government attended the meeting.
Gary Segers of Citizens for an Open Greenbelt raised several safety issues about the bypass:
Lack of bike lanes on Sultara Street, Ulmer and Arney lanes.
Inconsistent widths of the bike lane on Riverside Drive - narrowing to two-feet wide at times.
Garbage cans in the bike lane on trash day on Riverside Drive.
Lack of maintenance of the paved path near the Glenwood bridge.
Segers said he was satisfied with the committee's recommendation.
"But just because a motion is made, now we need some action," he said.
Eagle resident Brent Childers was disappointed. He rides the bypass every day to work.
"I still can't get my family safely from Eagle to Boise," he said. "It disturbs me that a developer can disregard a state mandate and get away with it."
The highway district board will make the final decision.
Bethann Stewart: 377-6393
