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| Bike Route from Google Maps |
After riding to a BART station in Berkeley and changing trains at MacArthur, I found myself at the Concord BART station. It's only 2.2 miles from the Concord BART to the Sterling Aviation, where I needed to go. You could make this trip in a taxi for about $20. Or you could walk this route in about 40 minutes. Cycling is usually 3 to 4 times faster than walking: You can cycle this route in 10 or 12 minutes. Looking at the map, this looks like a simple and quick trip. Quick, yes. Simple, not so much.
I've ridden my Tikit in a lot of different places including San Francisco, Oakland, Seattle, San Diego, and numerous small towns in the Sierra Madre, the California Central Coast, and the San Joaquin Valley. Based on this route, Concord California strikes me as one of the least cycling-friendly city I've ever visited. On the route I cycled there were no sharrows, no bike lanes, and lots of large, fast-moving SUVs and trucks. I didn't see any other bikes on the route I traveled. And it's no wonder.
About a year and a half ago, a 17 year old, driving a 3 ton Cadillac Escalade, struck three cyclists, killing a man and his 9 year old daughter and injuring his 12 year old daughter. This happened on Treat Boulevard, about a mile south of the route I rode on Concord Avenue. The driver was changed with vehicular manslaughter and was reportedly speeding and making sudden lane changes.
This tragic accident was a wakeup call for the Concord City government. For a while it seemed that some changes would be made to make cycling safer in Concord. Maybe some changes are in the works, but based on my experience today, I'd say the City of Concord has a lot more work to do. Concord has numerous bike routes, like the Iron Horse Trail, but the biking infrastructure remains fragmented and seems designed primarily for recreation. Concord Avenue, Monument Boulevard, and Willow Pass Road all need bike lanes if cyclists are actually to use their bikes for transportation.
With more biking infrastructure, more people in Concord would be willing ride their bikes for transportation, drivers would come to expect seeing cyclists, and the transportation landscape would change. Until that happens, should I find the need to cycle from BART to the Concord Buchanan Airport, I'll probably ride on the sidewalk.
Thank you, John, for a very well-written piece about the harrowing experience of bike commuting in Concord. I am a transplant from Folsom and took it for granted there would be at least ONE bike lane available to ride from my home in North Concord to Diablo Valley College. Not so. In fact, I HAVE to bike on the sidewalk some of the time along Concord Blvd, Clayton Blvd, and Willow Pass Road; even then, it scares me out of my wits. Are there any organizations you know of that are actively lobbying the City Counsel to address this? Thanks! Kathy B
ReplyDeleteHi Kathy,
ReplyDeleteI don't know of a specific group in Concord, but BikeEastBay does cover the greater Livermore Valley. You might check with them.
Since I wrote this piece, I discovered a longer, but much safer route from BART to the Concord Airport: Get off at Pleasant Hill and take the Iron Horse Trail, which lets you exit fairly close to the airport.
Otherwise, all I can say is "I feel your pain!"
Ride safely,
John