View Proposed route highland path addition in a larger map
In the future cyclists riding north or south through the University of Arizona campus may have a new alternative.
David Heineking told the Tucson-Pima County Bicycle Advisory Committee last week that the University will be adding a bike path between the Highland Avenue Garage and a UA building from Helen to Mabel. (See map)
The path will allow cyclists to avoid the Helen and Mountain Avenue intersection, which tends to be very congested and has been the site of several crashes.
Heineking announced the UA’s plan during a presentation to the BAC about their decision to close the Warren Street underpass to bicyclists. He said they hoped to make the Highland Avenue underpass more convient to bicyclists and encouraging them to use it as an alternative.
The plan requires reworking a driveway for the parking garage. Heineking suggested it would be two years before the path was finished due to construction of a new building in the area. The BAC, however pushed the department to get is completed sooner.
The path was one of the recommendations suggested in the UA Bike/Pedestrian Study released last year.
The plan estimated the cost to be $19,000 to implement.
Here’s the concept map provided in the plan:
What do you think? Is this something you will use? The area is currently dirt, but rideable if you want to try it out.
Yes! Glad this is happening.. I use Highland on my daily commute, and the pavement on Helen is terrible, not to mention I nearly been doored on Helen a time or two.
It’s about damn time. This should have been done when they built the garage. This will be a nice little area with the UofA community garden right there as well.
At the crosswalk on Helen St. I’d love to see some “Cars Yield to Bikes” signs or even a mandatory stop. Cars can get going pretty fast on the stretch despite the garage and all the people.
I agree that the Mountain/Helen Intersection is very dangerous, particularly for those coming from the west to go north on Mountain. I now go north on Santa Rita to the alley way north of Helen. This brings me to Mountain in a location where I can make my left turn while only needing to be concerned about traffic on Mountain.
What about the intersection of University and Park? Yesterday, when I was on my way downtown, someone was double parked on University between Park and Tyndall during rush hour. Cars and bikes had to drive over the street car tracks to get around him. Very dangerous situation. Cyclists need a route that avoids that busy stretch of University.
@Pamela There’s room along that route for bikes. There’s not room for boorish drivers and their cars..and WATCH OUT FOR TAXIS.