San Diego, CA–SANDAG Chair and Encinitas Mayor Catherine Blakespear joined San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, Council President Jennifer Campbell, bike advocates, and community leaders to celebrate the opening of the Rose Creek Bikeway on Wednesday morning.
The new Rose Creek Bikeway fills a two-mile gap in the Regional Bike Network as part of the Coastal Rail Trail. As a dedicated multi-use path that is separated from vehicle traffic, the new bikeway offers a protected and more convenient active transportation connection between the Rose Canyon Bike Path in University City to the Rose Creek Bike Path in Pacific Beach.
The bikeway was constructed concurrently with the Mid-Coast extension of the UC San Diego Blue Line Trolley.
“Together, the Rose Creek Bikeway and the Mid-Coast extension of the UC San Diego Blue Line Trolley represent a significant step toward realizing the Vision for SANDAG’s 2021 Regional Plan,” said SANDAG Chair Blakespear. “These projects will provide real alternatives to driving alone, helping people connect to major destinations and activity centers around the region while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”
The Rose Creek Bikeway will provide a safe option for people to bike or walk between points north such as Sorrento Valley, University City, and UC San Diego, and points south including Mission Bay, Pacific Beach, Mission Valley, and Downtown San Diego.
“This bikeway provides a critical connection to several communities along one of the most heavily traveled bike corridors in the region,” said Mayor Gloria. “We worked closely with our communities to ensure this project supports their needs, and I am excited to join them in celebrating the Rose Creek Bikeway opening so that San Diegans of all ages and abilities have another way to get from Point A to Point B.”
The Rose Creek Bikeway is a 14-foot-wide path with environmentally sensitive lighting to support public safety. The path includes an undercrossing at Interstate 5 and Mission Bay Drive and a 260-foot-long bridge over Rose Creek. Construction began in September 2017 in conjunction with the Mid-Coast extension of the UC San Diego Blue Line Trolley.
The bikeway is part of the SANDAG Regional Bike Plan Early Action Program, an initiative approved by the Board of Directors in 2013 to construct a regional network of high-quality, pedestrian-friendly streets and bikeways that reimagines how we use space on our streets to make them safer and more comfortable for every person who uses them, regardless of age, race, or physical ability. Planning for a more bike-friendly region helps resolve multiple complex and interrelated issues, including traffic congestion, air quality, climate change, public health, and livability.
The Rose Creek Bikeway opening is part of SANDAG’s Bike Month celebrations. Last week, SANDAG hosted Bike Anywhere Week that drew in nearly 4,000 participants who took part in self-guided activities and virtual biking classes throughout the region.. San Diegans took the pledge to replace a car trip with a bike ride and GO by BIKE.
The $29.5 million Rose Creek Bikeway was funded through a combination of federal, state, and local sources, including TransNet, the regional, voter-approved half-cent sales tax for transportation improvement projects administered by SANDAG.
