Updated: One Thousand Feet

We have to give the Town of Truckee credit when it comes to multi-use trails for pedestrians and cyclists. You can get to just about every major destination around town using the network of Class 1 trails. There are still a few gaps, usually waiting for a development project or other funding opportunity to complete a critical section.

Unfortunately, one of those gaps happens to be right where the proposed Brockway Collective development would be located—and it’s currently one of the least comfortable places in the area to walk or ride a bicycle.

A wonderful Class 1 paved trail runs from Truckee Regional Park all the way to Mountain Home Center. In fact, that trail ultimately connects all the way to Glenshire. About five years ago, the Town also completed a short but important section connecting Hope Court to the traffic light at Highway 267.

That leaves approximately 1,000 feet of Brockway Road where cyclists and pedestrians are left with a narrow Class 2 bike lane and a dirt shoulder. You are essentially sharing the edge of the road with vehicles traveling up to 45 mph.

That’s not a particularly comfortable—or attractive—connection for a community that has otherwise invested so much in its trail system.

The frustrating part is that this missing section has been on the radar for years. The Town’s trail plan, completed about a decade ago, envisioned a trail on the east side of Brockway Road, with the construction to be funded by the Joerger Ranch Phase IV development. The problem is that development may still be a decade or more away.

THIS IS AN OPPORTUNITY TO FIX THE GAP

The proposed Brockway Collective development gives us an opportunity to rethink that plan.

Rather than waiting another decade or more for the next development project, why not revisit the trail plan and consider building the missing 1,000-foot section now, on the west side of Brockway Road?

And if the Brockway Collective is going to add significant traffic and activity to this corridor, it seems reasonable to discuss having the developer help fund the trail connection as part of the project’s transportation improvements.

So far, there doesn’t appear to be any indication that either the Town or the developer has seriously considered this alternative.

Meanwhile, people are already finding their own solutions.

A significant amount of pedestrian and bicycle traffic avoids this section of Brockway Road by traveling down Columbine Road or through the Sierra Bible Church parking lot, then using the dirt trails across the wetlands to reach Hope Court.

Those informal routes are particularly useful because there are several popular destinations on the other side of Highway 267, including the Truckee Bike Park and Sports Park, Raley’s, Ace Hardware, and the other businesses at the Soaring Way center.

People are clearly looking for a safer and more convenient way to make these connections.

Updated: The Resubmitted Plan Does Address This Issue

We received a contact from Tyler Karow, the primary listed developer and local contact for Brockway Collective. The revised plan does show that a bike lane would be included along Brockway Road. There’s a plan for a rather large roundabout to be built at Martis Rd (the dirt road near the old Truckee Winery property). That road is the frontage road for Joerger Ranch IV project with includes another large chunk of high density housing and a quasi-industrial commercial complex.

So the good news is that the town and the developer have considered this issue and have a plan to address it. The bad news is that this will be a very major construction project that will impede the flow along Brockway Road during construction. The drawing below does not indicate the lane continuing in from of the old Assembly of God church property. Its hard to imagine the town ignoring that.