Support the "Missing Link!"

This article originally appeared in the March 2008 edition of the Journal Plus.

By Susan Stewart

It’s a scary place to be on any given Monday through Friday, especially while Cal Poly classes are in session. According to the City, the railroad crossing at the corner of Foothill and California is the most heavily bike-traveled intersection in town. Students running late, pre-occupied with an upcoming exam, or thinking about that cute guy in chemistry lab, may zig-zag in and out of traffic and sail across the tracks at breakneck speeds – giving car drivers and pedestrians alike good reason to be alarmed. Or, a distracted driver may not even notice that bicyclist in the turn lane. Periodically, people are injured or even killed in this area.

That’s one reason the San Luis Obispo Rotary Club has chosen this crucial 500-foot section of the City’s Railroad Safety Bicycle Trail as its first official “Clean and Green” project.

“It’s exciting to consider that in the very near future, this trail could connect two fully funded sections of the Railroad Safety Bicycle Trail to allow safe, carefree ingress and egress,” said project chair Jan Howell Marx, “to and from Cal Poly, over the 101 to the Downtown for the first time.”

Nicknamed the “Missing Link” this section is only a small part of the ambitious Class I bike path that will provide an important transportation alternative for bicyclists and pedestrians, eventually connecting Cal Poly with the Railroad Station, past the City Limits, to the Bob Jones Trail and out to the sea. A free-standing bike path bridge from Foothill Blvd. over the 101 is fully funded ($550,000) and scheduled for completion in 2009. Cal Poly has funded the bike trail from Campus Way to Foothill Boulevard, and the City has secured funding for the section from Foothill south to the 101 ($602,000). The Missing Link connects these two sections of the trail.

Rotary President for 2007-2008, Roxanne Carr – herself a longtime bicycle enthusiast – and her board have decided to donate $50,000 to purchase and install the railroad safety fencing for this section of the trail.  The Club has also launched a find-raising campaign to raise the approximately $257,000 more needed to complete this “Missing Link” simultaneously with the other two sections. Construction is due to begin in the summer of 2008, so between now and June, local Rotarians will be busy working with its coalition of sponsors to seek donations from businesses, clubs, and individuals for this important addition to the City.

“This is not just about recreation, said Marx, “It’s an important transportation choice that will get cars off the road, enhance safety for everyone, and help reduce pollution.” And because fewer cars mean reduced carbon emissions, it even has an effect on global warming, according to ECOSLO’s Executive Director, Morgan Rafferty.

In fact, it is this very environmental crisis that prompted Rotary International to launch its Preserve Planet Earth Program in 1990. Over 28,000 clubs across the globe have been asked to initiate their own annual “Clean and Green” projects that will foster the improvement of the global environment and encourage sustainable development.

“Although we [SLO Rotary] have undertaken projects in the past which could well qualify as clean and green,” Marx clarified, “this is the first official such project, thanks to Roxanne Carr and her board.”

If they are successful in raising more than half the total cost of the Missing Link section, the Club could request naming rights. Members hope to name if after the late Wes Conner – a much beloved Rotary member, Cal Poly professor, City volunteer and bicycle advocate.

Collaborating with Rotary to raise funds for the project this spring are the City of San Luis Obispo, ECOSLO, and the Land Conservancy, along with Fifth District Supervisor Jim Patterson, the Santa Lucia Chapter of the Sierra Club, Residents for Quality Neighborhoods, the Chamber of Commerce, Sierra Vista Regional Hospital, Ride Share, and Gaia Graphics.

SLO Bicycle Coalition, the Bicycle Club of San Luis Obispo, Cal Poly Rotaract and the Cal Poly Wheelmen are enthusiastic supporters. Rotary International projects chair, Amy Kardel announced that the SLO Rotary’s sister club in Compostela, Nayarit, Mexico has donated $200.00, which qualifies the local Rotary to apply for a grant for the project from the Rotary International Foundation.

Given the local, regional, national, even global positive effects of this project, Rotarians and community members are excited about it.

“This is a bite-sized project with huge implications,” Marx noted.

And it will certainly go a long way toward relieving the heart-stopping anxiety felt by anyone who’s had a car-cyclist near-calamity at the intersection of Foothill and California.

Every donation is appreciated. Checks should be made out to Railroad Safety Bike Trail Project and mailed to: c/o ECOSLO, PO Box 1014, San Luis Obispo, CA 93406. All donations ate 100% tax deductible.

Questions can be directed to Rotary’s Clean & Green Project Chair, Jan Howell Marx at 541-2716, ECOSLO’s Morgan Rafferty at 544-1777, or the City’s Principle Transportation Planner, Peggy Mandeville at 781-7590.