Tag: old town trail

Clovis Infill – A Photo Update

It feels a little odd talking about infill in Clovis. It doesn’t quite roll off the tongue, as the city is known for its endless subdivisions. And yet in 2017, Old Town Clovis appears to have almost as much infill construction as Downtown Fresno going on.

I reported on two of these projects in July 2015, but I’ve added a few other ones here.

  • Centennial Plaza
  • La Quinta Inn
  • Rail-Trail Housing
  • New Library
  • Sierra Meadows Park
  • Clovis Community Hospital

Centennial Plaza

Let’s start with the big one: Centennial Plaza. This is the heart of Old Town on Pollasky, and I last took a look in May 2016 when the new plaza was finished. That update was focused on the street improvements, but now new buildings are rising up to frame the plaza. Click to read more!

A novelty for Clovis: new hotel to be built over parking

Fresno and Clovis are the land of surface parking, where commercial garages, both above and below ground, are rare. Indeed, the only non-surface parking structure I can think of in Clovis is the garage at the Clovis Community Hospital (not counting surface lots with solar panels above them).

So I raised my eyebrow at a proposal for a new hotel on Clovis Avenue, not far from Old Town. The empty lot where a new La Quinta Inn is proposed is quite narrow, so to fit the required parking, they’re planning on building the hotel over it.

This type of building is common elsewhere, especially LA, but as far as I can tell, it the first such example in Clovis. Click to read more!

Old Town Clovis Bike Trail Missing Gap Complete!

I’ve been wanting to share these exciting pictures for some time now, but had serious internet issues at home that caused my picture uploads to keep failing. Fortunately the internet company has finally fixed the problem. The pictures are no longer hot off the presses, but they’re still very exciting, and I haven’t seen any pictures posted elsewhere.

The longest bike trail in the Fresno area runs from Riverpark, up along Shepherd, and then down across Clovis, ending south of Sierra Vista Mall. It’s a great recreational asset, a lot of fun to ride, and great for commuting too. It’s known as the Sugar Pine Trail and also the Old Town Trail. Click to read more!

A look at the newest bicycle trailhead in Clovis (picture tour)

Let’s take a little break from Downtown Fresno and jump all the way up to the far reaches of Clovis, or more specifically, Shepherd and Sunnyside. Clovis has built a new park and trailhead for the “Dry Creek Trail” that runs south and eventually connects with the Old Town Trail. In the future, the trail will continue north, and presumably link to the partially built trail to the west (Enterprise).

The trailhead includes some nifty new features, such as a bike repair station, a water fountain with a water bottle feature, some interesting art, maps, and more.

For some history, way back in July 2013, this project was announced, and I last looked at this project in August, when work had barely begun. Click to read more!

Clovis Old Town Trail Missing Link to be Built this Summer

Mark your calendars for June! There’s exciting news for fans of the most important trail in the Fresno area. I’m talking about the Sugarpine/Old Town Trail which runs from River Park in Fresno, up to Shepherd, down through Old Town Clovis, and then ends south of Sierra Vista Mall.

The trail has had a missing link through Old Town, where the old railroad was turned into a parking lot. In that section, the trail mysteriously vanishes, and trail users must find there way to the next section through a local street.

 photo clovismiss1_zpsf4fc7a44.png

While the local road isn’t particularity problematic for experienced trail users, there is absolutely no way-finding signage. Those not familiar with the trail may assume it just ends there. There are also no intersection treatments, and lighting is poor. Click to read more!

Three minor trail updates coming to area

Some small trail news from Fresno and Clovis.

Fresno will be adding five new drinking fountains on the sugar-pine trail that runs along Shepherd. I’d prefer lights, but it’s something. While Clovis has many amenities along the trail, Fresno does not.

Fresno will also be adding in another new section of trail along Herndon.  A couple of months ago, they approved an addition between Fruit and Palm. Now it will be between Marks and Valentine. Green is existing, orange is new.

Google Map

  photo trail2_zps039ac3a3.png

Clovis will be adding a new half-mile trail on the far east side of town, along the Enterprise Canal. The trail will connect from nothing to nothing. Makes no sense really. Click to read more!

New Google satellite imagery for Fresno! (Spring 2013)

Some parts of the country, including major cities like Boston, only get updated satellite imagery from Google every 3 or so years.

For Fresno, it’s never more than a year before we get the freshest pictures. The latest update, rolled out last week, shows Fresno and the surrounding area as of March 15, 2013.

The previous update, pushed out November of 2012, featured images from August 26, 2012. I did a photo summary of that as well.

That’s less than 7 months between updates! Older images are still accessible via the history slider in Google Earth. 

These updates are a great way to follow development in the area, and see how fast some areas are still growing. Click to read more!

Old Town Clovis Trail Gap to Finally be Closed!

It’s finally happening!

The two blocks in Old Town Clovis where the regional bike trail disappears will apparently be completed as soon as this year.

The next city council agenda has this surprise:

City staff intends to bid and construct the Clovis Old Town trail connection on the west side of Hughes Avenue from Third to Fifth streets in the 3rd quarter of 2013.
Council document (PDF)

The gap is especially notable, because it’s in the heart of Clovis, and there is absolutely no accommodation to direct trail users through the missing area.

Here’s where the gap is, Clovis Avenue is the large road on the left. The red lines are the existing trails points, where they suddenly end. A parking lot was built on the rail right of way (ROW). Click to read more!

Clovis trail gap filled – picture tour

I thought it was more recent, but it was way back in January that I mentioned three area bike trails would be getting a little longer. A couple of weeks ago, I paid a visit to one in Clovis, to see if anything had happened; it had, and construction was done.

The location is Cottonwood Park, in Clovis, which is part of the Dry Creek Trail. The existing trail had a gap where one had to use a segment of sidewalk, which had no signage indicating where the trail picked up again.

    I guessed that a path would be built diagonally across the park, to the intersection. I was right.   Let’s start where the old trail was (at the bottom right of the water pong in the image above). You can see the existing trail was asphalt, and the new one is concrete. The new trail curves left, the old trail remains and continues straight/right.  Also note the light: the old trail had no lighting. Note that lighting was only added to the new section.  photo DSC03709_zpsef187ca5.jpg This is looking at the same area, but backwards (ie, towards where I was standing for the last picture)  photo DSC03708_zpse64adac8.jpg And this is at the junction. That entire viewing area straight ahead? Brand new.  photo DSC03707_zps3af060dc.jpg  photo DSC03710_zpsdd1236a8.jpg  photo DSC03711_zps88dac613.jpg Some attention to design  photo DSC03712_zps5ec16666.jpg  photo DSC03713_zpsc6c7217a.jpg Shame the fence is so far away from the water.  photo DSC03714_zpse5b6888f.jpg  photo DSC03715_zps5b0b3045.jpg The path itself is smooth, wide and has lighting, but I’m not a fan of the curves. Do they look nice? I guess. But if you’re using this trail for transportation, then they’re simply a pain in the ass. Not everyone is here for 5mph recreation. I do like the placement of lights, not too far apart.  photo DSC03717_zpsfdc013b8.jpg New benches were added as well  photo DSC03703_zps9850798e.jpg  photo DSC03718_zpsa4de29d9.jpg We near the intersection  photo DSC03719_zps66463b73.jpg Water fountains were added for people and pets  photo DSC03720_zpsaca38015.jpg A new gateway was added to match the existing one across the street. Now it’s obvious where the trail is, unlike before when you had to know where to go.  photo DSC03721_zps1b2cea43.jpg But one massive problem: No improvements to the intersection. The shortest, and most logical, crossing is straight. But in Clovis, automobiles get full priority, so anyone using the trail must make two long crossings, essentially making crossing the road a 3-5 minute exercise. Even though the trail is active, if the button isn’t pushed, the pedestrian signals dont indicate one can cross. The ramp also sends people straight into the intersection, dangerous for the blind.   photo DSC03722_zpse67125da.jpg Crossing involves going backwards, due to the diagonal orientation of the crossing. The button is not oriented with the ramp at all.  photo DSC03723_zps7d8e62ae.jpg One can cross either way, but the crosswalks are blocked by concrete medians  photo DSC03724_zps33562b09.jpg Wouldn’t going straight be so much better?  photo DSC03725_zps91450f56.jpg  photo DSC03726_zps43353339.jpg This was the old trail, not signed.  photo DSC03727_zps3986cfd6.jpg One thing I did like. This picture is taken down the street, the stop light is where the last pictures were taken. Note the path on the right…. a direct sidewalk was added to the trail, so people don’t have to walk in the grass or go all the way to the corner to access it.  photo DSC03728_zps8dce7fcf.jpg  photo DSC03699_zps8889cec1.jpg  photo DSC03700_zpsa2db921b.jpg     It was very exciting to see that construction happened so quickly, and it was of high quality. Lights, concrete, and amenities make it obvious someone is taking this trail seriously….for recreation anyway. The unimproved crossing and curves make it obvious that those in charge still don’t see this as a transportation option, which it is. Now, why can’t they fix the old town gap? As far as gaps go, that one is much more serious. 

Three area trails to get a little longer

Even though the Measure C website welcomes you with a large graphic promising miles of new trails,  you’ll find that the Fresno-area trail system has grown remarkably little over the past decade (I’ll be soon posting an interesting map from the 70’s to compare).

For 2013, there’s nothing major in the work, but three small projects have recently made their way through the Fresno and Clovis councils which should make trail use slightly better. These three projects don’t have exact build dates, but I would expect the first two to be useable by summer and the third by the end of the year. I will discuss them in the order they appeared before the councils. Click to read more!