Tag: sugar pine trail

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Old Town Clovis Bike Trail Missing Gap Complete!

On By jamesinclair

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!

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Clovis Old Town Trail Missing Link to be Built this Summer

On By jamesinclair

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.

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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!

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Three minor trail updates coming to area

On By jamesinclair

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

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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!

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Old Town Clovis Trail Gap to Finally be Closed!

On By jamesinclair

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!

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Three area trails to get a little longer

On By jamesinclair

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!

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An analysis of Fresno/Clovis rail-trail (4): Sierra to Alluvial

On By jamesinclair

Once again, apologies for the large gap of time between these posts about the trail, but as I’ve said before, they actually consume a very large amount of time to put together.Taking the pictures was easy (all pictures from August by the way), it’s the formatting of these posts that takes a long time. If you find them enjoyable or educational, I’d appreciate a comment.

Previously:
1) South of Shaw
2) Shaw to Old Town Clovis
3) Old Town to Sierra

This is the section I cover today
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We last left off going north, approaching the intersection of Sierra and Clovis Ave, which the trail crosses diagonally. Click to read more!

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An analysis of Fresno/Clovis rail-trail (3): Old Town to Sierra

On By jamesinclair

Sorry for the huge gaps of time between these posts, but they actually take a fair amount of time to put together.

Today we continue our look at the Fresno-Clovis Rail Trail.

We started south of Shaw, and made our way to Gettysburg.

Then we went from there onwards towards Old Town.

Now we keep going, through Old Town and then north of it to Sierra. Theoretically, the Old Town section of the trail would be the nicest and busiest, since it’s a very popular destination. Sadly, it’s one of the worst section of the trail. For one block, the trail completely disappears. There are multiple intersections that do nothing to accommodate trail users, and the trail has very little connection into the part of Old Town that people care about. Indeed, you can shop, dine and explore without even noticing the trail exists.
  Click to read more!

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An analysis of Fresno/Clovis rail-trail: South of Shaw

On By jamesinclair

I’ve talked about the Fresno-Clovis Rail Trail (also known as the Sugar Pine Trail or the Old Town Trail) a few times on this blog. This week I decided to go out and document things which the trail does right and the many opportunities it has to improve.

The trail is pretty much the only useful bit of separated bicycle/pedestrian infrastructure in town, and connects some pretty important places. The biggest downside to the trail is the fact that it has almost no branches connecting into it, so users must take to the streets to reach their final destinations.

Both Fresno and Clovis are proud of the trail, at least officially, as they bring it up often as something good about the towns. Problem is, funding doesn’t exactly follow. Click to read more!

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Patio takeover of trail delayed, for now

On By jamesinclair

The Bee has the some good news about last nights planning meeting concerning the proposed expansion of a restaurant onto the right-of-way of the Sugar Pine Trail.

Fresno’s planning commission on Wednesday rejected a proposal to allow a northeast Fresno restaurant to put a patio into part of the Sugar Pine Trail — but said the restaurant owner could return with a new proposal.

In rejecting the proposal by Yosemite Ranch owner David Fansler, commissioners asked the City Council to clarify when and how the city should allow shared use of public spaces.

Fresno Bee

As I wasn’t at the meeting, it’s hard to get the full tone of the message, but the news is mostly positive. At least for now, there will be no takeover of the trail. Click to read more!

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Yosemite Ranch’s unbelievable flyer

On By jamesinclair

The last portion of this post has been updated.

As part of their attempt to privatize public space in an unprecedented land-grab, Yosemite Ranch is going all out to bus supporters to the planning meeting, a meeting almost nobody would have known about had it not been for Bill McEwen’s column in the Bee.

They’ve posted a flier on their facebook page which is quite unbelievable.

Let’s ignore for a second the mistakes in spelling and grammar and such (an elipses made of commas, really?) and focus on the message.

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-They’ve been “fighting the fight” for two years, but who were they fighting? The process was done in secret and not made public until recently. Must have been quite the fight. Click to read more!