Bicycle advocates see paths to future success

PROSSER, Wash. -- To Virginia Norton, it's not a cause. It's a bike.

Specifically, it's a five-gear green, classic model Schwinn with a basket on the handle bars purchased used in 1984.

Each day, she rides it a mile to and from work for fresh air, exercise and to save money. And while she'd like more company at Prosser Memorial Hospital's employee bike rack, she's not part of a club, doesn't protest America's dependence on foreign oil or decry global warming.

"I just like the lifestyle," says the 55-year-old mother of two adult children.

Now a group of advocates is out to help people like Norton. They've drafted a long-term plan calling for new bike and pedestrian paths, wider sidewalks and marked routes.

"We're trying to encourage a more healthy community, a more livable community," said Charlie Bush, the city administrator.

Bike advocates face an uphill pedal in Prosser and everywhere.

"It's a big challenge to get people out of their cars," said Brian Curtin, the commuter trip reduction coordinator for the Yakima Valley Conference of Governments.

But cities are becoming more friendly as gas prices go up and people seek healthier lifestyles.

Curtin works with Yakima-area companies trying to find ways for their employees to reach work other than in cars. His program has ordered new bike racks for the Whirlpool call center in downtown Yakima, while both Yakima hospitals provide showers for sweaty bike commuters.

Small victories, but they are a start, he said.

"Unless you make it easier for people they're not going to do anything," Curtin said.

Trails are also credited with building local economies. A National Association of Homebuilders study shows trails are the major amenity that potential homeowners cite when they are looking at moving to a new community.

With its sunshine and low-traffic country roads, the Yakima Valley makes good biking terrain, said Damon Roberts, vice president of the Chinook Cycling Club. Roberts receives e-mails checking on the local bike conditions from professionals considering moving to the area. He always gives them a good report.

The Yakima Greenway is one of the best examples. It provides 10 miles of off- street path along the Naches and Yakima rivers, plus a spur that runs to Selah. The nonprofit foundation is working on doubling that with a new line to Naches.

Roberts knows of at least three or four people who use the Greenway to commute to work. He rides the entire length every day to and from his home near Fred Meyer to his job as an engineer for the state Department of Transportation in Union Gap.

The rest of the city is hit and miss, he said. Expectedly, newer roads in West Valley have wider shoulders and less traffic; 16th Avenue, with four lanes of heavy traffic, is a nightmare. Bicyclists avoid it.

Ellensburg, over the past 20 years, has been adding sidewalks and bike lanes as part of an overall non-motorized transportation plan.

Just a month ago, that city painted "sharrows" along Fifth Avenue, a major east-west corridor. The street markings stop short of designating an entire lane for bikes but warn drivers cyclists use the road, too.

The verdict is still out on how well they work, said Gordon Crane, an engineering technician for the city.

City planners usually want bike routes to link attractions in the city. In Ellensburg, the sharrow- marked Fifth Avenue connects the fairgrounds on the east to the new Rotary Park on the west. Next, Ellensburg plans a $233,000 project to extend a walking, bike trail from Rotary Park, under Interstate 82, to the riverfront Irene Rhinehart Park.

Other communities have further to go.

The raised, narrow roads surrounding Toppenish make cycling dicey, said Mark Farley, a Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic physician who commutes by bicycle to work every day. Part of his route takes him along Fort Road, which has two feet or less of shoulder.

"I talk to other bike riders who live in town and they say, 'You're crazy,'" he said.

Toppenish itself isn't too bad because traffic is light if he stays away from First Street, he said.

Advocates insist that a small population is no excuse.

They say small communities, without a lot of money for engineering, can become more bike accessible, bike advocates insist.

Last spring, the Washington D.C., nonprofit League of American Bicyclists named Port Townsend one its "Bike Friendly Communities."

The Western Washington tourist city of 8,000 has spent 11 years adding bike and pedestrian lanes. The city sets aside $10,000 annually specifically for non-motorized transportation improvements. Staff and volunteers even have built mountain bike trails through undeveloped city plots.

Today, more than half of Port Townsend's arterials have either bike lanes or paved shoulders wide enough for a bike, said Mary Ames, a city engineer.

The Tri-Cities is trying to make the list, said Len Pavelka, a transportation planner for the Benton-Franklin Council of Governments. Just this year, the area celebrated the completion of the Sacagawea Heritage Trail, a 23-mile loop that skirts the banks of the Columbia River and all three towns -- Richland, Pasco and Kennewick. It took 10 years to develop.

Prosser's advocates aren't shooting for any lists or awards yet, but they are thinking pretty big.

"We don't really think of ourselves as small," Bush said.

Prosser's City Council members plan to begin talking about the ambitious plan tonight.

Some proposals include closing streets to cars, removing diagonal parking and installing stop lights at some intersections, all suggestions that may attract controversy in this pickup truck-heavy town.

Construction is expensive, too. A proposal to add sidewalks to Kinney Way is estimated at $648,000. It's less than a mile long.

But Prosser's bike proponents see plenty of reasons why a bike plan will work. Prosser has a compact community, property on the banks of the Yakima River and many streets that are already wide enough for bike lanes, Bush said.

Wine tourism may attract bicyclists and visa versa, said Jim Macica, a member of Prosser's bike and walking advisory group.

"It would seem it would be a good fit for the agritourism industry," Macica said.

Currently, clusters of wineries bookend the community near each of its freeway interchanges. Part of the plan aims to connect those with a marked winery route. Wine tasting bike tours are common, while the Yakima-based Apple Valley Kiwanis Club holds the Wine Country Trek bike ride to Prosser and back every September.

Prosser also is the only Eastern Washington city with a car-tab fee that can be used for transportation improvements.

Council members have imposed the $20 fee but the city has not started collecting it.

Bike advocates aren't afraid to think big anywhere.

Paths that link Yakima's Greenway to the Lower Valley Pathway that runs from Sunnyside to Grandview and onto Prosser are part of the wish list for DRYVE, a countywide political action committee that lobbies for funding for local transportation projects.

Some bike supporters envision someday connecting Ellensburg to the Tri-Cities with a bike path. Such paths are written into Yakima County's 2015 comprehensive plan, though they aren't marked on any proposed maps.

Ambitious, sure. But not impossible, said Dave Veley, the former parks director for Yakima County. Veley, now the county equipment director, helped steer the development of the Lower Valley Pathway in the 1990s.

"Who would have ever thought that you'd be able to go from Union Gap to Selah 25 years ago?" Veley said.

* Ross Courtney can be reached at 509-930-8798 or rcourtney@yakimaherald.com.

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