The section of Elvas Avenue between 62nd Street and Hornet Tunnel which leads to Sac State is very dangerous for bicyclists. Bicyclists have to transition across four lanes of traffic (three travel lanes and a center turn lane), without any protection whatsoever. The pavement quality is low, particularly on the east side where the ‘bike lane’ (not a real bike lane) is. Despite this, it is a high-use bicycle route from Sacramento to Sac State and the American River Parkway trail. M Street, this section of Elvas, and the Hornet Tunnel serve as a bicycle boulevard (though not designated) between the central city, Sac State, and beyond.

Since the day I arrived in Sacramento and rode my bike to work in the eastern suburbs, I have known that this section needs to be fixed. It took me 12 years to get around to writing about it. I hope that it will take the city less to fix it. The solution presented here is not the only solution, so I encourage others to comment, point out flaws, and suggest optimal solutions.

Elvas Avenue is a high-speed, moderately high-volume roadway that acts in many ways as an expressway due primarily to the turns from Elvas Avenue to 65th Street, and from 65th Street to Elvas that encourage high speeds. The roadway is dangerous for motor vehicle drivers and passengers as well as bicyclists. North of 62nd Street, St. Francis High School (about 1100 students) suffers from traffic risk created by Elvas Avenue, so traffic calming to the south will benefit the high school as well as bicyclists. It might be appropriate to extend the separated bikeway north to the signalized crosswalk over Elvas to the school.

I propose the installation of a two-way, sidewalk-level, 12-foot wide (6 feet each way) separated bikeway between 62nd Street and the Hornet Tunnel, on the east side of Elvas Avenue. The alignment is shown below.

The two northbound lanes on Elvas Avenue, which are not justified by traffic volume and which increase motor vehicle speeds, would be reduced to one. The center turn lane is also unneeded and should be removed. The rarely used bike lane southbound on the west side of Elvas Avenue would be removed, and replaced with the ‘bicycles allowed use of full lane’ (MUTCD R9-20) sign. Though this is less than ideal, it does make available roadway width for the separated bikeway and a sidewalk buffer with trees.

There are some driveways in this section, which is less than ideal for separated bikeways, but can be accommodated, and nearly half the distance is undeveloped. There is almost no need for parking on the east side of the street, except perhaps in front of The Mill coffee shop, since other businesses have ample on-site parking. Some of the on-site parking is attached to the street and perpendicular, but the transition between the street and parking should slow motor vehicles enough to be reasonably safe for bicyclists.

At 62nd Street, a bicycle signal face would be installed to provide an exclusive phase for bicyclists. Sensors can be installed to sense bicyclists waiting on 62nd Street and at the north end of the bikeway so that the signal is not triggered unnecessarily nor would it need to be on auto-recall. The existing crosswalk and pedestrian signal would be maintained or possibly moved to the north side of the intersection.

There is no existing shade on the east side of Elvas Avenue (nor the west side, for that matter), so a sidewalk buffer of six feet would be created to shade both the sidewalk and the bikeway.

Though the intersection of Elvas Avenue with 65th Street does need to be redesigned to increase safety for all users, the new bikeway ending at Hornet Tunnel would not interfere with that intersection.

The width of Elvas Avenue varies through this section but is at least 60 feet. The cross-section below is based on 60 feet. The bikeway could be adjacent to the street, or adjacent to the sidewalk, each design having advantages. Both versions are shown.