Friday, June 29, 2012

Children Of The Sun Trail

With the latest part of the North-South Corridor now open I got on my bike ride this morning to check out how the Children of the Sun Trail was coming along since the last time I looked.  
The access point on Farwell Road is still closed but since there's room for a bike, I figured it applied to motorized traffic. Well, that was my planned excuse if anyone said anything.
There's a new access point in Mead at the intersection of Wilson and Chatham. (Chatham becomes 1st as you go east.) This is great because it provides kids in this area with a safe, walkable and bikeable route Farwell Elementary and Northwood Middle Schools.
Further south on the trail, there used to be a horrendous 90-degree turn in which both sides went downhill to the turn. That is now gone and the trail is going to cross a bridge over a new onramp. The path going left takes you down to the remains of Parksmith Road which is now a construction zone. Nobody there showed any concern about an old man on a road bike passing through.
I took an alternate route to get on the southern end of the trail, and passed by Bill Sanders' old place. His sculptures still stand watch.
Here's the opposite view of the new bridge which is off in the distance.
From the construction north of Fairview and then going south past Gerlach it's pretty clear until you get on Freya. The path has been rerouted again but apparently blocked by Republican construction workers.
Going through the Nope blocks you come to another new bridge. It's not ready for traffic yet.
Taking Freya down to just before the roundabout, I had to go through more construction to come around to the other end of the new bridge. Instead of trying to go farther south, I headed back up Market to Parksmith where I got back on the trail.
During my ride I came across six other cyclists who were checking the trail out. This guy and his wife (I assume) were crossing Highway 2. Yes, we are on the wrong side of the Road Closed signs.
The new part north of Farwell and Northwood has been completed and looks pretty good.
Once the trail is completed, it looks like it will be pretty nice. There's connectivity for the schools and the kids in Shady Slope and Mead. And there's connectivity to the stores and businesses at Wandermere. For now the jury is out on the southern end.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the update! I was looking to see if it was open yet as I want to start biking home from work. Unfortunately the official DOT site fails to mention progress on the bike trail. You're the one with the most up to date info. Thanks again!