SANDAG unveils long-awaited Pershing Bikeway
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A cyclist rides south on Pershing Bikeway through Balboa Park. Photo: Andrew Keatts/Axios
More than a decade after it was conceptualized and two-and-a-half years since ground broke, the Pershing Bikeway opened Saturday, providing a protected bike route between North Park and downtown through Balboa Park.
Why it matters: The project became a flashpoint of the region's halting attempts to build a protected bike network to encourage cycling after two riders died in accidents vs. cars in 2021, when the project was mired in bureaucratic delays.
Driving the news: The San Diego Association of Governments on Saturday unveiled the 2.3-mile bikeway which turned the four-lane Pershing Drive into a two-lane road with a sidewalk and a two-way bike route separated from cars by curbs and a landscaped median.
- Planners now call it a "low-stress" street, after lowering the speed limit from 50 mph to 35 mph.
- Construction disrupted car traffic between downtown and North Park for years, angering neighbors. Some construction will continue for a few more weeks.
By the numbers: The Pershing Bikeway's final price tag came to $14 million.
- The project was paid for through SANDAG's "early action program," a $200 million-package of bike projects that were part of TransNet, a voter-approved half-cent sales tax for transportation.
Flashback: SANDAG's board approved that package in 2013, estimating the cost for the Pershing project at about $7.3 million.
- The agency began planning for the project in 2016, but design-related disputes between engineers for the city and SANDAG led to years of delays, as KPBS reported.
The big picture: Amid those delays, Laura Shinn, a 57-year-old SDSU architect, was killed in July 2021 by a driver who veered out of his lane and into the unprotected bike lane.
- Johnny Sepulveda, a 34-year-old riding a scooter, was fatally struck by a car two months later.
- Days after the second death, the city installed plastic bollards between bike and car traffic on the route.
- Construction on the Pershing project started three months after that, in January 2022.