Highway 101 bike path in San Rafael delayed

Dayrider wrote:

I laughed when I saw the picture of the mini cannister in the IJ with a caption that said these were used for nitrous oxide and party drugs. For chrissakes, IJ, do some fact checking before repeating random idiotic assumptions from the peopel you interview. Those cannisters are used by bicyclists to repair flat tires, and were filled with CO2. I happen to have 3 of them in my saddle pack. I had no idea that I was in possession of party drugs!

C02 on Your bike, eh?

Now bikes have a carbon footprint as well?

Pulipaca wrote:

<quoted text>When riding a bike you will have to breath even harder than just sitting in a car, and those fumes give people energy. If you get sick, just blame it on second hand cigarette smoke or wood stoves. People are stupid to build a bike path next to a freeway or diesel train line, but that is your tax dollars at work. I do wonder how much use that new bike path will get.

Those walls make a huge difference. If you ever jog or ride along the path between Alameda Del Prado and Marinwood (right along SB 101, it's amazing what happens once you tuck behind the wall (closer to the Marinwood side). Everything becomes relatively silent (much more than you'd expect), and the air seems a lot fresher. Those walls really do work. I can definitely see why neighbors would want them separating them from the freeway...

Keep the bike/jogging paths coming! Judging by the traffic on the current paths, people are definitely going to use them. Whatever happened with the Bay Trail?

I am so gald I left Marin.....

The train is a political thing .. railroaded through to enrich a few.

The bike path is a political thing ... included by politicos to get the train thing passed with help of bike industry.

The political goal was to get SMART passed to get taxpayer $, not to create something that was healthful and smart.

That is why the bike path is in the hydrocarbon tunnel between the sound walls and the train tracks are on the other (human residential ) side of the wall.

That is why humans exercising their bodies on bicycles on this path will be poisoning themselves by deeply inhaling hydrocarbons and particulates and humans living on the other side of the wall will inhaling hydrocarbons from the disel fuel trains and listening to the noise.

But don't blame Caltrans ...they are just a well paid tool of the politicians funded by the taxpayers .. think of the long time supporters of SMART ,, and you will know which politicians are responsible.

Motor vehicles produce many different pollutants. The principal pollutants of concern—those that have been demonstrated to have significant effects on human, animal, plant, and environmental health and welfare—include:

Hydrocarbons: this class is made up of unburned or partially burned fuel, and is a major contributor to urban smog, as well as being toxic. They can cause liver damage and even cancer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automobile_emiss...

...

Carbon monoxide (CO): a product of incomplete combustion, carbon monoxide reduces the blood's ability to carry oxygen and is dangerous to people with heart disease.

Nitrogen oxides (NOx): These are generated when nitrogen in the air reacts with oxygen at the high temperature and pressure inside the engine. NOx is a precursor to smog and acid rain.

...

Particulates – soot or smoke made up of particles in the micrometre size range: Particulate matter causes respiratory health effects in humans and animals

Dayrider wrote:

I laughed when I saw the picture of the mini cannister in the IJ with a caption that said these were used for nitrous oxide and party drugs. For chrissakes, IJ, do some fact checking before repeating random idiotic assumptions from the peopel you interview. Those cannisters are used by bicyclists to repair flat tires, and were filled with CO2. I happen to have 3 of them in my saddle pack. I had no idea that I was in possession of party drugs!

Whatever they're used for - it's still littering! Or do you think because you are a bicyclist you can just throw your garbage on the street?

Weary of It all wrote:

The train is a political thing .. railroaded through to enrich a few.
The bike path is a political thing ... included by politicos to get the train thing passed with help of bike industry.
The political goal was to get SMART passed to get taxpayer $, not to create something that was healthful and smart.
That is why the bike path is in the hydrocarbon tunnel between the sound walls and the train tracks are on the other (human residential ) side of the wall.
That is why humans exercising their bodies on bicycles on this path will be poisoning themselves by deeply inhaling hydrocarbons and particulates and humans living on the other side of the wall will inhaling hydrocarbons from the diesel fuel trains and listening to the noise.
But don't blame Caltrans ...they are just a well paid tool of the politicians funded by the taxpayers .. think of the long time supporters of SMART ,, and you will know which politicians are responsible.

Thanks Weary. The train was rammed down our throats with tax payer money. The economy will be the ultimate decider of wether or not the stupid thing gets built.

who'd want to cycle down a corridor of concrete walls? Mad Max?

couplewords wrote:

who'd want to cycle down a corridor of concrete walls? Mad Max?

We are talking about a segment of the path which connects central San Rafael to Terra Linda. It is not a ride by itself. I love to ride with my kid and this path will allow us a safe ride to connect the two areas. Pretty simple.

I ride a motorcycle and can't say I have noticed a difference. Then again, I also ride into SF and often times take the Richmond Bridge and go around the East Bay... so maybe i'm used to sucking fumes.

Asthmatic wrote:

As a lifetime Marin resident, I noticed as soon as they finished the freeway WALLS that the air ON the freeway while driving seems MUCH worse. Does anyone notice the much stronger smell of car fumes? I feel for the commuters who must sit in the accumulation of all that smog. I drove to Terra Linda from SR and WOW...like a sledgehammer it hit me! Right when I approached from the onramp in SR....instant death stench...laden with hot, toxic particles...an asthmatics nightmare. I instantly covered my mouth with my shirt.
I would like to see a comparison of air samples done....

I thought that the bike path was open already. Once I saw a someone riding a bike on the new path. I can't wait for it to open I can ride my bike from Marinwood to downtown SR.

MNT BIKE CHAMP wrote:

I am so gald I left Marin.....

SO AM I

Weary of It all wrote:

The train is a political thing .. railroaded through to enrich a few.
The bike path is a political thing ... included by politicos to get the train thing passed with help of bike industry.
The political goal was to get SMART passed to get taxpayer $, not to create something that was healthful and smart.
That is why the bike path is in the hydrocarbon tunnel between the sound walls and the train tracks are on the other (human residential ) side of the wall.
That is why humans exercising their bodies on bicycles on this path will be poisoning themselves by deeply inhaling hydrocarbons and particulates and humans living on the other side of the wall will inhaling hydrocarbons from the disel fuel trains and listening to the noise.
But don't blame Caltrans ...they are just a well paid tool of the politicians funded by the taxpayers .. think of the long time supporters of SMART ,, and you will know which politicians are responsible.

Thanks for the support, crew. I like the term "hydrocarbon tunnel"..that is what it feels like to my lungs. I took 101N today to Dogtown( Novato, if you are new to Marin)and experienced the same thing....LA style stagnant smog. I cannot believe they put the BIKE PATH next to the freeway WITHIN the walls where the smog is...and the diesel( which NEVER should have been approved) next to the housing. WOW
I guess breathing is less important than "progress"

I'm looking forward to the opening of the paths. Riding in traffic in Marin is awful.

I grew up in Marin and at the age of 17, moved for 10 years, and i've been back in Marin for 9 years now... that's 26 years in Marin and about 15 of them were in Novato, and i've never heard Novato called "Dogtown". You are aware that there is a town called "Dogtown" in West Marin, right? I used to pass though it all the time on my way to Bolinas when I was a teen. Maybe you are not aware that there really is a Dogtown in Marin so you assumed it was some city, and decided Novato was that city?

Asthmatic wrote:

<quoted text>Thanks for the support, crew. I like the term "hydrocarbon tunnel"..that is what it feels like to my lungs. I took 101N today to Dogtown( Novato, if you are new to Marin)and experienced the same thing....LA style stagnant smog. I cannot believe they put the BIKE PATH next to the freeway WITHIN the walls where the smog is...and the diesel( which NEVER should have been approved) next to the housing. WOW
I guess breathing is less important than "progress"

Wait until you see the stupid and very expensive 700' bike trench north from Linden Lane right next to the freeway, to say nothing of the reason for putting the path on the wrong side (highway side) of the ramp at the Coleman Pedestrian Over-crossing. Happy MARIN BACKUP every morning - NOT!