Bicycle commuting between south Davis and campus is about to get a lot easier with construction of a bike tunnel under Interstate 80 nearing completion.
The undercrossing is expected to open in time for fall quarter.
"We’re going to have it finished by the end the summer," said Tim Bustos, bike and pedestrian coordinator for the city of Davis. "If it doesn’t rain, dust storm, landslide or earthquake, we plan on having it done."
The project adds about a quarter-mile to a bike path that runs about three miles along the North Fork of Putah Creek between the Willowbank development and Drew Circle in south Davis.
Workers were scheduled to begin this week to surface the bike path extension that goes west from Drew Circle, north on Da Vinci Court, west on Research Park Drive, southwest on West Chiles Road and under the freeway to West Olive Drive.
Campus commuters will then continue from Olive Drive to the Richards underpass and west on First Street to UC Davis.
The new undercrossing will offer cyclists a way to avoid using the busy Richards Boulevard freeway overpass, where a bike lane crosses opposing lanes of car and truck traffic.
However, the Yolo County Grand Jury, in an annual report published earlier this month, cited safety concerns about the new undercrossing. The grand jury recommended city action to address police concerns "before a serious incident occurs."
Bustos said the finding surprised him. Such concerns have already been addressed, he said.
The undercrossing was constructed with cyclists’ safety in mind, he said. "It’s very open, very visible–not a dark, deep tunnel that people envision with trolls lurking in the darkness."
The path is wide enough to allow access to emergency vehicles and features emergency call boxes, he said.
Bustos said other bike tunnels across the country, including a quarter-mile tunnel in Seattle, have seen little trouble.
Eventually, the city hopes to connect the North Fork Putah Creek bike path to the eastern end of the UC Davis Arboretum, where there are already spurs to Aggie Village and downtown.
City officials are negotiating with Northern Pacific Railway for right of way to put a culvert under the train tracks near West Olive Drive.