Naval Base San Diego helps San Diego with Bikeway

San Diego is known for its great weather and abundance of outdoor activities. Naval Base San Diego (NBSD) in collaboration with the City of San Diego, San Diego Association of Governments, Coronado, Imperial Beach, National City and Chula Vista is supporting the Bayshore Bikeway, a 24-mile bicycle pathway around the San Diego Bay. The bikeway is built off the main traffic roads for a safe and secure bicycle ride attracting hundreds of riders daily, some of whom use the path for recreation and others who use it to commute to work. The bikeway starts on Coronado from the Ferry Landing, goes through Silver Strand, passing Naval Amphibious Base Coronado and through Imperial Beach. From there is continues on into Chula Vista, National City, past NBSD and ends in downtown San Diego. Manager of the Bayshore Bikeway Project, Robert Ripley, Naval Facilities Southwest Asset Manager NBSD, said, “This is a major project years in the making for the safety of civilians and Sailors. It’s built to take cyclists off the main road ways and on to a safe and secure route. Cyclists can go from downtown to Coronado to Chula Vista… all around San Diego Bay safely.” The project has been completed from Coronado to Chula Vista. The current section under final design is from Chula Vista, through National City, NBSD and up to 32nd Street. The preliminary project cost estimate for this portion is a little under $7 million. When planning the current section, it was determined that a portion of the bike path near NBSD was undevelopable without the Navy’s help. “If the Navy hadn’t collaborated in this project, the bike path would have had to go over train tracks- not very safe,” stated Ripley. Through collaboration with the cities and local community, NBSD decided to pursue an easement to help complete the bike path. An easement will allow use of the property by the cities for the Bayshore Bikeway while the Navy will continue to retain ownership of the property, consisting of five sections totaling a little over 3 acres of land. Read the entire NavyCompass article here.