SACRAMENTO, Calif. — One North Sacramento neighborhood is trying to take back its bike trail after neighbors say people drive their cars along it, forcing bikes and pedestrians to get out of the way.
“It was more of a safety issue for us for the neighborhood,” said Nancy Azevedo, who lives nearby.
Azevedo says cars have been illegally using the Sacramento Northern Bike Trail for more than a year.
“It has gotten worse over the past few months,” said Azevedo.
Neighbors say they see about seven cars a day using the trail meant solely for those walking and riding bicycles.
“A friend of mine, she and her husband were riding their bikes the other day and they almost got hit head on by a car — a big truck coming down the bike trail speeding,” said Azevedo.
The bike trail extends a lengthy distance and neighbors say the area is missing a lot of the infrastructure that keeps the cars off the trail.
The Sacramento Northern Bike Trail is around 10 miles long connecting downtown Sacramento to Rio Linda. Community members say the dangerous practices are putting lives in harm ways. They hope the City of Sacramento installs barriers that prevent cars onto the trail.
“At least try to curb what is going on because we know these people sometimes when they are on the bike trail, they will kind of find their way around it but at least it will be a deterrent and help the situation,” said Azevedo.
Neighbor Gordon Lew says people may think they have access due to others who use the trail for various reasons.
“Having people come down and feed the homeless people is also adding to the problem,” said Gordon Lew. “I think what is happening, community people see that and say, 'oh, they can drive down there, why can’t we drive down there?'”
The City of Sacramento said in a statement, “City staff are meeting with the community and are looking into long term solutions to address these issues. The City will evaluate the areas impacted to determine what preventative measures can be taken. The City is also working to create a Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) analysis which we will have more details on shortly.”
