Clovis still has edge on Fresno when it comes to bike trails. But the gap is narrowing | Opinion

Reputations are hard to change. That goes for people, and also for cities.

In our little neck of planet Earth, Clovis is known for (among other attributes) having an extensive bicycle/pedestrian trail system connecting neighborhoods to parks, schools and employment centers.

Fresno, meanwhile, is known for no such thing.

I’m here to tell you the situation is slowly changing. If not by reputation, then certainly by reality.

This isn’t to say Fresno has surpassed Clovis when it comes to bicycle/pedestrian infrastructure. To be clear, I am not saying that. What I’m saying is the tables are starting to turn. While Clovis has spent several years resting on its laurels, Fresno has quietly been making steady progress.

Opinion

Before continuing, it must be said comparisons between the neighboring cities aren’t exactly fair. Fresno is roughly 4½ times as large as Clovis when measured by both size (116 square miles to 26 square miles) as well as estimated population (544,510 to 122,989).

So on a per-capita basis, Clovis continues to set the pace. But the gap has been noticeably shrinking.

Over the last five years, Fresno has added to its inventory of off-roadway bike and pedestrian paths that run separate from street traffic. (City planners call these Class I trails.)

Additions to the bike trail that runs parallel to Herndon Avenue are the most obvious example. A narrow pathway that used to terminate at Milburn Avenue has been expanded and now stretches all the way to Golden State Boulevard. (Minus a missing segment over the Burlington Sante Fe overpass.) Further north and east, the Class I trail along Copper Avenue has also been extended to keep pace with home construction.

Nor has central Fresno been excluded. Two segments of the long-awaited Midtown Trail are open to the public, while the remaining three remain under construction.

Fresno tries protected bike lanes

California’s fifth-largest city has also installed a few segments of protected bike lanes where cyclists are separated from traffic by physical barriers such as bollards or planter boxes. (Planners call these Class IV trails, and they are all the rage in cities across North America.)

Fresno’s most visible Class IV bike lanes run along Van Ness Avenue through the Tower District, and frankly the city’s public roll-out last September was dreadful. Still they’re much safer, and drivers have already gotten used to them.

The city also added protected bike lanes along R Street downtown and on Maple Avenue between Gettysburg and Shaw — presumably for the benefit of Fresno State bike commuters.

While it’s fair to question why Fresno prioritized these segments instead of creating protected bike lanes along Palm and Belmont avenues (as was discussed during the pandemic), at least the city is expanding its active transportation network.

Which is more than a certain neighboring city can say. In fact, an argument can be made that Clovis’ trail system has gotten demonstratively worse.

In 2014, Clovis opened the Dry Creek Trailhead on the southwest corner of Shepherd and Sunnyside. Why that location? Because it gave cyclists, runners and walkers easy access to two of the city’s premier Class I bike trails: the Dry Creek Trail and the Enterprise Trail.

Well, at least it used to. Turns out a quarter-mile segment of the canal bank that connects the trailhead to the Enterprise Trail lies within Fresno County and is also private property. And during the early days of the pandemic, when seemingly everyone was out walking or biking, the landowners decided they didn’t want anyone on the canal bank behind their homes.

In May 2020, a gate was erected along with signage indicating that segment of the Enterprise Canal is not part of the Enterprise Trail System. Therefore, keep out.

Without public access to that canal bank, cyclists and walkers are forced to use Shepherd (a two-lane road between Sunnyside and Fowler with narrow shoulders and curves) to go between the Dry Creek and Enterprise trails. Which is something I wouldn’t personally recommend.

No easy solution for Clovis trail gap

What are Clovis city officials doing to bridge this glaring gap? Chad McCollum, the city’s economic development, housing and communications director, assures me they are working on a solution.

When might that be?

“This process is likely to take some time to complete, as there are several property owners we are working with, in addition to the multiple agencies,” McCollum said in email. “Funding will be needed to secure property as well as make improvements. There is no concrete timeline.”

In other words, not anytime soon.

The vast majority of Clovis’ bike trails were constructed in the late 1990s and 2000s. This includes the Old Town, Dry Creek and Enterprise trails as well as the Sierra Gateway Trail along the perimeter of Harlan Ranch.

Since then, most of the recent additions have been in the Loma Vista area. While I’m sure these short trail segments are appreciated by residents, they don’t connect to anywhere else.

That could change if and when Clovis builds a bike and pedestrian bridge spanning Highway 168 near Temperance Avenue and Clovis Community Medical Center. Of course, those plans have been on the drawing board for nearly a decade and the project still lacks a final design or funding.

Meanwhile, Fresno is scheduled to open the new Veterans Boulevard overpass over Highway 99 and the Union Pacific railroad tracks in November. Yes, the design includes a grade separated bike and pedestrian trail.

Fresno and Clovis may have different reputations when it comes to active transportation. But the actual difference is shrinking by the year.