New Bike Path Offers Alternative For Travel To And From SFO
MILLBRAE (KCBS) - There's a new way to get to and from San Francisco International Airport - thanks to an extension of the Bay Trail bike lane around the airport.
KCBS' Tim Ryan Reports:
"It's a lot cheaper, better exercise, better for the environment. So, we're trying to accommodate that," reasoned SFO spokesman Mike McCarron. "But we also have security concerns, that's why we can't put people on the air side but we do have the connection between the north end and the south end of the Bay Trail."
In short, he explained that security restrictions would keep cyclists from riding along the shoreline.
"We have very specific routes because of that. And so that's why we use the frontage road," McCarron outlined.
While that route helped to safeguard security, McCarron recognized that it put cyclists and motorists in close proximity - something potentially unexpected for everybody.
"And then the connectors to the garages, just be very careful but they are marked and people aren't looking for bikes here," McCarron stressed.
"You're pretty much riding the traffic and of course it's pretty heavy traffic because there's freight moving out, and trucks, and for that reason also the road's in pretty bad shape," concurred Paul Grantham, an experienced cyclist who serves on a San Mateo County pedestrian and bicyclist advisory committee.
He struck a cautious tone about the path's potential for success.
"Going to the airport was not an easy task, not very comfortable at times," he described his initial ride on the trail. "And I was questioning whether it was really a possibility for the normal rider who isn't out there on the road all the time."
Airport officials hoped for smooth sailing once cyclists arrived at SFO, offering several storage options for bikes: the employee parking area, the rental car center and in two of the garages.
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