California State Parks Foundation announced that its Mount Diablo Bike Turnout campaign raised $755,090 exceeding its goal of $750,000.
California State Parks, California State Parks Foundation, and Mount Diablo Cyclists have partnered to build Phase Two of bike safety turnouts at Mount Diablo State Park.
“State Parks is very appreciative of the community’s enthusiasm around this project,” said Clint Elsholz, Acting District Superintendent of Diablo Range District. “The generosity of so many will accelerate our progress around enhancing safety measures at Mount Diablo State Park.”
For many years, cycling at Mount Diablo State Park has been a popular — but dangerous — activity. From 2010 to 2014, there was an average of 23 car and bike collisions per year. According to California State Park officials, this also frequently resulted in road rage showdowns between drivers and riders.
Bike turnouts allow bicyclists, who move at slower speeds as they pedal uphill, to pull out of the main traffic lane into their own lane so that vehicles can pass safely. After the first turnouts were created, collisions dropped to three accidents in two years, and road rage significantly diminished.
With the completion of 30 bike turnouts in 2022, there are now 45 total at Mount Diablo State Park.
This project was inspired by the memory of Joe Shami who was a passionate advocate for increasing safety for bicyclists and cars at Mount Diablo State Park. Known by locals as “The Legend of Mount Diablo,” Joe’s passion for Mount Diablo State Park and cycling was exemplified by over a decade of weekly trips up the mountain well into his 80s.
“Tragically, Joe was struck and killed by a vehicle while riding his bicycle in Lafayette,” said Randy Widera, Director of Programs of the California State Parks Foundation. “Although he is not with us today, Joe left a special gift in his will of $123,415.61 to California State Parks Foundation to fund additional bike turnouts on Mount Diablo.”
In an incredible show of dedication to this work, California State Parks allocated the same amount as Joe’s gift with an additional $123,415.61 from the department’s annual roads allocation funding. Taking this initial funding as a challenge, a passionate group of volunteers comprised of Alan Kalin, Mark Dedon, and Ted Trambley spent the past four months doing outreach in the park and at Peet’s Coffee in Danville with locals, cyclists, and visitors.
“We absolutely enjoyed all our time and effort meeting and speaking with the thousands of motorists and cyclists,” said Alan Kalin. “The vast majority of folks understood the critical importance that bike turnouts could make, how they help prevent collisions and save lives.”
Through their efforts and with the support of California State Parks Foundation, they inspired over 300 individuals, organizations, and companies to donate an additional $508,259.26 lifting the campaign to a total of $755,090.48 raised.
Currently, Phase Two of the Mount Diablo Bike Turnout project is anticipated to break ground in late spring of 2024.
Love the community partnership! Amazing that to reduce deaths in this situations we need donations from the tax payers.
Donations have nothing to do with people being taxpayers. It’s all voluntary and no actual taxes were used. That’s a good thing.
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In CA, that’s enough money to build three turnouts.
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(Project administration + planning, design, construction).
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Last time I drove up to the summit was about ten years ago. Back then the cyclists were just road hogs taking up the whole road and would not move over.
I will never go back. Please stay off of Morgan Territory road.
The bikes do no move over because drivers do not pass safely. Many of the accidents were caused when bikes were being passed and another car was coming in the opposite direction causing the passing car to serve back over into the cyclist.
Hi know where you’re coming from, but according to the law bicyclists have every right to use the entire lane and yes, some of them are not courteous, but I find the majority of them are. They have that right and no vehicle has the right to force them over or to pass unsafely. Courtesy is a two-way street!
You should not use the c word here. They frown upon it.
IMHO, Bicyclists need their very own lane up the Mountain. Maybe even their very own separate route up the Mountain. Not because I don’t love cyclists, but because I do!
🚴🏻♂️ Actually, if you are a cyclist, you cannot “pull over,” without completely loosing forward momentum no matter what gear you’re in. You would practically have to walk the bike the rest of the way up the Mountain to get to the top, if you could do it at all. You’re almost forced to terminate your ride at that point. This has a lot to do with why cyclists are reluctant to “give way” to motorists. They don’t have tne option to continue when forward momentum uphill comes into play. I think if more motorists were aware of this they would be more understanding. It’s why I wish for a separate trail for cyclists. 🚴🏻♂️
I don’t think they could raise that much money to have a separate route or their own lane. There’s just no room to accommodate that. Since bicyclists have every right to use an entire lane, there’s really no need. All it takes is a little common courtesy on both sides. The amount of turnouts they are installing and have already installed have taken care of the issue and will continue to do so.
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The general public wrongly believes any time there is a vehicle vs bicyclist collision that it is the motorist’s fault. Many times careless or a-holish cyclists cause their own demise but of course the media portrays it as the fault of the “evil automobile”. Heck, Joe Shami may have been his own victim but of course that is not mentioned.
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Any statistic from bicyclists and the media should be viewed with skepticism.
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Anyone remember a few years back when someone had put up signs on the road every 1/4 mile saying “Bikes have the right of way” or something close to that. I’m assuming a bike club did it illegally, as they were removed a short time after. I frequent Mt. Diable in both car and bike, and unfortunately, bad apples exist on both sides. Example, we were going up in a vehicle, and a biker would not budge off the middle of the road, going 3m an hour, and finally, after a mile or two, I gave up and passed him, and he yelled, screamed profanities, etc. If you are a biker, step off the road if you have cars behind you for several minutes. It’s not that hard, and it could save your life. I do, and it does not kill me. Cars have the right of way. It is what it is. If you don’t want to ride with cars passing you, get a mt. bike, there are many more miles of trail on the mountain just waiting for you.
Serious cyclists (You know, the ones with the little mirrors hanging off their sunglasses) will never use a turnout. It’s an ego thing.
We keep insisting that bicycles and cars can coexist on the same plane, in close proximity, if only we paint enough of the right stuff on the ground in just the right way. I wonder how long we’ll keep doing that.