Apple Valley-led project seen as critical connector in eventual network of bikeways

VICTORVILLE — The City Council recently authorized funding up to $274,000 to cover a shortfall in Apple Valley’s Bear Valley Road Bike Path Project, seen as critical connector in a proposed regional network of bikeways.

The project will construct a bike path along the north side of Bear Valley Road from Reata Road to Jacaranda Avenue, according to a city staff report.

“This bicycle path will be an important link to a network of bikeways in Victorville, Apple Valley and Hesperia,” the report said. “It will connect to both the Mojave Riverwalk Project and also to Hesperia’s Bear Valley Road By-Pass Phase II Bikeway Project at Jacaranda Avenue.”

In “another Apple Valley project that will follow later,” a bike path separated from motor vehicles will be constructed on the to-be-widened Bear Valley Road bridge over the Mojave River, according to the report.

The estimated total cost for Bear Valley Road Bike Path Project is $796,000, including $719,000 for construction and $77,000 for design and utility. Apple Valley will contribute $135,092 and a San Bernardino Associated Governments grant will fund $386,370.

Last Tuesday, the Victorville Council agreed to cover the remaining projected shortfall, using money from the city’s Local Transportation Fund.

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Victorville officials plan to add 46.1 miles of bikeways over the next five years within the city. In May, the Council OK’d a lease agreement with Victorville Valley College for the first phase of the $4.7 million Mojave Riverwalk Project.

The first phase includes a four-mile paved bicycle and pedestrian path from Bear Valley Road to Yucca Loma Road. This path will be constructed on top of the existing County Flood Control District levee and continue on the widened Yates Road with a path entering Mojave Narrows Regional Park, also boasting a turnaround loop.

The path will eventually connect to the Yucca Loma Bridge.

Source: Daily Press