A Safe Bikepath From Palm Springs To The Salton Sea
(GOOGLENEWS/Newstodayworld.org/PalmSprings/CA/USA)A groundbreaking ceremony by the City of Palm Springs and The Coachella Valley Association of Governments (CVAG) took place at Demuth Park on 4200 E. Mesquite Ave, Palm Springs, next to the Demuth Community Center.
The park is one of the access points when the CV Link is completed. According to CVAG’s Assistant Executive Director, Erica Felci, this site will connect this construction with a mile-long segment that was completed a couple of years ago in conjunction with the City’s Tahquitz Creek bike project.
The new construction will add about three more miles to the city of Palm Springs.
Safety First.
Palm Springs Honorable Mayor Lisa Middleton, who is a fierce fighter for safety in Palm Springs pointed out the advantage of this unique and safe bike path, that will become a destination and eventually go all the way to the Salton Sea.
CV-Link Mission Statement:
Enable Healthy & Safer Communities
- Public Health and Safety: Encourage healthier lifestyles by providing safer infrastructure for people to walk and ride bicycles for transportation and recreation.
- Provide a Better Connection to Schools: 54% of all public school students in the Coachella Valley live within 1 mile of CV Link’s original route, which will provide a safer route to walk and bike to school as well as facilitate athletic uses.
- Combat Obesity: Enable and encourage healthy living to combat the major obesity epidemic facing the Coachella Valley. The Desert Healthcare District/Foundation and medical community throughout the valley strongly support and have supported CV Link for its ability to help foster healthy communities.
- Mobility for All: Improve mobility for the elderly and people with mobility impairments.
- Accessible Transportation: Provide transportation options that are more economical than automobiles, thereby improving the mobility of lower income populations.
Improve Air Quality
- Reduce vehicle miles traveled: Improve the air quality of the entire Coachella Valley by relieving congestion, taking cars off the road (particularly Highway 111), and by facilitating more than 3 million bicycle and pedestrian trips per year by 2035.
- Environmental Stewardship: Respect and enhance the natural and cultural resources along the Whitewater River Channel and Tahquitz Creek.
Spur Economic Growth
- Economic Growth: Provide jobs in construction, tourism, CV Link-focused services and retail, and electric vehicle industries as well as provide enhanced access to commercial destinations.
- Development: Provide access to currently vacant properties that may be developed for parks, businesses, homes, or mixed use. By doing this, CV Link will raise property values, encourage development, and drive entrepreneurial business opportunities along the route. An economic impact report showed CV Link could create $1.47 billion in health, tourism, and other economic benefits for the region.
- Increase Tourism: A frequent question guests ask their concierges at their resorts is, “Where can I go for a run or bike ride?”. CV Link provides a safer and accessible pathway for visitors to exercise and travel throughout the valley. Envisioned to be one of the longest pathways in the country, it is anticipated that CV Link will become a major attraction for a region that depends on tourism for its economy. It will also serve as a great venue for events like the Tour de Palm Springs bike race, marathons or 5K events.
- Energy Independence: Reduce energy consumption by providing alternatives to traveling by car.
Foster Connection
- Establish CV Link as a physical connection between neighborhoods, communities, and amenities.
- Bond people to destinations, culture, and the environment as well as to other people in the Coachella Valley.
- Make access to the pathway effortless, taking advantage of existing road intersections and and create new access points.
Enhance Function
- Add new use to an existing, but under-utilized infrastructure by creating a left-over space into a community and valley-wide amenity.
- Maintain existing stormwater channel capacity while adding a new multi-modal transportation and recreational pathway on the top of the channel.
- Serve as an alternative means of transportation by which one may commute and access local amenities and destinations.
Distinct Destination
- Become a distinct destination within the Coachella Valley by creating a unique parkway experience that blends recreation and transportation.
- Serve as a means of transportation between destinations, as well as become a destination within itself.
- Make for an interesting experience for residents to use to commute to work as well as become a premiere destination for exercise and recreation.
Make It Iconic
- Be an innovative destination in functionality, design concepts and form
- Create unique relationships, both programmatic and spatial, that creates an architectural language that is inherently identifiable as CV Link
- Support intuitive wayfinding and use that takes advantage of existing opportunities (views, elevation changes, etc.), creating a unique and memorable experience
