Tunnel for Bayshore Bikeway Considered at Coronado Cays

Originally published 5:56 a.m. June 24.

For years Coronado Cays residents have suggested the installation of a tunnel to improve interaction between cars coming and going from Coronado Cays Boulevard and bicycles on the Bayshore Bikeway.

The idea of a tunnel below Coronado Cays Boulevard will be explored in coming months following a vote by the Coronado City Council June 18.

In the city's 2013-14 budget, approved at the same meeting, $200,000 has been appropriated for the project. Plans to modify the entrance were approved by City Council earlier this year.

Contractor Psomas will now explore the tunnel option and create a 3-D visualization for five options produced earlier this year for consideration. Options presented by Psomas have price tags ranging from $120,000 to $400,000. No cost estimate for a tunnel has been presented yet.

Both the tunnel option and 3-D simulations were requested by the Coronado Cays Homeowners Association.

"Whether that will achieve consensus or not I don't know," said City Manager Blair King at the meeting. "But at this point in time we probably don't have consensus." 

Though some Cays residents have asked that a tunnel since Bicycle Committee meetings in 2011, Councilmembers were not altogether supportive of the idea at last week's meeting.

"I guess I've got some real serious safety concerns, not with the people who are driving across the top but what bad things might go on in the tunnel," said Councilman Al Ovrom.

Possible criminal activity in the tunnel need to be considered alongside issues like drainage and flooding for the potential tunnel near the beach and below sea level, said City Engineer Ed Walton.

"Security in a tunnel, because it's not readily visible from a patrol car, is an issue. That would be one of the drawbacks to that. You also have utilities and constant maintenance with that. That's something that will be explored as well," Walton said.

Councilman Mike Woiwode said once people see drawings of what a tunnel in the area would look like they won't want it anymore.

A tunnel wasn't considered as part of the city's Bicycle Master Plan, he said, because it would require a 15-foot depression, fences to keep people from falling in and more things people may not want.

"As soon as you draw this picture, nobody's going to want it. So to pay $7,000 of the $14,000 to prove that is irritating. I would much rather spend more of the money on the visual simulations so people understand what they're getting instead of the tunnel which is easily dismissed when you look at it," he said.

The city has given the contractor $23,000 thus far to study and develop various options for entrance changes, according to city staff. An additional $7,000 will be spent to analyze a tunnel, $5,000 to create a 3-D visualization. Once tunnel analysis and visualizations are complete another public meeting will be held at a cost of near $3,000 to the city.

Mayor Casey Tanaka said he is not pleased with the idea of giving Psomas more money since a tunnel should have been considered in an initial study. Tanaka called paying the consultant $3,000 to host a public workshop "offensive" but voted in favor to support Cays residents.

"I think whatever solution we end up picking in the end, if we study it thoroughly then there are always going to be some very vocal naysayers on this issue so it behooves us to ensure we study all the key alternatives in detail," Tanaka said.

Following two public meetings held in March and April, president of the Coronado Cays Homeowners Association Kim Tolles sent a letter to the city to describe resident's "overall feeling of dissatisfaction with all of the alternatives presented by the consultants."

Consultants were "working along pre-determined lines," she said, and "the options were heavily slanted toward impeding the movement of cars through the intersection, as opposed to requiring bicyclists to stop."

The letter also references calls for a tunnel to be considered at Bicycle Committee meetings held in January 2011 when the city was working with another consultant to consider changes to the entrance to the Coronado Cays.

To see the five options presented to citizens earlier this year see the attached PDF. To see the City Council meeting webcast with City Engineer Ed Walton explaining the five options visit the city website.