How fast is too fast on a bike path?

Sara Rubin here, glad that the fast cars of Car Week are largely gone. We get a lot of Letters to the Editor about frustrations with traffic during the events, and the County of Monterey now offers an interactive map to help people get around and identify areas to avoid. For my part, I tried to avoid driving as much as possible and on days that it was practical, rode my bike. (I have my limits—even on my e-bike, I can’t get to and from an interview in Carmel or Salinas and the Weekly’s Seaside office in a reasonable amount of time for a workday appointment.) 

There’s also the perpetual issue of safe and practical bicycling infrastructure. Those “sharrows” painted on the road that are meant to remind cars that cyclists are here mean little if the driver of a car is not paying attention. During Car Week, I found biking to be especially harrowing. 

As for the bike infrastructure that does exist, there are some efforts underway to improve things. There is the City of Monterey’s long slog toward designing connective projects at both ends of the North Fremont Bike Lane, where there are gaps. And for users of the Rec Trail through Monterey—whether pedestrians, joggers, or cyclists—you can expect to see two new speed counters installed soon, likely in September. 

The idea is that as the Rec Trail gets crowded with different users at different speeds, there could be relevant signage or speed limits coming in the future. In my observation, not all sections of the Rec Trail are equally crowded, and the crowded sections are not equally packed at all times of day or times of year. Marissa Garcia, an engineering assistant in the City of Monterey’s Public Works Department, has observed the same thing. Hence, she purchased the two counters (for $16,520) to gather data. 

“Before we consider doing a speed limit, we need to know what’s going on right now,” Garcia says. “The character of the trail changes dramatically over the season. The composition of every section is different. We are trying to get more information to back up what we know anecdotally—there are more bikes near Del Monte, and more pedestrians by the Presidio Curve, for example.”

The counters will be placed in two spots, across from Park Avenue near Del Monte Boulevard and at the “Presidio Curve.” They will tally the number of pedestrians, the number of bikes and the speed of bikes. 

The intent is to get real data to show what many users of the Rec Trail—commuters, recreationalists, tourists—already know anecdotally. Some stretches are an easy, fast cruise for bicyclists or for runners; other sections might be host to a throng of people that makes it hard to travel in a straight line. The counters will be in place for at least a year before any decisions are made.

Especially with the advent of e-bikes, I think it’s important for the City of Monterey to rethink the guidelines around this important piece of public infrastructure. And I’m glad they’re doing it with data. 

Pacific Grove took a different approach when e-bikes started appearing on the scene, and in 2020 set a unilateral 12mph speed limit on its portion of the Rec Trail. I am not a fast biker, but on flat ground, I can tell you that you don’t even have to break a sweat to exceed 12mph on a regular old human-powered bike. Five minutes of observation in P.G. is all it takes to see this bizarrely low speed limit violated, and the same old premise that predated the speed limit comes into play: Pay attention and be courteous. 

Unfortunately, for busy stretches of multi-use resources like the Rec Trail, “pay attention and be courteous” may not be enough clarity. The potential for widening the Rec Trail is low, Garcia tells me, based on right-of-way. Look for more on potential signage and speed limits to come in the coming years as the data gathering process ramps up.

Newsletter

How fast is too fast on a bike path? The drone show does not go on. Works by young artists.