The battle for territory between cyclists and drivers on Mt. Diablo is finally over – $1.5 million in state funding was approved to build up to 70 bike turnouts along the mountain’s narrow and winding roads.
"These turnouts are going to save lives and, I hope, be a model for the nation," State Sen. Steve Glazer, D-Contra Costa County, told the San Francisco Chronicle.
Glazer oversaw the program's progress through the state budget process. "Making Mount Diablo safer for cyclists and motorists will let more people from our community and elsewhere enjoy this awesome place without putting their lives in danger."
The hope is that the program will act as a template for ending conflicts between drivers and cyclists on narrow backroads anywhere, said Glazer.
Incidents often occur when a motorist gets stuck behind slow-moving bikes heading uphill and maneuver around them by crossing the double-yellow lines, into oncoming traffic, to pass.
Mt. Diablo is notorious for this issue.
For decades on the roads heading up Mount Diablo, as well as most narrow backroads of the Bay Area, there has been tension, shouting matches and showdowns over close calls between cyclists and cars.
It hit a peak from 2010 to 2014 with more than 100 collisions at Mount Diablo, according to State Parks, and the latest accidents show a familiar pattern.
About 150,000 cyclists, most from the East Bay and across Northern California, come to ride Mount Diablo each year.
Mount Diablo Cyclists first proposed the turnouts about 10 years ago with support from California State Parks. In 2014, State Parks built the first turnouts and in the past seven years the agency has installed 17 total.
State Parks has not set a date to start construction, but it is expected to begin this fall.
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