Natomas has a history of poor city planning. Planning seems short sighted. Planning promises have not been kept. The master plan for North Natomas was to feature city centers and be bicycle and pedestrian friendly. Those promises were run over by the automobile and developers. Sorely lacking was planning for bike trails that actually connect communities and are useful for commuting. And Light Rail mass transit seems like an afterthought.
The history.
Natomas is a neighborhood in Sacramento, California. It is north of downtown, north of the American River. Natomas is divided in two by Interstate 80, into South Natomas and North Natomas.
South Natomas was developed in the 1970s and 1980s and turned out to be a nice community. Parks, a high school and a library were slow to be developed but finally appeared. One very nice feature is the Bannon Creek Parkway which includes a bike trail running north/south through South Natomas. It is only 1 mile long but gets a lot of use by locals walking, walking their kids to the playgrounds and schools along the path, walking their dogs to the dog park and bicycling.
From this trail, I can bicycle all the way to downtown Sacramento (about 4 miles) on bike trails (with only a short way on a city street). Well planned Sacramento.
The development of North Natomas was delayed for years due to flood issues and the levees needed to be improved.
A master plan for North Natomas was made - communities with town centers, emphasis on walking, biking. Sounds great.
The first development was the shopping center at I80 and Truxel, so poorly planned that it gave Sacramento it's first 13 lane wide intersection for people trying to get into the Natomas Marketplace Shopping Center.
Planning got worse. The second mall goes up (Target et al) with a confusing maze of intersections next to the fat 13 lane intersection to get there and walking or biking there, well, watch out.
Homes, apartments, strip malls flourished in the heady times when the building moratorium was lifted.
What happened to the walking, biking, town center communities? Didn't happen. The auto won with little thought to people or bikes.
The area of I80 and Truxel is particularly dangerous for cars, bikes and people. This is where the infamous 13 lane intersection into the Natomas Marketplace Shopping Center is. Unfortunately this is the artery between North and South Natomas.
City planners and government really dropped the ball here. They don't seem to be able to plan any further than the developer's demands. What we needed was a plan for the future, 20 years or 100 years from now. Public transit, bike trails and sidewalks. Now when Light Rail makes it's way through Natomas, things will have to be torn down and pushed aside to accommodate it. There is no room for bike trails. The trails that exist are often in the wrong place or don't connect. Malls have driveways for cars to enter but are missing sidewalks for pedestrians to enter.
Extending this Bannon Creek bike trail north to North Natomas in the master plan would have been the simple correct answer to making Natomas a biking, walking friendly neighborhood.
It did not happen. North Natomas developed contrary to the promised master plan, no town centers, no walking, no biking. Bike trails fail.
Then this bike bridge over I80, to connect South Natomas with North Natomas happens.
The idea of a bike bridge to connect communities is great but unfortunately was poorly executed. Currently most people and businesses are east of I5. The bike bridge is built west of I5. Perhaps in the distant future more people and business will be located west of I5 but for now and the foreseeable future the bridge is in the wrong place.
The monster 13 lane intersection (Truxel and Natomas Marketplace Shopping Center) is now 12 lanes wide and a third entrance to the shopping center has been added to try to fix earlier design errors.
There are bike trails in Natomas. Check out North Natomas Transportation Management Association website for maps. Look at the "Spine Trail" route from North Natomas to Old Sacramento. Laughably they don't even use the new bike bridge. The trails have issues. The "Spine Trail" suggests using city streets between Natomas Crossing Drive and San Juan Road but there is a passable gravel trail, unmarked, that follows the canal and keeps you off the streets. The "Spine Trail" suggest using Natomas Crossing Drive instead of a perfectly good bike trail that parallels that street, although the bike trail dead ends in landscape!
North Natomas Transportation Management Association published a study in 2008 noting numerous bike trail deficiencies, available here.
Final fail. That green direction sign above the stop sign is wrong. Gateway Oaks Drive is not to the right. Gateway Oaks Drive is the street ahead.
