ASCE Los Angeles Section

City of Ridgecrest, California (Kern County)

The Promenade on College Heights is a 2-mile long Class I Bike Path in Kern County just outside the City of Ridgecrest that was constructed to provide a much needed continuous pedestrian path along College Heights Boulevard from China Lake Boulevard to the Cerro Coso Community College. Prior to constructing the path, pedestrians were required to use a non-continuous sidewalk on the west side of College Heights or a dirt trail along the east side of the road. In addition to constructing the Class I Bike Path, the project constructed drainage improvements, benches with shade structures, and also utilized local native seeds collected during clearing and grubbing to revegetate the disturbed slopes.

The project was led by the Kern County Public Works Department and involved coordination with the City of Ridgecrest, the Federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the Kern Community College District, and the Cerro Coso Community College. Funding was provided through a Federal Transportation Enhancement grant as well as local money.
Project challenges included right of way acquisition, utility avoidance and relocation, coordination with multiple agencies, funding challenges, expedited delivery schedule, environmental restrictions due to potential presence of desert tortoise, Mohave ground squirrel, and burrowing owl, as well as strict Federal funding requirements.

Construction began in November 2015, ended in March 2016, and a ribbon cutting ceremony was held on March 11, 2016. Total construction cost was $590k.

The College Heights Bike Path project closed a 2-mile gap in pedestrian accessibility between the core of the City of Ridgecrest and the Cerro Coso Community College by providing connectivity to an existing bike path that runs parallel to Bowman Road within the City limits. The project gives students and local residents a continuous ADA compliant path that allows for safer travel when using alternative modes of transportation to travel between the community college and the City.

The project faced many challenges to implementation that the project team had to resolve in a short amount of time in order to meet the strict Federal funding deadlines. Those challenges included right of way acquisition, coordination with the Federal Bureau of Land Management to secure an easement for construction of a portion of the path on Federal lands, and sensitive biological habitat.

The success of the project represents the ability of multiple agencies to work together towards a common goal of implementing improvements to provide much needed improvements for the residents of the community. The community has also taken a role in improving the corridor after the path was built, as the local boy scout group is leading a volunteer effort to install and maintain trash bins and pet waste stations along the path.

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he College Heights Bike Path project closed a 2-mile gap in pedestrian accessibility between the core of the City of Ridgecrest and the Cerro Coso Community College by providing connectivity to an existing bike path that runs parallel to Bowman Road within the City limits. The project gives students and local residents a continuous ADA compliant path that allows for safer travel when using alternative modes of transportation to travel between the community college and the City.

The College Heights Bike Path project closed a 2-mile gap in pedestrian accessibility between the core of the City of Ridgecrest and the Cerro Coso Community College by providing connectivity to an existing bike path that runs parallel to Bowman Road within the City limits. The project gives students and local residents a continuous ADA compliant path that allows for safer travel when using alternative modes of transportation to travel between the community college and the City.

The success of the project represents the ability of multiple agencies to work together towards a common goal of implementing improvements to provide much needed improvements for the residents of the community. The community has also taken a role in improving the corridor after the path was built, as the local boy scout group is leading a volunteer effort to install and maintain trash bins and pet waste stations along the path.

This project was selected by the Southern San Joaquin Branch for “Small Project” of the year.