Bi•opic - Flagstaff Biking

Volume #1, Issue #5 Bi•opic : A semi-regular publication of Flagstaff Biking Organization Page 7
Lake Mary Widening Project
As many of you know, about a year ago, Flagstaff had
public input meetings to discuss the widening of Lake
Mary Road. The United States Forest Service (USFS),
Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) and the
Federal Highways Department representatives were
available for presentation and questions with regard
to the widening and improvement of safety turnouts
along the narrow stretch of Lake Mary Road. Following
massive public support, the project was approved.
As many of you also know, the Lake Mary project is
scheduled for implementation in 2009. The following
is an update on that Project.
According to Tom Puto of the Federal Highways
Program, the program that is in place to do these forest
highway improvements is called the Forest Highway
Program. There are three entities that determine what
the priorities are for the Forest Highway Program
within the State. These three entities are the USFS,
ADOT, and the Federal Highways Department. They
meet once a year regarding the priorities. This year
the meeting should be in March in Phoenix. Some
of the criteria for prioritization are: recreation usage,
safety, amount of traffic, and validity of the project.
At this point, Tom states that the Lake Mary Road
Widening Program is still set for 2009. The design
should be done by the fall of 2007. At this point, he
believes they will have about 7-9 million dollars for the
Lake Mary Road Widening Project. He is estimating
that with the hugely escalating cost of construction,
the project will cost around 14-15 million to do the
entire length of narrow roadway. (Of course, these are
estimates on his part.)
According to Mr. Puto, the project that bumped Lake
Mary Road widening project from the initially projected
date was the Big Lake Project. This was always on the
list ahead of the Flagstaff Project and had been on
their list for about 9 years before it was built. The Big
Lake Project ran into cost problems and was not built
out in its entirety. The project was shortened because
they did not have the funds to build it as planned.
This had to do with the rising cost of construction of
approximately 20-25% per year in the last few years.
When asked if it was possible that the Lake Mary Road
project could be bumped from our place on the priority
list, Mr. Puto advised me that although he did not think
this was probable, it was possible. He cited that there
Jan Blackman
has been riding road and mountain
bikes since 1987, commutes to work
and loves the bike lifestyle. She’s on
the Bicycle Advisory Committee and
Parks & Rec Commission because she
believes it is important to get involved
in the community and encourage all
that ride bikes to do the same.
is a project on Highway 260, near Young, Arizona that
one Congressman was trying to get to the forefront
before ours. Apparently, there may be about 1 million
dollars from an outside source (other than the Forest
Service Program) that is available for the project and
that could sway its placement on the priority list.
It appears like the Forest Roads Program will be 7-8
million dollars short to fund the entire project. If we
can find some more funding, this will not only help us
obviously to actually do the project; but it might also
help us when determinations are made to prioritize
projects.
To express your support for this project, contact Rick
Renzi at rick.renzi@mail.house.gov or (928) 213-3434
and let him know you want the Lake Mary Road
Widening Project to proceed as planned.
Contact: jblackman@npgcable.com
Keeping Secret
Things we do everyday you
might not ever know about.
When the final Environmental Assessment for the Fort
Valley Ecosystem Restoration Project was released by
the U.S. Forest Service in July of 2000, it had been
through the numerous review processes as well
as a couple of lawsuits. The plan had initially been
assembled through the efforts of the Greater Flagstaff
Forest Partnership, a group that included the Grand
Canyon Trust, the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service, among others. Its intent was to
use a community partnership to restore forest health
in the Fort Valley area through prescribed burns,
thinning projects, wildlife habitat protection and trail
and road management.
At the time that this plan was created and decided,
there was no Flagstaff Biking Organization. Many of
the key players in the agencies and organizations
involved have since moved on. To compound issues,
this document is over 180 pages and in some cases
is a bit vague as to specifically what was intended to
be done as a final action. Among the things that have
been accomplished in Fort Valley is the construction
of several miles of new single track by Flagstaff Biking
Organization volunteers and the Forest Service. One
project that has yet to be started is the obliteration
of social trails. (For the record, Flagstaff Biking is not
excited about this proposition, as it will eliminate some
riding opportunities. The up side to this plan is that we
will probably see a net gain of good mountain bike
trail miles in Fort Valley. FBO will not be participating
in this obliteration.)
Secret Trail has been an ongoing part of the
interpretive process regarding the implementation
of the Plan. This trail is slated to become a system
trail (recognized by the Forest Service) with some reroutes
and realignment. Specifically, sections of this
trail pass through a Mexican Spotted Owl nesting site,
and the trail must be moved to protect this endangered
species. (Similarly, Upper Moto is being adopted into
the system, but is being entirely re-routed because
the current alignment is along the fall line and it is
eroding into a ditch.)
As management roles of individuals at the Peaks
District of the Coconino National Forest have changed
Anthony Quintile
is an avid mountain biker and
motorcyclist, and promotes multipleuse
where ever he rides. Through many
events and volunteer efforts, he is an
advocate for trail building and riding.
He is the manager of Absolute Bikes,
and can be found there most days.
and as Forest Service employees have moved on,
information about the implementation of the Fort
Valley plan has tended to be “lost” within the system.
Secret Trail, on several occasions, got lost in this
shuffle. Throughout these changes, we have been
in communication with various administrators within
the Peaks District in order to keep as many trails as
possible by making sure that if they were included
in the Fort Valley plan that they stay in the plan and
become system trails, which is ultimately the best way
to ensure the future of a trail. As it stands, we are
waiting for the opportunity to go out and help flag the
new alignments for Secret Trail, which will extend all
the way to Schultz Tank eventually. The good news
is that now Secret Trail is on everyone’s agenda for
inclusion in the System.
Contact: anthony@absolutebikes.net or
(928) 779-5969