Originally Posted by
Leinster
Open in 2 years? Great to see the optimism, but if they break ground in 2 years, that's be unbelievably fast. The Napa vine trail has hit so many obstacles, and If they consider it part of the route, it'll be a long coming.
The problem here is the land owners and a decent route. Bothe-Napa Valley SP (now run by the County) has an element in the General Plan for a Hike & Bike Camp and other venues do too. But no one will move on any of these build-outs until the trail becomes a reality. The vineyards are too valuable at $1,200~$1,800 a ton to give up much space. The Napa River volunteer eco-folks are adamant on a 250 ft setback (most likely w/o a trail ... No human disturbance) and the land owners have been trained by these approaches to just say NO !!
The Wine Train route was supposed to be an easy buy for Cal-Trans when the old RR went belly up. But others saw a business opportunity and jumped in. So Hwy 29 does not get widened, no bike route there. The City of St Helena finally put enough pressure on Cal-Trans to give up the Star Ave by-pass, etc. There are real curmudgeons here and they don't want change. Heck, they won't even allow the Wine Train to unload passengers in St Helena, so no high density people movers ... So we all put up with inundation of cars and no parking, etc.
All the LBS's are good at doing their best to shuttle touring riders around bad places to ride. Big events get the Silverado Trail closed for a day at a time. But casual riders on a day to day basis - forget it ...
However, saying all that - I'll bet the Usal Road is one of the best gravel biking opportunities in existence. Just don't do it alone. There is enough Narco grow traffic that it can be sketchy out there all by yourself ...