City will expand Arroyo Simi bike trail to reach Corriganville Park
By Darleen Principe darleen@theacorn.com

The Simi Valley Department of Public Works is currently soliciting bids for a project to extend the existing Arroyo Simi Bike Trail by nearly four miles- a plan budgeted in the city's Streets and Roads Program for $460,000.

Ron Fuchiwaki, assistant director of public works, said the plan is to construct a series of bike paths and lanes running along the Arroyo Simi embankment near the Metrolink Station, through Yosemite Avenue, E. Los Angeles Avenue, Keuhner Drive and Smith Road.

"This plan is to pick it up and extend it, both in a bike path format along Arroyo Simi and using the local streets to extend the system to Corriganville Park," Fuchiwaki said.

The current Arroyo Simi Bike Trail begins near Madera Road and ends at a flood control drain near the Metrolink Station east of Yosemite Avenue. The project, which is slated for completion by September, will extend the path through the east side of Simi Valley.

According to Fuchiwaki, funding for the project will consist of $407,000 in Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) Improvement Program funds and $53,000 of Transportation Development Act Bicycle and Pedestrian grant funds.

Completion of the bike trail has been delayed several times in the past, partly because of a recent improvement project by the Ventura County Watershed Protection District to widen the Arroyo Simi between Stow Street and Yosemite Avenue, Fuchiwaki said.

Awarding of the construction contract is scheduled for June with construction to commence in July.