What is the value of a bike path? What’s the value of commuting without polluting?

What’s the value of a good walk, a long run or a pleasant bike ride? What’s the value of clean air? What’s the value of a healthy life?

The new bike path (a multi-use path with no motorized vehicles allowed) under construction from Solano Avenue to Vallejo Street will make Napa a much better place to live. It will allow generations of users safe passage to school, work, shopping and recreation. It will make our community healthier and cleaner by offering a safe, peaceful place to walk, run, ride a bike and to commute without adding more greenhouse gases to our atmosphere. It will also serve our tourist industry by connecting hotels and motels on both ends with attractions that many tourists wouldn’t otherwise be likely to take advantage of. It will make our community more fun!

Often, people underestimate how much bike paths are actually used and who uses them. One surprising thing is that a substantial number of the users are not bicyclists. People of all ages love to walk and run on them. They are safe and tranquil places to walk a dog or push a stroller. It’s not unusual to see a whole family out enjoying a bike path. What really warms my heart is to see senior citizens out walking the bike paths. That’s not a rare experience; they make up a large percentage of the users — must be that “older and wiser” thing.

Some of the money that makes the new path possible comes from a state grant for the Safe Routes to School program. One of the most significant aspects of the bike path is that it provides a safe way to get across Highway 29, across seven lanes of traffic. That alone would make the difference between a student being transported to school or getting to school on their own accord. The bike bridge is in a place that will serve the students of two of the largest schools in Napa, Napa High and Redwood Middle School, as well as New Tech High, and will greatly improve the safety and well-being of generations of students. The benefits of the bike path to the students don’t stop at getting them to school safely. Burning calories and improving cardiovascular fitness by riding a bike or walking to school, coupled with a new school nutrition program that provides lunches with less fat, fewer empty calories and more fiber (judging by the number of meals sold, popular with the students) we can start to reverse the trend toward childhood obesity and type two diabetes.

Some of the money for this bike path comes from grants designed to reduce motor vehicle traffic and the accompanying pollution. In a world where polar bears are drowning because they can’t find any ice to climb onto, it has become obvious that global warming is real and a serious problem. Locally, our wine industry could be threatened if we do nothing. According to stories that have appeared in numerous publications citing scientific evidence, our Napa Wine Country could become too hot to grow our premium wine grapes if current trends in global warming continue. Building a bike path isn’t going to save the world, or even the Napa Valley, but it’s a step in the right direction, and it will take a lot of steps if we are going to turn this catastrophe around. Even if you don’t think global warming is a problem, it doesn’t hurt to reduce local pollution; it’s always nice to be able to breathe without distress.

The tourist industry revolves around our world-class wine, dining and our county’s natural beauty. Instead of roller coasters and water slides, we have hot air balloons and great bike rides — pretty cool! Neither are unique to Napa, but they both fit like a glove. People use the whole valley for bike riding, and there are touring companies working out of Calistoga and Yountville. This bike path will make Napa more accessible to tourists who choose to be gentler to our valley, our community.

What is the value of a bike path? What’s the value of the place where you live or work?

(Thulin lives in Napa.)